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ols donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 background toggle background subsection 1 1 finnish independence 1 2 treaty of tartu 1920 2 winter war toggle winter war subsection 2 1 first offensive november 1939 2 2 second offensive february 1940 3 interim peace 4 continuation war toggle continuation war subsection 4 1 moscow armistice 5 lapland war 6 post war 7 assessment toggle assessment subsection 7 1 finland and nazi germany 7 2 finland and world war ii overall 8 see also 9 references toggle references subsection 9 1 sources 10 further reading toggle further reading subsection 10 1 historiography and memory 11 external links toggle the table of contents finland in world war ii 19 languages العربية azərbaycanca български español euskara فارسی suomi français עברית 한국어 português română русский simple english shqip türkçe українська tiếng việt 中文 edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia finnish soldiers raise the flag at the three country cairn between norway sweden and finland on 27 april 1945 which marked the end of world war ii in finland finland participated in the second world war initially in a defensive war against the soviet union followed by another this time offensive war against the soviet union acting in concert with nazi germany and then finally fighting alongside the allies against germany the first two major conflicts in which finland was directly involved were the defensive winter war against an invasion by the soviet union in 1939 followed by the offensive continuation war together with germany and the other axis powers against the soviets in 1941 1944 the third conflict the lapland war against germany in 1944 1945 followed the signing of the moscow armistice with the allied powers which stipulated the expulsion of nazi german forces from finnish territory the soviet attempt to conquer finland in the winter war was thwarted 1 2 and by the end of world war ii finland remained an independent country finland ceded approximately 10 of its territory to the soviet union including viipuri finland s second largest city population register or fourth largest city church and civil register depending on the census data 3 finland was also required to pay out a large amount of war reparations to the soviet union and to formally acknowledge partial responsibility for the continuation war finnish political policy during the cold war aimed to appease the soviet union to maintain good relations background edit finnish independence edit the grand duchy of finland as the country was named until 1917 in 1809 the russian empire seized finland from sweden in the finnish war finland entered a personal union with the russian empire as a grand duchy with extensive autonomy on 6 december 1917 during the russian civil war the finnish parliament suomen eduskunta declared independence from russia a declaration that was accepted by the bolshevik government of the soviet union on 31 december in january 1918 the eduskunta ordered general gustaf mannerheim to use local finnish white guards to disarm finnish red guards and russian troops throughout the country a process which began on 27 january and led to the beginning of the finnish civil war 4 after the eastern front and the collapse of peace negotiations between the bolsheviks and germany german troops intervened in finland occupying helsinki and other parts of the country the red faction was defeated and the survivors were subjected to a reign of terror in which at least 12 000 people died a new government with juho kusti paasikivi as prime minister pursued a pro german policy and sought to annex russian karelia which had a finnish speaking majority despite never having been a part of finland 4 treaty of tartu 1920 edit main article treaty of tartu russian finnish after the extinction of the hohenzollern monarchy on 9 november 1918 poland estonia latvia and lithuania became independent german troops left finland and british ships patrolled the baltic sea mannerheim was elected regent by the eduskunta and finnish policy became pro entente as the western powers intervened in the russian civil war 7 november 1917 16 june 1923 mannerheim favoured intervention against the bolsheviks but suspicion of the white russians who refused to recognise finnish independence led to his aggressive policy being overruled then the bolshevik victory in russia forestalled finnish hostilities 5 paasikivi led a delegation to tartu in estonia with instructions to establish a frontier from lake ladoga in the south via lake onega to the white sea in the north the importance of the murmansk railway built in 1916 led the soviet delegation to reject the finnish border proposal and the treaty of 14 october 1920 recognised a border agreement in which finland obtained the northern port of petsamo pechenga an outlet to the arctic ocean and a border roughly the same as that of the former grand duchy of finland claims on areas of eastern karelia were abandoned and the soviets accepted that the south eastern border would not be moved west of petrograd 5 winter war edit sympathy service on 20 december 1939 in new york left to right former president herbert hoover hendrik willem van loon and new york city mayor fiorello laguardia main articles winter war and mannerheim line during the interwar period relations between finland and the soviet union were tense some elements in finland maintained the dream of a greater finland which included the soviet controlled part of karelia while the proximity of the finnish border to leningrad now saint petersburg caused worry among the soviet leadership on 23 august 1939 nazi germany and the soviet union signed the molotov ribbentrop pact which included a secret clause demarcating finland as part of the soviet sphere of influence on 12 october the soviet union began negotiations with finland regarding the disposition of the karelian isthmus the hanko peninsula and various islands in the gulf of finland all of which the finns considered finnish territory no agreement was reached on 26 november the soviet union accused the finnish army of shelling the village of mainila later research indicates that the soviets had in fact shelled their own village in order to create a pretext for withdrawal from their non aggression pact with finland 6 on 30 november 1939 the soviet union attacked finland the attack was denounced by the league of nations and as a result the soviet union was expelled from that body on 14 december 7 first phase of the winter war the aim of the invasion was to liberate the red finns 1 8 and eventually annex finland to the soviet union 9 to this end a puppet government the finnish democratic republic was established in terijoki under the leadership of the exiled o w kuusinen 10 strategic goals of the red army included cutting finland in half and capturing petsamo in the north and helsinki in the south 11 the leader of the leningrad military district andrei zhdanov commissioned a celebratory piece from dmitri shostakovich suite on finnish themes intended to be performed as the marching bands of the red army paraded