Ali Aaltonen was a Lieutenant in the Imperial Russian army, journalist, and Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 socialist leader. He participated in the Russo-Japanese battles as a lieutenant and later in the Russian revolution of 1905. The revolution failed and this led to Alltonen's loss of officer status within the Imperial Russian Army. He then served as a journalist and wrote under the pseudonym Ali Baba.

Aaltonen commanded the military forces of the Reds during the Finnish Civil War

Finnish Civil War

The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...

 and tried to secure arms deals with Russia. He led the attack on Näsilinna during the Battle of Tampere

Battle of Tampere

The Battle of Tampere of the Finnish Civil War was fought in Finland in 1918 between Red and White forces. The White forces besieged and captured the main city of the Red Guards, Tampere, taking around 10,000 Red prisoners....

. He was later relegated to other duties due to his alcoholism. He was arrested by the White Guards

White Guard (Finland)

The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...

 at the Villähde railway station and sent to the Hennala prison camp, where he later was shot by Hans Kalm, an Estonian officer, who had volunteered to fight for the Whites.