With the dissolution of regular police and military forces, both left and right began forming armed groups in the spring of 1917. Finland's declaration of independence on 6 December 1917 – though supported by most Finns and soon recognized by the Russian Bolshevist Council of People's Commissars – occurred in the context of the worsening power struggle, and therefore failed to either unite or pacify the nation. A breakdown of power and authority penetrated all levels of society. The collapse of the Russian Empire following the February and October Revolutions of 1917 spurred the collapse of the Grand Duchy of Finland, and the resultant power vacuum led to bitter conflict between the left-leaning labor movement, led by the Social Democrats, and more conservative non-socialists. Economic, social, and political divisions were deepening while the Finnish political system was in an unstable phase of democratization and modernization. By 1917 the Finnish people had experienced rapid population growth and industrialization, and the rise of a comprehensive labor movement. The Grand Duchy of Finland, ruled as a nominally autonomous part of the Russian Empire, was gradually developing into a Finnish state, including a rise of the Fennoman movement standing for the Finnic majority of the population. The Whites won the war, in which about 37,000 people died out of a population of 3 million. The Reds were based in the towns and industrial centres of southern Finland, while the Whites controlled more rural central and northern Finland. The Whites-dominated by peasants and middle- and upper-class factions-received marked military assistance from the German Empire. The Reds-dominated by industrial and agrarian workers-were supported by the Russian Soviet Republic.

), and the forces of the non-socialist, conservative-led Senate, commonly called the ' Whites' (Finnish language: valkoiset The Civil War was fought from 27 January to between the forces of the Social Democrats led by the People's Deputation of Finland, commonly called the 'Reds' (Finnish language: punaiset

The conflict formed a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I (1914–1918) in Europe. ) concerned control and leadership of Finland, during its transition phase from a Russian Grand Duchy to an independent state. The Finnish Civil War (Finnish language: Suomen sisällissota, kansalaissota Swedish language Finska inbördeskriget Allied Intervention ( Siberia, North Russia).

Kylmien kyytimies by Antti Tuuri