75 years ago, on November 30, 1939, the Winter War (Soviet-Finnish War) began. The Winter War was almost unknown to the inhabitants of Russia for a long time. In the 1980s-1990s, when one could blaspheme the history of Russia-USSR with impunity, the dominant point of view was that “bloody Stalin” wanted to seize “innocent” Finland, but a small but proud northern people rebuffed the northern “empire of evil”. Thus, Stalin was blamed not only for the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940, but also for the fact that Finland was “forced” to enter into an alliance with Hitler's Germany in order to resist the “aggression” of the Soviet Union.
Many books and articles denounced Soviet Mordor, which attacked little Finland. They called absolutely fantastic numbers of Soviet losses, reported about the heroic Finnish machine gunners and snipers, the stupidity of Soviet generals and much more. Any reasonable reasons for the Kremlin's actions have been denied. Like, the irrational malice of the "bloody dictator" is to blame.
In order to understand why Moscow went to this war, it is necessary to recall the history of Finland. For a long time Finnish tribes were on the periphery of the Russian state and the Swedish kingdom. Some of them became part of Russia, became "Russians". The fragmentation and weakening of Russia led to the fact that the Finnish tribes were conquered and subdued by Sweden. The Swedes pursued a colonization policy in the tradition of the West. Finland did not have administrative or even cultural autonomy. The official language was Swedish, spoken by the nobles and the entire educated segment of the population.
Russia, having taken Finland away from Sweden in 1809, essentially gave the Finns statehood, made it possible to create basic state institutions, and shape the national economy. Finland received its own government, currency and even an army within Russia. At the same time, the Finns did not pay general taxes and did not fight for Russia. The Finnish language, while maintaining the status of the Swedish language, received the status of the state language. The authorities of the Russian Empire practically did not interfere in the affairs of the Grand Duchy of Finland. The policy of Russification in Finland was not carried out for a long time (some elements appeared only in the late period, but it was already too late). The resettlement of Russians to Finland was actually prohibited. Moreover, the Russians living in the Grand Duchy were in an unequal position in relation to the local residents. Besides,in 1811, the Vyborg province was transferred to the Grand Duchy, which included the lands that Russia seized from Sweden in the 18th century. Moreover, Vyborg was of great military and strategic importance in relation to the capital of the Russian Empire - St. Petersburg. Thus, the Finns in the Russian "prison of peoples" lived better than the Russians themselves, who bore all the hardships of building the empire and its defense from numerous enemies.
The collapse of the Russian Empire gave Finland independence. Finland thanked Russia by first entering into an alliance with Kaiser's Germany, and then with the Entente powers (for more details in a series of articles - How Russia created Finnish statehood; [/url] Part 2; Finland in alliance with Kaiser's Germany against Russia; Part 2; Finland in alliance with the Entente against Russia The First Soviet-Finnish War; Part 2). On the eve of World War II, Finland occupied a hostile position in relation to Russia, tending to an alliance with the Third Reich.
The majority of Russian citizens associate Finland with a “cozy little European country”, with peaceful and cultured people. This was facilitated by a kind of "political correctness" towards Finland, which reigned in late Soviet propaganda. Finland, after defeat in the 1941-1944 war, learned a good lesson and reaped the maximum benefits from its proximity to the huge Soviet Union. Therefore, the USSR did not remember that the Finns attacked the USSR three times in 1918, 1921 and 1941. They preferred to forget about it for the sake of good relations.
Finland was not a peaceful neighbor of Soviet Russia. The separation of Finland from Russia was not peaceful. A civil war broke out between white and red Finns. The Whites were supported by Germany. The Soviet government refrained from large-scale support for the Reds. Therefore, with the help of the Germans, the White Finns gained the upper hand. The victors created a network of concentration camps, unleashed the White Terror, during which tens of thousands of people died (during the hostilities themselves, only a few thousand people died on both sides). In addition to the Reds and their supporters, the Finns "cleaned out" the Russian community in Finland. Moreover, the majority of Russians in Finland, including refugees from Russia who fled from the Bolsheviks, did not support the Reds and the Soviet regime. Former officers of the tsarist army, their families, representatives of the bourgeoisie, intelligentsia, numerous students,the entire Russian population indiscriminately, women, old people and children. Significant material assets belonging to the Russians were confiscated.
