valkoisten

Valkoisten refers to the White faction in the Finnish Civil War of 1918, the conflict that followed Finland's independence from Russia. The Whites represented conservative, bourgeois and rural interests and opposed the socialist Reds. The White side controlled the government and the army leadership, including a general staff under Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. They were supported by the Civil Guard (Suojeluskunta) and, from spring 1918, by German expeditionary forces, which aided strategic offensives.

The Reds, made up of workers and peasants aligned with socialist ideals and supported by Soviet Russia, controlled much of the industrial south and the Helsinki region in the early months. After a series of offensives and key battles, the Whites prevailed and captured Helsinki in May 1918, effectively ending the war.

In the aftermath, White victory led to reprisals against Reds, in what is commonly referred to as the White Terror, including executions, imprisonment and confiscation of property. The war produced a deep political and social divide that influenced Finnish politics for decades. In the ensuing years, the White authorities pursued stabilization, centralization and agrarian reforms that helped shape the Finnish state.

Today, valkoiset is the historical term for this faction; it is not a reference to ethnicity or color in general, though the same word also denotes the color white in Finnish.