Manhood and the Making of the Military

The creation of Finland's national conscription army in the wake of its independence from Russia in 1917 aroused intense but conflicting emotions. This book examines the struggles of a new army to find popular acceptance and support, and explores the ways that images of manhood were used in the controversies. AhlbÃ-ck places the situation of interwar Finland within a broad European context to reveal the conflicts surrounding compulsory military service and the impact of the Great War on masculinities and constructions of gender.

Dr Anders AhlbÃ-ck is a post-doctoral researcher and teacher in Gender History and Masculinity Studies at Ã...bo Akademi University, Finland. He is author of several articles and essays on masculinity and the military in early twentieth century Finland, and is currently researching anti-military political sentiment and changing notions of male citizenship in the Nordic countries, ca 1900-1940.