Valkoisten Voitonparaati information

The Valkoisten Voitonparaati (transl. White Victory Parade; Finnish: Valkoisten voitonparaati pronounced [ˈʋɑlko̞i̯s̠t̪e̞n ˈʋo̞i̯t̪o̞mˌpɑrɑːt̪i]) was a military parade of the Finnish White Guard on 16 May 1918 celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War, which officially ended the day before.^[1][2] The parade took place in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The parade was presided by General Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, the then Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defense Forces, a position he would resign from 14 days later.^[3][4] It consisted of 12,000 men marching down the streets of the capital.^[5] It is regarded today as a political show of force organized by Mannerheim to strengthen his position vis-à-vis the German troops in the country. The parade played an important role in Mannerheim's later career, as a result of which he became nationally known to the point of becoming the 6th President of Finland in the mid-1940s.^[6] The Whites also organized victory parades in other cities they had occupied during the war. Large parades were also held in Vaasa and Vyborg, both of which Mannerheim attended.^[7]