Defence Command (Finnish: Pääesikunta, Fenno-Swedish: Huvudstaben), organized as Headquarters (Finnish: Päämaja, Swedish: Huvudkvarter) during wartime, is the joint command headquarters of the Finnish Defence Forces and a central government agency. Active since 1918, it leads and monitors the execution of the duties prescribed to the Defence Forces, such as the military defence of Finland.
History
Finland declared independence on 6 December 1917 and by the end of the year, a conflict emerging from the strife between the Reds, led by the Social Democratic Party, and the Whites, led by the conservative-based senate, seemed inevitable. On 16 January 1918, Chairman of the Senate of Finland, Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, appointed General Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim as the commander-in-chief of the Government's forces and a few days later Mannerheim met with his senior staff at Hotel Ernst in Vaasa, Finland.[1] The Finnish Civil War commenced on 27 January 1918. Defence Command was established as the Headquarters of White Finland's military in Vaasa by the commander-in-chief's day order (Finnish: päiväkäsky, Swedish: dagorder) number 1 on 2 February 1918.[2]
Organisation
Defence Command is subordinate to the Chief of Defence, commander of the Finnish Defence Forces. The Command is responsible for planning and executing joint operations of the Defence Forces as well as guiding and resourcing the three branches of the military, the Finnish National Defence University, and agencies under its control.[3][4] It is led by the chief of staff, usually a lieutenant general, with four deputy chiefs of staff focusing on personnel, logistics and armaments, operations, and strategy, respectively.[5] Lieutenant General Timo Kivinen started as chief of staff in June 2016.[6][7] As of 2015, 328 military and 186 civilian staff served at the Command.[8]
In addition to an executive office and an internal audit unit, Defence Command is divided into ten divisions (Finnish: osasto, Swedish: avdelningen) with a continental staff system:[5][8]
^Heinrichs, Erik (1957). Mannerheim Suomen kohtaloissa I - Valkoinen kenraali 1918-1919 [Mannerheim in Finland's destinies I - The White General 1918-1919] (in Finnish). Keuruu: Otava.