Intramilitary Relations and Officer Esprit De Corps in the Emerging Interwar Finnish Armed Forces

This article investigates how officer esprit de corps was formed in the emerging interwar Finnish armed forces. The Finnish officer corps emerged during a devastating civil war from two competing groups: older Russian-educated and younger and more radical German-trained jaeger officers. Their relationship turned into a serious conflict during the 1920s. Mesolevel institutional cohesion has been sparsely examined in past scholarship, where corps esprit has usually been taken for granted. This article introduces the concept of intramilitary relations and presents seven sociological factors that can affect officer esprit de corps: ideology, identity, patronage, military experience, generation, class, and professional institutions. As intramilitary relations are closely linked to broader civil–military relations, the article also sheds light on to date largely underexplored Finnish civil–military relations. The Finnish case shows that while military institutions are crucial for esprit in the long run, without consensus, institutions can be used as instruments for power struggles and weaken cohesion.