ABSTRACT
Churchill became interested in Finland immediately after the First World War. The Finnish Civil War was then beginning to transform itself into a war of liberation, proceeding from an effort to put down an internal communist rebellion into an attempt to secure Finnish independence and borders against the external threat of Soviet Russia. Churchill believed then that the most pressing need of the West was to suppress international communism, and he concentrated almost entirely on drafting detailed plans for a military anticommunist intervention in Russia. After he had been appointed as Secretary of State for War in early 1919, Churchill hoped to enlist all such countries in this intervention that could and were willing to contribute to freeing Russia from Bolshevism. In this context, Finland appeared an exceptionally promising country, and its palpable interest in military anticommunism led Churchill to conclude that it was central for the anticommunist and geopolitical tasks upon which he was setting himself.
