Background of the Winter War

Winter War
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The background of the Winter War covers the period before the outbreak of the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union (1939–1940), which stretches from the Finnish Declaration of Independence in 1917 to the Soviet-Finnish negotiations in 1938–1939.

Before its independence, Finland had been an autonomous grand duchy within Imperial Russia.[1] During the ensuing Finnish Civil War, the Red Guards, supported by the Russian Bolsheviks, were defeated. Fearful of Soviet designs, in the 1920s and the 1930s, the Finns were constantly attempting to align themselves with Scandinavian neutrality, particularly regarding to Sweden.[2] Furthermore, the Finns engaged in secret military co-operation with Estonia in the 1930s.[3]

During the late 1920s and the early 1930s, relations with the Soviet Union had normalized to a degree, but in 1938, the Soviets feared that Finland could be used as a springboard for an invasion and so started negotiations to conclude a military agreement. Meanwhile, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's revanchism to recover the territories of the Russian Empire that had been lost during its break up as result of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Russian Civil War made Finland an obvious target.[4]

The nature of the Soviet demands, which included the installation of Soviet military facilities on Finnish soil, made them go nowhere.[5]

In August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in which Eastern Europe was divided into spheres of interest. Finland belonged to the Soviet sphere of interest. In September and October 1939, the Baltic states agreed to Soviet demands that included the establishment of Soviet military bases within those countries. Stalin then turned his sights on Finland, and was confident of control being gained without great effort.[6]

The Soviet Union demanded territories on the Karelian Isthmus, the islands of the Gulf of Finland, a military base near the Finnish capital, and the destruction of all defensive fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus.[7] Helsinki again refused, and the Red Army attacked on 30 November 1939. Simultaneously, Stalin set up a puppet government for the Finnish Democratic Republic, headed by the Finnish communist Otto Wille Kuusinen.[8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Trotter2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Edwards6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference talvisodanpikkujattilainen-turtola5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Edwards5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Edwards 2006, p. 55
  6. ^ Turtola, Martti (1999). "Kansainvälinen kehitys Euroopassa ja Suomessa 1930-luvulla". In Leskinen, Jari; Juutilainen, Antti (eds.). Talvisodan pikkujättiläinen. pp. 35–37.
  7. ^ "Soviet Demands October 1939" (PDF). histdoc.net. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  8. ^ Chubaryan; Shukman 2002, p. xxi