Ali Aaltonen

Ali Aaltonen
Born 1884
Jämsä
Died August 1918
Lahti
Occupation military officer, journalist, socialist leader

Ali "Aleksi" Aaltonen (1884 Jämsä – August 1918 Lahti) was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Russian army, journalist, and Finnish socialist leader.

Ali Aaltonen was born in Jämsä, within western Finland, in the year of 1884, and was known to have attended school in Jyväskylä. He dropped out of school in the year of 1903 in order to participate in the Russo-Japanese battles as a lieutenant and later in the Russian revolution of 1905. The revolution failed and this led to Aaltonen's loss of officer status within the Imperial Russian Army due to his affiliation with socialist groups. He then served as a journalist and wrote under the pseudonym Ali Baba.[1]

Aaltonen commanded the military forces of the Reds during the Finnish Civil War and tried to secure arms deals with Russia. He led the attack on Näsilinna during the Battle of Tampere. He was later relegated to other duties allegedly due to his alcoholism. He was arrested by the White Guards at the Villähde railway station and sent to the Hennala prison camp, where he later was shot in August 1918 by Hans Kalm, an Estonian officer who had volunteered to fight for the Whites.[2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Smele, Jonathan D. (2015). Historical Dictionary of the Russian Civil Wars, 1916-1926. Rowman & Littlefield.
  2. ↑ Roselius 2007

References

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