The Winter War was a military conflict between Finlandball (allied with
Nazi Germanyball) and the
Soviet Unionball. The
USSR wanted to annex Finland
just like poor The invasion failed horribly however, as the Estonia.
Soviet Union suffered 3x as many casualties as the
Finns. The end result was an exchange of territory where Finland gave up 12% of its land to the
USSR, but the
Soviets suffered a severely embarrassing moment in their history.
Contents
History
The two empires
Until the 19th century, the area what became present-day Finland was a patchwork of two ethnic groups, the finns and the samis, under the control of the
Swedish Empire. In 1809, the Russian empire conquered the area, and converted it into an autonomous buffer state. While the area enjoyed wide autonomy, Russia then began to strengthen the central government, and unify the empire through russification. These attempts ruined Russia's relationship with the Finns, and increased
Finnish separatist movements and nationalism.
Collapse & Creation
The outbreak of World War 1 gave the Finns and opportunity for independence. The Russian Empire was destabilizing, and waves of protests and strikes ground the empire to a halt. The Russian Revolution and Civil War soon broke out, and the empire collapsed, leaving the different ethnic groups living in the empire to govern themselves.
Finland was finally free from foreign rule.
The War
The Invasion
The USSR began to claim parts of
Finland's clay, in order to create a buffer against a German attack, as the border was close to Leningradball (now St. Petersburgball). The
Soviets tried to negotiate with
Finland, to give up his Karelian Isthmus territory in exchange for other land. When
Finland denied the offer, the
Soviets decided to invade.
First battles
The Soviet's Red Army pushed back against
Finland's small reserve army through the first months of the conflict. Though the
Soviets outnumbered
Finland and had superiority with tanks and planes, he had difficulty in
Finland's clay, and winter weather.
Finland however, had a well led army, knew the terrain well, and had warm, snow white camoflage suits. Therefore, while he was vastly outnumbered, he was able to hold off against the
Soviets for a long time.
Ending battles
After months of fighting, Finland began to get tired. The
Soviet forces began to recieve fresh reinforcements, and his military was once again overrun. With no chance of help from the Western Allies,
Finland was forced to beg for peace and give some territories to Soviets.
Aftermath
The Treaty of Moscow was signed in 1940. The treaty forced Finland to give up 12% of it's land to the
USSR, including its second largest city, Viipuri (Vyborg). The League of Nations saw this invasion as illegal, and expelled the
Soviet Union on December 14, 1939. The Gulf of Finland islands, Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Salla, and Rybachy Peninsula, and lease of Hanko were given to the Soviet Union, but their reputation was damaged by how bad they performed, especially weak army leadership, and this was exploited by
Nazi Germany in Operation Barbarossa in 1941 where
Finland participated in to reclaim lost land in the Continuation War.
Gallery