Sword Scabbard Declaration

The Order of the Day of the Sword Scabbard, or the Sword Scabbard Declaration, actually refers to two related declarations by the Finnish Commander-in-Chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim during World War I and World War II against Soviet control of East Karelia. Background World War I During the Civil War in Finland, in February 1918, General Mannerheim, the commander of the anti-communist White Guards, wrote his famous Order of the Day, in which he declared that he would not set his sword to the scabbard "until Lenin's last soldier and hooligan is deported from Finland and White Karelia" ("... ennen kuin viimeinen Leninin soturi ja huligaani on karkoitettu niin hyvin Suomesta kuin Vienan Karjalastakin."). The events at the end of World War I made this goal hard to accomplish, but nevertheless, two attempts were made to this end: the Viena expedition in 1918 and the Aunus expedition in 1919, during the Russian Civil War, had allowed Finland to occupy and annex two regions of East Karelia - Repola and Porajärvi respectively.