The Finns were going to put the German king on the throne of Finland. However, the defeat of Germany in the war led to the fact that Finland became a republic. After that, Finland began to focus on the Entente powers. Finland was not satisfied with independence, the Finnish elite wanted more, claiming Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula, and the most radical leaders made plans to build a "Great Finland" with the inclusion of Arkhangelsk, and Russian lands up to the Northern Urals, Ob and Yenisei (the Urals and Western Siberia are considered the ancestral home of the Finno-Ugric language family).
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The leadership of Finland, like that of Poland, was not satisfied with the existing borders, preparing for war. Poland had territorial claims to almost all of its neighbors - Lithuania, the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Germany, the Polish lords dreamed of restoring a great power "from sea to sea." More or less they know about this in Russia. But few people know that the Finnish elite raved about a similar idea, the creation of "Greater Finland". The ruling elite also aimed to create Greater Finland. The Finns did not want to get involved with the Swedes, but they claimed Soviet lands that were larger than Finland itself. The radicals had unlimited appetites, stretching all the way to the Urals and further to the Ob and Yenisei.
And for a start they wanted to seize Karelia. Soviet Russia was torn apart by the Civil War, and the Finns wanted to take advantage of this. Thus, in February 1918, General K. Mannerheim declared that "he will not put the sword into its sheath until Eastern Karelia is freed from the Bolsheviks." Mannerheim planned to seize Russian lands along the line White Sea - Onega Lake - Svir River - Ladoga Lake, which was supposed to facilitate the defense of the new lands. It was also planned to include the Pechenga (Petsamo) region and the Kola Peninsula in the Greater Finland. They wanted to separate Petrograd from Soviet Russia and make it a "free city" like Danzig. On May 15, 1918 Finland declared war on Russia. Even before the official declaration of war, the Finnish volunteer detachments began to conquer Eastern Karelia.
Soviet Russia was busy fighting on other fronts, so it did not have the strength to defeat its insolent neighbor. However, the Finnish offensive against Petrozavodsk and Olonets, the campaign against Petrograd across the Karelian Isthmus failed. And after the defeat of the white army of Yudenich, the Finns had to go to peace. Peace negotiations took place in Tartu from 10 to 14 July 1920. The Finns demanded to hand over Karelia to them, the Soviet side refused. In the summer, the Red Army drove out the last Finnish detachments from Karelian territory. The Finns held only two volosts - Rebola and Porosozero. This made them more accommodating. There was no hope for help from the West either, the Entente powers had already realized that the intervention in Soviet Russia had failed. On October 14, 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed between the RSFSR and Finland. The Finns were able to get the Pechenga volost, the western part of the Rybachy peninsula,and most of the Sredny peninsula and islands, west of the boundary line in the Barents Sea. Rebola and Porosozero were returned to Russia.
This did not satisfy Helsinki. The plans to build "Greater Finland" were not abandoned, they were only postponed. In 1921 Finland again tried to solve the Karelian question by force. Finnish volunteer detachments, without declaring war, invaded Soviet territory, the Second Soviet-Finnish War began. In February 1922, Soviet forces completely liberated the territory of Karelia from the invaders. In March, an agreement was signed on the adoption of measures to ensure the inviolability of the Soviet-Finnish border.
But even after this failure, the Finns did not cool down. The situation on the Finnish border was constantly tense. Many people, remembering the USSR, imagine a huge powerful power that defeated the Third Reich, took Berlin, sent the first man into space and made the entire Western world tremble. Like, how small Finland could threaten the huge northern "empire of evil". However, the USSR in the 1920s-1930s. was a great power only in terms of territory and potential. The real policy of Moscow was then super-cautious. In fact, for quite a long time Moscow, until it got stronger, pursued an extremely flexible policy, most often yielding, did not climb on the rampage.
For example, the Japanese plundered our waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula for a long time. Under the protection of their warships, Japanese fishermen not only cleanly caught all the living creatures from our waters for millions of gold rubles, but also freely landed on our shores for repair, fish processing, fresh water, etc. Before Khasan and Khalkin-gol, when The USSR grew stronger thanks to successful industrialization, received a powerful military-industrial complex and strong armed forces, the red commanders had strict orders to restrain Japanese troops only on their territory, without crossing the border. A similar situation was in the Russian North, where Norwegian fishermen fished in the USSR inland waters. And when Soviet border guards tried to protest, Norway took out warships to the White Sea.
