Heimosodat

The term in Finnish historiography heimosodat (German: Kriege verwandter Völker) has been translated literally into English as "Kindred Nations Wars", "Wars for kindred peoples" or "Kinship Wars," specifically Finnic kinship. It is sometimes erroneously translated as "Tribal Wars". It refers to conflicts in territories inhabited by other Baltic Finnic peoples, often in Russia or in borders of Russia. Between 1918 and 1922, some 9000 Finnish volunteers took part in these conflicts, either to assert the Finnish control over the areas inhabited by related Finnic peoples or to help them to gain their independence. Many of the volunteer soldiers were inspired by the idea of Greater Finland. Some of the conflicts were incursions from Finland and some were local uprisings, where volunteers wanted either to help the people in their fight for independence or to annex the areas to Finland.