Social Inequalities of Military Casualties in Finland during World War II

Ilari Taskinen, Tampere University

Finnish casualties of World War II amounted to 94,000 soldiers, approximately two percent of the country’s population. This paper examines the unequal social distribution of these deaths. The analysis is based on a demographic “Finnish Army in World War II Database,” comprising 4,253 Finnish men of age cohorts 1897–1926. The database includes comprehensive information on men’s social background, health, military career, and war experiences. Our analysis of the database reveals that the participation and casualty rates of social classes did not align during the war. The worlds wars were a time of total warfare that saw nations mobilize their manpower to the fullest for military service, and Finland was no exception. The nation had implemented universal male conscription in 1918, and 80 percent of the men from the trained age cohorts served in the army during World War II. While the different strata of society participated in the war effort mostly evenly, casualties were distributed unevenly in various ways: the lower classes, rural population and the Finnish-speaking majority suffered relatively high casualties, while the upper classes, urban population and Swedish-speaking minority experienced fewer losses. An important finding is also that the rural working class had higher casualty rates than the urban working class. The paper traces these inequalities to army conscription practices, the geography of Finnish military defense and differences in health and education within society.

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 Presented in Session 23. Historical Racial and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health and Mortality