Viena expedition
The Viena expedition (Finnish: Vienan retkikunta, Swedish: Vienaexpeditionen) was a military expedition in March 1918 by Finnish volunteer forces to annex White Karelia (Vienan Karjala) from Soviet Russia. It was one of the many "kinship wars" (Heimosodat) fought near the newly independent Finland during the Russian Civil War. Russian East Karelia was never part of the Swedish Empire or the Grand Duchy of Finland. and it was at the time mostly inhabited by Karelians. However, many advocates of a Greater Finland considered these Karelians a "kindred" Finnish nation and supported the annexation of Russian East Karelia to Finland.
| Viena expedition | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Heimosodat | |||||||||
Initial Finnish Advance | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Russian SFSR Red Guards (Finns) Murmansk Legion Royal Marine Light Infantry Karelian Regiment | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Kurt Martti Wallenius Carl Wilhelm Malm Toivo Kuisma |
Oskari Tokoi Philip James Woods | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Finland 1,500 |
Red Guards and Karelians 1,550 Royal Marines 130 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 122 dead | Red Guards and Karelians 100-150 | ||||||||
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