Soldiering and the Making of Finnish Manhood Conscription and Masculinity in Interwar Finland, 1918–1939 ANDERS AHLBÄCK Doctoral Thesis in General History ÅBO AKADEMI UNIVERSITY 2010 © Anders Ahlbäck Author’s address: History Dept. of Åbo Akademi University Fabriksgatan 2 FIN-20500 Åbo Finland e-mail:
[email protected] ISBN 978-952-12-2508-6 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-12-2509-3 (pdf) Printed by Uniprint, Turku Table of Contents Acknowledgements v 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Images and experiences of conscripted soldiering 1 1.2 Topics in earlier research: The militarisation of modern masculinity 8 1.3 Theory and method: Conscription as a contested arena of masculinity 26 1.4 Demarcation: Soldiering and citizenship as homosocial enactments 39 2 The politics of conscription 48 2.1 Military debate on the verge of a revolution 52 2.2 The Civil War and the creation of the “White Army” 62 2.3 The militiaman challenging the cadre army soldier 72 2.4 From public indignation to closing ranks around the army 87 2.5 Conclusion: Reluctant militarisation 96 3 War heroes as war teachers 100 3.1 The narrative construction of the Jägers as war heroes 102 3.2 Absent women and distant domesticity 116 3.3 Heroic officers and their counter-images 118 3.4 Forgetfulness in the hero myth 124 3.5 The Jäger officers as military educators 127 3.6 Conclusion: The uses of war heroes 139 4 Educating the citizen-soldier 146 4.1 Civic education and the Suomen Sotilas magazine 147 4.2 The man-soldier-citizen amalgamation 154 4.3 History, forefathers and the spirit of sacrifice