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Today is 83rd anniversary of end of Finnish Winter War against Russia

PoliticsToday is 83rd anniversary of end of Finnish Winter War against Russia

Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the end of the Finnish Winter War against Russia when 300,000 Finnish fought against 760,000 Soviet soldiers.

The Winter War, known as the First Soviet-Finnish War, was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. The war started with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940.

On Twitter, Very Finnish Problems said:  “Today marks the 83rd anniversary of the end of the Winter War when 300,000 Finnish soldiers, with 114 aircraft, 32 tanks, and some hard-working reindeer held their own against 760,000 Soviet soldiers, with 3880 aircraft and 6541 tanks.”

Despite superior military strength, particularly in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the organization.

The Soviets made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons – primarily the protection of Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. When Finland refused, the Soviets invaded.

Most sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland, and use the establishment of the puppet Finnish Communist government and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact’s secret protocols as proof of this, while other sources argue against the idea of a full Soviet conquest.

Finland resisted Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders while temperatures reached freezing sub-zeros of −43 °C (−45 °F). The battles focused mainly on Taipale along the Karelian Isthmus, on Kollaa in Ladoga Karelia, and on Raate Road in Kainuu, but there were also battles in Salla and Petsamo in Lapland. After the Soviet military reorganized and adopted different tactics, they renewed their offensive in February and crushed Finnish defenses.

Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty in which Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were big, and the country’s international prestige suffered.  Their gains exceeded their pre-war demands, and the Soviets received substantial territories along Lake Ladoga and further north.

Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to believe that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful and confirmed negative Western opinions of the Soviet military. After 15 months of Interim Peace, in June 1941, Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, and the Continuation of War between Finland and the Soviets began.

Someone commented that Finland holds the unique distinction of having capitulated to the Soviets twice during WW2, in 1940 and 1944 which their Nazi German friends managed to do only once.

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