Of course, Finland no longer wanted to fight the USSR alone. Finland became a friend of any power hostile to Russia. As the first Finnish Prime Minister Per Evind Svinhufvud noted: "Any enemy of Russia should always be a friend of Finland." Against this background, Finland has made friendship even with Japan. Japanese officers began to come to Finland for training. In Finland, as in Poland, they feared any strengthening of the USSR, since their leadership based their calculations on the fact that a war of some great Western power with Russia was inevitable (or a war between Japan and the USSR), and they would be able to profit from the Russian lands. … Inside Finland, the press was constantly hostile to the USSR, conducting practically open propaganda for the attack on Russia and the seizure of its territories. All sorts of provocations on land, in the sea and in the air constantly took place on the Soviet-Finnish border.
After the hopes for an imminent conflict between Japan and the USSR did not materialize, the Finnish leadership embarked on a course towards a close alliance with Germany. The two countries were linked by close military-technical cooperation. With the consent of Finland, a German intelligence and counterintelligence center ("Cellarius Bureau") was established in the country. Its main task was to conduct intelligence work against the USSR. First of all, the Germans were interested in data on the Baltic Fleet, formations of the Leningrad Military District and industry in the northwestern part of the USSR. By the beginning of 1939, Finland, with the help of German specialists, had built a network of military airfields, which was capable of receiving 10 times more aircraft than the Finnish Air Force had. Quite indicative is the fact that even before the outbreak of the war of 1939-1940. The Finnish swastika was the mark of the Finnish Air Force and armored forces.
Thus, by the beginning of the big war in Europe, we had a clearly hostile, aggressive state on the north-western borders, the elite of which dreamed of building a “Greater Finland at the expense of Russian (Soviet) lands and was ready to be friends with any potential enemy of the USSR. Helsinki was ready to fight the USSR both in alliance with Germany and Japan, and with the help of England and France.
The Soviet leadership understood everything perfectly and, seeing the approach of a new world war, sought to secure the north-western borders. Of particular importance was Leningrad - the second capital of the USSR, a powerful industrial, scientific and cultural center, as well as the main base of the Baltic Fleet. Finnish long-range artillery could shell the city from its border, and ground forces could reach Leningrad in one dash. The fleet of a potential enemy (Germany or England and France) could easily break through to Kronstadt, and then Leningrad. To protect the city, it was necessary to push back the land border on land, as well as restore the distant line of defense at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, having received a place for fortifications on the northern and southern shores. The largest fleet of the Soviet Union, the Baltic, was actually blocked in the eastern part of the Gulf of Finland. The Baltic Fleet had only one base - Kronstadt. Kronstadt and Soviet ships could be hit by long-range guns of the Finnish coastal defense. This situation could not satisfy the Soviet leadership.
The issue with Estonia was resolved peacefully. In September 1939, a mutual assistance agreement was signed between the USSR and Estonia. A Soviet military contingent was brought into Estonia. The USSR received the rights to establish military bases on the islands of Ezel and Dago, in Paldiski and Haapsalu.
It was not possible to come to an amicable agreement with Finland. Although negotiations began back in 1938. Moscow has tried literally everything. She offered to conclude a mutual assistance agreement and jointly defend the Gulf of Finland zone, give the USSR the opportunity to create a base on the coast of Finland (Hanko Peninsula), sell or lease several islands in the Gulf of Finland. It was also proposed to move the border near Leningrad. As compensation, the Soviet Union offered much larger territory of Eastern Karelia, soft loans, economic benefits, etc. However, all the proposals met with a categorical refusal of the Finnish side. One cannot fail to note the inflammatory role of London. The British told the Finns that they needed to take a firm stand and not succumb to pressure from Moscow. This has encouraged Helsinki.
In Finland, began a general mobilization and evacuation of the civilian population from the border areas. At the same time, left-wing figures were arrested. Incidents have become more frequent at the border. So, on November 26, 1939, a border incident occurred near the village of Mainila. According to Soviet data, Finnish artillery fired at Soviet territory. The Finnish side declared the USSR provocation to be the culprit. On November 28, the Soviet government announced the denunciation of the Non-Aggression Pact with Finland. The war broke out on November 30. Its results are known. Moscow has solved the problem of ensuring the security of Leningrad and the Baltic Fleet. We can say that it was only thanks to the Winter War that the enemy was unable to capture the second capital of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War.
Now Finland is again drifting towards the West, NATO, so it is worth keeping a close eye on it. A "cozy and cultured" country can again recall the plans of "Greater Finland" up to the Northern Urals. Finland and Sweden are thinking about joining NATO, while the Baltics and Poland are literally turning into NATO's forward staging areas for aggression against Russia. And Ukraine is becoming an instrument for the war with Russia in the southwestern direction.
Author: Samsonov Alexander
