May 15, 1918: The Finnish Civil War Ends

May 15, 1918: The Finnish Civil War ends. The conservative White Guards, with assistance from Germany, defeat the communist Red Guards, with assistance from the Russian Bolsheviks.

From 1580 to 1809, the King of Sweden also held the title of Grand Duke of Finland. But the Finnish War, a subsidiary of the Napoleonic Wars, threw Finland to Russian control, and the Czar of Russia was the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 until 1917, when Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated, and the Russian monarchy came to an end.

In the years before the conflict, Finland had experienced rapid population growth, industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of a labor movement. The socio-economic condition and education of the population had gradually improved, and national awareness and culture had progressed. These phenomena, as well as Norway's peaceful separation from Sweden in 1905, gave Finns hope for their own independence.

World War I caused Russia's February Revolution in 1917, which led to a power vacuum in Finland, and the subsequent struggle for dominance led to militarization and an escalating crisis between the left-leaning labor movement and the conservatives.

With the October Revolution leading to the Bolshevik victory in Russia, Finland's Reds sided with Russia, and its Whites with the more conservative German Empire. The Whites won the Battle of Tampere on April 6, 1918, and the Battle of Viipuri on April 29. German troops won the Battle of Helsinki, the national capital, on April 13, and the Battle of Lahti on April 29.

The war ended on May 15, when the Whites took over Fort Ino, a Russian coastal artillery base on the Karelian Isthmus, from the Russian troops. White Finland celebrated the victory with a large military parade in Helsinki on May 16.

But the German plan to install Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, as Frederik Kaarle I, King of Finland, fell apart as the U.S. Army turned the tide of World War I. Finland has been a parliamentary republic ever since, currently home to about 5.5 million people.

Unlike the other major Scandinavian nations -- Norway, Sweden and Denmark -- Finland, as an independent nation, has never had a monarch. The comedy film King Ralph imagined it having one, but that was just a movie.

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May 15, 1918 was a Wednesday. Actor Joseph Wiseman was born. And these baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the St. Louis Browns, 5-4 at the Polo Grounds. Les Nunamaker singled Ray Demmitt home with the winning run in the top of the 12th inning. George Sisler went 2-for-5 with a walk.

* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4 at Redland Field (later Crosley Field) in Cincinnati.

* The Brooklyn Robins (as the Dodgers were known while Wilbert Robinson managed them from 1914 to 1931) beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-1 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Rube Marquard went the distance for the win. Zack Wheat was 0-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Babe Ruth went the distance for the win, and went 1-for-3 with a walk -- the hit being a single, not a home run. Ty Cobb went 0-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 3-2 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. The Indians scored a run in the top of the 13th inning, but in the bottom half, a Tillie Walker grounder resulted in a force play that scored Rube Oldring, and George Burns (not the comedian, or the better-known Giants outfielder) singled home Merlin Kopp. Winning pitcher Elmer Meyers and losing pitcher Stan Coveleski both went the extended distance. Tris Speaker went 0-for-5.

* The Washington Senators beat the Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at National Park (later Griffith Stadium) in Washington. This game was a scoreless duel between Walter Johnson and Lefty Williams for 18 innings, before Williams finally tired in the bottom of the 18th, allowing a single to Eddie Ainsmith, a single to Johnson himself that got Ainsmith to 3rd base, and a wild pitch with Burt Shotton at the plate, scoring Ainsmith with the winning run.

Shoeless Joe Jackson did not play: He missed most of the 1918 season working in a shipyard, thinking it would keep him from being drafted into World War I. It worked.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Weeghman Park (later Wrigley Field) in Chicago.

* And the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Boston Braves, 3-2 at Robison Field in St. Louis. Doug Baird singled Mike González home with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning. Rogers Hornsby went 1-for-4.