Rudolf Walden

In the Finnish Civil War (1918) he served as...

    * the Chief of Vaasa military district from 20 February till March 5;

    * Chief of Rear Area of the headquarters from 5 March till 6 May;

    * Chief of Security of the occupied areas from 6 till 22 May.

    * Minister of War from 28 November, 1918 till 15 August, 1919;

    * Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Army and of the Civil Guard from 27 November till 30 December, 1918.

Walden was in the management of paper industry during 1906-1946. He acted as a consolidator of the Finnish paper industry, founded Yhtyneet Paperitehtaat Oy (United Paper Mills Ltd) and was the first president of Finpap, a Finnish paper sales association.

During the Finnish-Soviet Winter War, he was a representative of the headquarters in the Cabinet from 3 December, 1939 till 27 March, 1940. Minister of Defence from 27 March, 1940 till 27 November, 1944. Greatly influential during the war, member of the so-called inner circle, he maintained politically important relationships with Sweden and the United States.

During the Winter War the general distrust for the patriotism of the finnish workers and labour movement proved unfounded. Nation was united against the foreign aggression. Also the prominent industrialist Rudolf Walden and the Social Democrat leader and Finnish foreign minister Väinö Tanner personally understood each other very well. In January 1940 the Industry Associations aknowledged trade unions as negotiation partners regarding labour issues.

Walden was a close friend and co-operator of Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim since the Civil War.

Walden was well known as a tough and cool negotiator. He had represented Finland in negotiation of all peace treaties between Finland and Soviet Union: Treaty of Tartu of 1920, Moscow Peace Treaty (1940), Armistice treaty of Moscow (1944)

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