Northern Eurasia 1918: Bolshevik Russia

The Bolsheviks consolidated their hold over the former Russian Empire and declared the creation of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic. Their main internal enemy was now the "White Movement", disparate Cossacks and soldiers allied with the Entente.

Main Events

6 Dec 1917 Finnish Declaration of Independence

Between 1908 and 1916 the power of the Finnish Parliament in the Grand Principality of Finland had been neutralized by the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the so-called “sabre senate” of Finland, a bureaucratic government formed by Imperial Russian Army officers. The February Revolution of 1917 restored much of Finland’s autonomy and, when the Bolsheviks declared a general right of self-determination “for the Peoples of Russia” in November, the Finnish Parliament assumed all powers of sovereignty. In early December the Parliament declared Finland an independent republic, a move which was recognized by the Soviet Russian government at the end of the month.in wikipedia

15 Dec 1917 Brest-Litovsk Armistice

The Russian Soviet Republic, under the Bolsheviks, signs an armistice at Brest-Litovsk with Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire, ending operations on the Eastern Front. The armistice takes effect two days later, on 17 December.in wikipedia

9 Jan 1918 Creation of the Volunteer Army officially announced in opposition to the Bolsheviks

Creation of the Volunteer Army officially announced in opposition to the Bolsheviksin wikipedia

27 Jan 1918 Battle of Kämärä

The abrupt end of Russian rule in Finland left power in the hands of the Finnish Parliament, unstably divided between the left-wing ‘Reds’—mostly social democrats, but also containing revolutionary elements—and the right-wing ‘Whites’—conservatives, monarchists, economic liberals, and ethnic Swedes. Local skirmishes broke out in January 1918 and on the 26th Ali Aaltonen, leader of the Red Guards, issued a Red Order of Revolution, beginning a large-scale mobilization on the evening of the 27th. That same day White troops ambushed a rail shipment of Bolshevik weapons from Petrograd to the Reds at Kämärä, but were forced to withdraw after a short battle.in wikipedia

28 Jan 1918 Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Third All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers’, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Deputies in Petrograd, Russia, dissolves the Constituent Assembly and agrees to establish the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on the basis of a free union of the peoples of Russia.in wikipedia