The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought from January 27, 1918 to May 15, 1918, between the forces called the "Reds" led by the People's Deputation of Finland under the control of the Finnish Social Democrats, and the forces called the "Whites", led by the Senate of Vaasa representing the Senate of Finland formed by the bourgeois parties. The defeat in World War I and the February and October revolutions in 1917 caused a total collapse of the Russian Empire; and the destruction of the mother country resulted in a corresponding breakdown of Finnish society during 1917. As there were no generally accepted police and army forces to keep order in Finland after March 1917, the left and right began building security groups of their own, leading to the emergence of two independent armed military troops, the White and Red Guards. The Whites were the victors in the war that followed. The Civil War remains the most controversial and emotionally loaded event in the history of modern Finland. Approximately 37,000 people died during the conflict, including casualties at the war fronts, and deaths from political terror campaigns and high prison camp mortality. The turmoil destroyed the economy, split the political apparatus, and divided the Finnish nation for many years. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1027: Pope John XIX crowned Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor) 1484: William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, printed his translation of Aesop's Fables. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop's_Fables) 1971: East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh, starting the Bangladesh Liberation War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War) 1995: The Schengen Agreement, a 1985 treaty to abolish systematic border controls between participating European countries, went into effect. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement) 1999: The Melissa computer worm was released, infecting e-mail systems around the world. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_(computer_worm)) _____________________ Wikiquote of the day: The world and the universe is an extremely beautiful place, and the more we understand about it the more beautiful does it appear. It is an immensely exciting experience to be born in the world, born in the universe, and look around you and realise that before you die you have the opportunity of understanding an immense amount about that world and about that universe and about life and about why we're here. We have the opportunity of understanding far, far more than any of our predecessors ever. That is such an exciting possibility, it would be such a shame to blow it and end your life not having understood what there is to understand. -- Richard Dawkins (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins)