ON DECEMBER 6, 1917, the Finnish parliament declared independence from Russia. After 700 years of Swedish rule and 100 years as a Russian Grand Duchy, the sovereign state of Finland was born.
The young nation fought hard for its independence, fending off the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War at the cost of precious lives and precious ancestral lands. Finland emerged from World War II as an independent state and survived the Cold War Years despite its difficult geographical position between Russia and the West. In 1994 it joined the European Union and in 2023 it joined NATO. Today it is a thriving, modern democracy with a solid economy and solid democratic institutions, leading edge technology and world class educational systems, and of course, its saunas and sisu intact.
Suomen NeitoDecember 6, 1917Helsinki Lutheran CathedralSaami and reindeerEU President NiiniistoFinland Joins NATO April 4, 2023Trumpeter swanPeasant lifeHakkappelitatDeath of Lemminkainen – Gallen KallelaFinnish troops in camouflageFinnish ski troopsJean Sibelius, composerKullervo departs for warHelsinki OlympicsmidsummerKotka on the Gulf of FinlandOlavinlinnanorthern lightsOld Borga (Porvoo)Aalto vaseFinnsih coat-of-armsBirch forestModern bridgeFinnish high technology
On November 30th, Finland marks the 84th anniversary of the beginning of the Winter War. For the first time in its history, it does not stand alone. It can look back at that traumatic event as a full-fledged member of NATO.
If Finland had belonged to such an alliance in 1939, the Soviet Union would not have dared to invade. Stalin did not want a war with the West any more than Putin does.
The comparisons with the current war in Ukraine are inescapable. Today, Russia does not see Ukraine as a real country, but as part of greater Russia. In 1939, the Soviet Union saw Finland as a lost part of the Russian Empire that had to be recaptured.
In 1939, Moscow’s demands for territorial concessions from Finland and the Baltic states were the first steps in the plan to return these countries to the Soviet empire, as per the secret protocol to the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and Russia.
On the morning of November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland by land, sea, and air, with no declaration of war.
Stalin set up a puppet regime in the border town of Terijoki and declared it to be the only valid Finnish government. The leader of the Leningrad Military District, Andrei Zhdanov, commissioned a celebratory piece from Dmitri Shostakovich entitled “Suite on Finnish Dreams” to be played by Red Army marching bands during the victory parade in Helsinki.
Despite being badly outnumbered and short of everything from shells to anti-tank guns, the Finnish army held on for 105 days. The Finns sought help from their Scandinavian neighbours and from Britain, France, and America. Help did arrive in the form of volunteers, medical personnel, and offers to take in Finnish children, but not the military aid the Finns desperately needed.
Finnish defenses tenaciously held out for over three months while inflicting stiff losses on the Soviets, but in February 1940 the final act of the war began. A new and massive Russian offensive was launched on the Karelian Isthmus. “Twelve Soviet divisions along with five Soviet tank brigades—approximately a quarter of a million men—were about to hurl themselves in the Viipuri area against two understrength, ammunition-poor, bone-tired Finnish divisions of less than twenty thousand.” (Gordon F. Sander, The Hundred Day Winter War, University of Kansas Press, 2013, p. 296)
For the first time, the Finns were forced to retreat from their main defense line, the Mannerheim Line.
Meanwhile, France and Britain had an expeditionary force ready to march to Finland, but neutral Sweden refused to grant transit rights. While negotiations continued, the situation of the Finns grew dire. Reluctantly bowing to the reality that Western aid would not arrive in time, the Finnish government signed an armistice with Russia on March 12, 1940. A ceasefire came into effect all along the front the next day, March 13.
The prospect of Western intervention had prodded Stalin into negotiating an armistice, but one which imposed extremely harsh terms on the Finns.
The ceded area included Finland’s second largest city of Viipuri (Vyborg) and much of Finland’s industrialized territory–11% of the territory and 30% of the economic assets of pre-war Finland. Twelve percent of Finland’s population, some 422,000 Karelians, had to be evacuated and re-settled.
The estimated number of Russian dead has changed over the years. The generally accepted figure is 230 000-270 000. ]Finnish dead numbered approximately 25 000.
The Finns had lost so much and paid such a great price that at first the peace felt more unbearable than the war. That was before they knew how desperate the military situation on the Isthmus had been, how close they had come to catastrophe. Gradually, they understood. The peace was cruel, but there had been no other choice; and they still had their country and their freedom. –from Lost Ground
The last word goes to the man who led Finland’s army through the war, Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim, in his Order of the Day, dated March 14, 1940:
“Soldiers: I have fought on many battlefields, but never have I seen your like as warriors. I am as proud of you as though you were my own children; I am as proud of the sacrifice tendered by the child of a lowly cottage as of those of the wealthy.
We are proudly conscious of the historic duty which we shall continue to fulfill; the defence of that Westerncivilization which has been our heritage for centuries, but we know also that we have paid to the very last penny any debt we may have owed the West.”
The Winter War in photos (courtesy of SAKuva (Finnish Military Archives) unless otherwise noted).
As Finland waits, two countries (Hungary and Turkiye) continue to delay ratification of its accession to NATO. This is extremely disappointing for the Finns (and Swedes), who looked forward to a quick entry process and had every reason to believe it would happen.
As November 30 arrives again, Finns can only shudder at the memory of what took place 83 years ago, when the Russians attacked. The comparisons with the war in Ukraine are inescapable. Russia is acting as it has always acted. To the Russians, Ukraine is not a real country, it is part of greater Russia. To the Soviet Union in 1939, Finland was a part of the Russian Empire that needed to be brought back into the fold.
In 1939, the Soviet Union’s demands for territorial concessions from Finland and the Baltic states were a smokescreen for Moscow’s real intent: the return of these states to the Soviet empire, as intended by the Molotov-von Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and Russia. In the case of the Baltics, this was achieved in 1940.
Finland staved off the same fate by fighting to the death in the Winter War.
November 30, 1939, began like any other winter Thursday in Finland. For many families, it was pea soup and pancake day. The long northern nights had set in and people were planning for Christmas. Nevertheless, by the end of the day, Finland found itself in a life-and-death struggle for its existence.
On the morning of November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union attacked Finland by land, sea, and air, with no declaration of war.
Stalin set up a puppet regime in the border town of Terijoki and declared it to be the only valid Finnish government. The leader of the Leningrad Military District, Andrei Zhdanov, commissioned a celebratory piece from Dmitri Shostakovich entitled “Suite on Finnish Dreams” to be played by Red Army marching bands during the victory parade in Helsinki.
Martha Gellhorn, famed American war correspondent and wife of Ernest Hemingway, arrived in Helsinki on November 29, 1939. She awoke the next morning to the drone of bombers and the crash of bombs. From the window of her room at the Hotel Kämp, she looked down on the Esplanaadi and saw well-dressed citizens hurrying to the air raid shelters in the center of the boulevard.
A Soviet bomber was flying low at about 1000 meters, dropping not bombs but paper leaflets. The leaflets said, “Finnish comrades! Put down your arms. We come not as conquerors but as liberators. We have bread.” This brought sardonic quips from the Finns, who began to call the bombs “Molotov’s breadbaskets.”
Despite being badly outnumbered and short of everything from shells to anti-tank guns, the Finnish army held on for 105 days. The David-and-Goliath struggle caught the attention of the world and hundreds of foreign correspondents converged on Helsinki. The Finns sought help from their Scandinavian neighbours and from Britain, France, and America. Help did arrive in the form of volunteers, medical personnel, and offers to take in Finnish children, but not the military aid the Finns desperately needed.
Finnish defenses tenaciously held out for over three months while inflicting stiff losses on the Soviets, but in February 1940 the final act of the war began. A new and massive Russian offensive was launched on the Karelian Isthmus. “Twelve Soviet divisions along with five Soviet tank brigades—approximately a quarter of a million men—were about to hurl themselves in the Viipuri area against two understrength, ammunition-poor, bone-tired Finnish divisions of less than twenty thousand.” (Gordon F. Sander, The Hundred Day Winter War, University of Kansas Press, 2013, p. 296)
For the first time, the Finns were forced to retreat from their main defense line, the Mannerheim Line. Although victories continued north of Lake Ladoga and the eastern Isthmus stood firm, by early March the Russians stood at the gates of Viipuri in the west.
Meanwhile, France and Britain had an expeditionary force ready to march to Finland, but neutral Sweden refused to grant transit rights. While negotiations continued, the situation of the Finns grew critical. Reluctantly bowing to the reality that Western aid would not arrive in time, the Finnish government signed an armistice with Russia on March 12, 1940. A ceasefire came into effect all along the front the next day, March 13.
The prospect of Western intervention prodded Stalin into negotiating an armistice, but one which imposed extremely harsh terms on the Finns.
The ceded area included Finland’s second largest city of Viipuri (Vyborg) and much of Finland’s industrialized territory–11% of the territory and 30% of the economic assets of pre-war Finland. Twelve percent of Finland’s population, some 422,000 Karelians, had to be evacuated and re-settled.
The estimated number of Russian dead has changed over the years. The generally accepted figure is 230 000-270 000. ]Finnish dead numbered approximately 25 000.
The Finns had lost so much and paid such a great price that at first the peace felt more unbearable than the war. That was before they knew how desperate the military situation on the Isthmus had been, how close they had come to catastrophe. Gradually, they understood. The peace was cruel, but there had been no other choice; and they still had their country and their freedom. –from Lost Ground
The last word goes to the man who led Finland’s army through the war, Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim, in his Order of the Day to his soldiers, dated March 14, 1940:
Soldiers: I have fought on many battlefields, but never have I seen your like as warriors. I am as proud of you as though you were my own children; l am as proud of the man from the Northern fells as of the son of Ostrobothnia’s plains, of the Karelian forests, the hills of Savo, the fertile fields of Häme and Satakunta, the leafy copses of Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi. I am as proud of the sacrifice tendered by the child of a lowly cottage as of those of the wealthy.
We are proudly conscious of the historic duty which we shall continue to fulfill; the defence of that Westerncivilization which has been our heritage for centuries, but we know also that we have paid to the very last penny any debt we may have owed the West.”
The Winter War in photos (courtesy of SAKuva (Finnish Military Archives) unless otherwise noted).
Finnish soldiers at Raate RoadAbrahamin- ja Lönnrothinkadun kulma Helsingissä.Sotilas auttaa evakuoituja vanhuksia Syväorosta eteläänEvacuees at PyhäjärviBomb damage in TampereSoviet attacks along the borderSoviet attacks on the IsthmusRaate Road 7Marshal C. G. E. MannerheimLutheran church in HelsinkiReadyAmerica wants to helpEvacuees in Kotka.Finnish troops in camouflageRaate road- Russian vehicles abandonedAustralian reporter in the Hotel Kämp press roomFlags at half-mast in March
Today is a historic day for Finland. The memories of standing alone against the Soviet Union in 1939 can finally be laid to rest. For the first time in its history, Finland is not alone–or will not be, when its application to join NATO is approved.
“Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement on May 12, 2022, hoping steps to take the decision would “be taken rapidly within the next few days.”
In two recent polls, public support for NATO membership has risen to well above 70 per cent, a number unthinkable only months ago.
The president, governing parties and parliament are overwhelmingly in favor of membership.
On May 11, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Stockholm and Helsinki and signed written deals pledging to support both countries’ armed forces should they come under attack.
“What it says is that in the event of a disaster, or in the event of an attack on either of us, then we will come to each other’s assistance, including with military assistance,” Johnson said at a news conference in Helsinki. Both Nordic countries are worried they would be vulnerable while their applications are processed.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced a rethink of how Finland and Sweden safeguard national security.
Asked if Finland would be provoking Russia by joining Nato, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be to blame for any decision to join the military alliance.
“My response would be that you caused this. Look in the mirror,” Niinistö said.
This was the voice of a new Finland, Nato-Finland. The voice of a sovereign nation free to express its opinions without fear and free to join whatever alliances and agreements it chooses to join.
In Russia, history is a moving target, constantly rewritten to suit the narrative of the leaders of the day.
The Winter War with Finland is a case in point. In May 1994, Boris Yeltsin finally issued an apology to Finland for starting the war and publicly admitted that it was part of an offensive policy of Stalin’s totalitarian regime.
Prior to this, the Russians had maintained that the war was instigated by Finland firing the infamous ‘shots of Mainila’ (proven to be a Russian ruse to create a casus belli). Recently, Putin’s campaign to revise history has reverted to the position that the Finns fired the Mainila shots and the Soviet Union was merely defending herself.
If this were a joke, it would be morbidly funny.
But the 25 000 Finnish soldiers who died in the Winter War are not laughing in their graves. Neither should anyone who is reading about it today, either outside Finland or—especially—within Finland.
Voices have re-emerged—had they ever really gone away?—claiming that the Finns brought the Winter War on themselves by their refusal to give in to the Russians’ ‘reasonable’ demands for concessions on the Karelian Isthmus. They argue that since the Finns ended up ceding most of what the Russians demanded in the first place, there was no need to go to war.
This is not how sovereignty works. This is the policy of appeasement, whose crowning ‘glory’ was the Munich Agreement that convinced Hitler of the weakness of the Western Allies.
.After the Winter War, Stalin did not consider the job in Finland finished. He signed the truce in March 1940 because the Finns had inflicted great casualties on the Red Army in a war that had dragged on too long, and was threatening to pull the Western Allies into a Scandinavian front that he did not want.
But his gains from the Winter War were not enough for him. He sent Molotov to Berlin in November 1940 to get Hitler’s approval to finish off Finland. Hitler, already planning Barbarossa, denied it.
There are many people inside and outside Finland who will never be convinced of Stalin’s real intentions. This is their prerogative. But consider some of the points below:
The Leningrad Military District, on orders from General Headquarters, held military exercises on March 26-28, 1939. The push through the Karelian Isthmus was to begin with a border incident in the village of—surprise– Mainila. A crystal ball?
In talks with Lithuanian Prime Minister Kreve-Mickevicius on June 30, 1940, Molotov said: “You must understand that small nations will disappear in the future. Lithuania along with the other Baltic states including Finland, must join our proud family of Soviet peoples. [This] is the future of all Europe.” These are not the words of a man concerned only with the defense of Mother Russia.
Before the outbreak of the Winter War, Russian troops were issued a guidebook called Red Army Guide for the Invasion of Finland 1939.
In his memoirs, Marshal K. A. Meretskov (Leningrad Army District) reveals that intensive combat preparations began in June 1939. Finland was to be conquered and Sovietized using Otto Wille Kuusinen to set up a puppet government. Stalin kept in close touch with Kuusinen through the ensuing months.
A puppet government under Kuusinen was, in fact, set up at Terijoki on the first day of the war, and some foreign diplomats believed it was real until the true Finnish government issued a statement to the contrary.
These are only a few of the points that speak to Stalin’s true intentions. There are many others.
“The Soviet Union’s objectives included the defeat of the Finnish Army, the annexation of Finland, strengthening the defense of the USSR by shortening its western border, mastery of the Baltic and North Atlantic, the establishment of military and naval bases further west, and increased efficiency of its war economy. These measures would provide maximum advantages in a war with Germany or the Western Allies.” – Juri Kilin, Petrozavodsk State University
The Soviet Union began the Winter War with over 25 divisions; by the time it ended, they had deployed 60 divisions, some of which lay shattered.
Stalin’s plans for the Sovietization of Finland and the destruction and relocation of its people were foiled by the incredible feats of a poorly equipped, tiny Finnish army, backed by the will of a nation.
Finland owes everything to them, and the debt is incalculable. The Finnish people must keep this truth alive despite the inevitable attempts to rewrite history.
Disputed Memory: Emotions and Memory Politics in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe: Overcoming Memory Conflicts: Russia, Finland and the Second World War, De Gruyter, First Edition (June 20, 2016)
By early March 1940, the final phase of the Winter War between Finland and Russia was underway. A new and massive Russian offensive had been launched in February on the Karelian Isthmus. “Twelve Soviet divisions along with five Soviet tank brigades—approximately a quarter of a million men—were about to hurl themselves in the Viipuri area against two under-strength, ammunition-poor, bone-tired Finnish divisions of less than twenty thousand.” (Gordon F. Sander, The Hundred Day Winter War, University of Kansas Press, 2013, p. 296)
Flags at half-mast in March
The Finns were forced to retreat from their main defense line, the Mannerheim Line, for the first time. Although victories continued north of Lake Ladoga, by early March the Russians stood at the gates of Viipuri in the west.
Meanwhile, France and Britain had an expeditionary force ready to march to Finland, but neutral Sweden refused to grant transit rights. (The main purpose of this expeditionary force remains unclear: likely some of it was destined for Norway to open a Scandinavian front and draw the Germans from France. However, Stalin was not eager to go to war with the Western allies, and the threat of their intervention in any form played a major role in his decision to make peace with Finland.)
While negotiations about the expeditionary force continued, the situation of the Finns grew critical. Reluctantly bowing to the reality that Western aid would not arrive in time, the Finnish government signed an armistice with Russia on March 12, 1940. A ceasefire came into effect the next day, March 13.
Ceded to Soviet Union
The ceded area included Finland’s second largest city, Viipuri, and much of Finland’s industrialized territory. Some 422,000 Karelians had to be evacuated and re-settled. When the terms of the peace were announced, flags in Finland flew at half-mast.
The estimated number of Russian dead has changed over the years and may never be known. The generally accepted figure is 230 000- 270 000. Finnish dead numbered approximately 25 000.
The Finns had lost so much and paid such a great price that at first the peace felt more unbearable than the war. That was before they knew how desperate the military situation on the Isthmus had been, how close they had come to catastrophe. Gradually, they understood. The peace was cruel, but there had been no other choice; and they still had their country and their freedom. –from Lost Ground
The last word goes to the man who led Finland’s army through the war, Marshal C. G. E. Mannerheim:
“Soldiers! I have fought on many battlefields but never have I seen your like as warriors. That an army so inferior in numbers and equipment should have inflicted such defeats on an overwhelmingly powerful enemy is something hard to find a parallel for in the history of war. It is equally admirable that the Finnish people were able to resist giving in to despair, and instead to grow in devotion and greatness. Such a nation has earned the right to live. “
Ulla Jordan 