through helsinki 12 the soviets had been building up their forces on the border during the earlier negotiations and now fielded four armies comprising 16 divisions with another three being brought into position meanwhile the finnish army had just 9 smaller divisions 11 the soviets also enjoyed overwhelming superiority in the number of armour and air units deployed the finns had to defend a border that was some 1287 km 800 miles in length putting them at a significant disadvantage 11 first offensive november 1939 edit the winter war was fought in two soviet offensives divided by a short lull 13 the war was fought mainly in three areas the karelian isthmus and the area of lake ladoga were the primary focus of the soviet war effort a two pronged attack was launched in this region with one pincer engaging finnish forces on the isthmus while the other went around lake ladoga to encircle the defenders this force was then to advance to and capture the city of viipuri the second front was in central karelia where soviet forces were to advance to the city of oulu cutting the country in half finally a drive from the north was intended to capture the petsamo region 14 the first attack on 30 november 1939 was an aerial bombardment of helsinki with subsidiary attacks along the finnish soviet border this had the effect of instantly unifying the once deeply divided finnish people in defense of their homes and country without any referendums needing to be held 15 by late december the soviets had become bogged down with the two main fronts at a standstill as the finns counterattacked with greater strength than anticipated with two of its three offensives having failed by the end of december soviet headquarters ordered a cessation of operations by 27 december it was observed that the soviets were digging in on the karelian isthmus 16 in the north the finns had been pushed back to nautsi but with reinforcements had been able to take the higher ground and halt the soviet advance south of petsamo during this period the finns harassed supply columns and carried out raids against fortified soviet positions 17 a lull followed in january 1940 as the soviet army reassessed its strategy and rearmed and resupplied 18 on 29 january molotov put an end to the puppet terijoki government and recognized the ryti government as the legal government of finland informing it that the ussr was willing to negotiate peace 19 20 second offensive february 1940 edit the last phase began in february 1940 with a major artillery barrage that began on the 2nd and lasted until the 11th accompanied by reconnaissance raids at key objectives 21 the soviets using new equipment and materials also began using the tactic of rotating troops from the reserve to the front thus keeping constant pressure on the finnish defenders 22 relative to finnish resources the red army seemed to have inexhaustible amounts of ammunition and supplies as attacks were always preceded by barrages followed by aerial assaults and then random troop movements against the lines finnish military and government leaders came to feel that their only hope of preserving their nation lay in negotiating a peace treaty with moscow 23 the tenacity of the finnish people both military and civilian in the face of a superior opponent gained the country much sympathy throughout the world however material support from other countries was very limited as none of finland s neighbors were willing to commit their militaries to a war against the ussr the need for a diplomatic solution became even more apparent after soviet forces broke through the finnish defensive line on the karelian isthmus and moved on towards viipuri 24 a peace proposal authored by molotov was sent to helsinki in mid february it placed heavy demands on finland including claims to more land for the ussr and the imposition of significant diplomatic and military sanctions by 28 february molotov had turned his offer into an ultimatum with a 48 hour deadline which pushed the finnish leadership to act quickly 25 on 12 march 1940 the moscow peace treaty was signed with hostilities ending the following day by the terms of the treaty finland ceded 9 of its territory to the ussr this was more territory than the soviets had originally demanded 26 interim peace edit main articles interim peace and salpa line finland s concessions in the winter war the period of peace following the winter war was widely regarded in finland as temporary even when peace was announced in march 1940 a period of frantic diplomatic efforts and rearmament followed the soviet union maintained intense pressure on finland thereby hastening finland s efforts to improve the country s security defensive arrangements were attempted with sweden and the united kingdom but the political and military situation during the second world war rendered these efforts fruitless finland then turned to nazi germany for military aid as the german offensive against the soviet union operation barbarossa approached the cooperation between the two countries intensified german troops arrived in finland and took up positions mostly in lapland from where they would invade the soviet union continuation war edit main article continuation war relative strengths of finnish german and soviet troops at the start of the continuation war in june 1941 finnish armoured division sturmkanone 40 or stug iii ausf g sturmgeschütz iii ausf g sturmi photograph was taken on 4 june 1944 during marshal mannerheim s birthday parade at enso finland on 21 june 1941 finland began operation regatta operation kilpapurjehdus to deploy troops to the demilitarized åland islands operation barbarossa began on 22 june 1941 at 7 15 moscow time the people s commissar of defense of the ussr sent a directive 27 to the soviet armed forces with orders do not carry out raids against finland and romania until special instructions on 25 june the soviet union launched an air raid against finnish cities after which finland declared war and also allowed german troops stationed in finland to begin offensive warfare the resulting war was known to the finns as the continuation war during the summer and autumn of 1941 the finnish army was on the offensive retaking the territories lost in the winter war the finnish army also advanced further especially in the direction of lake onega east from lake ladoga closing the blockade of the city of leningrad from the north and occupying eastern karelia which had many ethnic finns living there but had never technically been a part of finland before this led joseph stalin to ask u s president franklin d roosevelt for help in restoring peaceful relations between finland and the soviet union on 4 august 1941 finland s refusal of the soviet offer of territorial concessions in exchange for a peace treaty would later cause great britain to declare war on finland on 6 december the us maintained diplomatic relations with finland until the summer of 1944 28 the german and finnish troops in northern finland were less successful failing to take the russian port city of murmansk during operation silver fox on 31 july 1941 the united kingdom launched operation ef to demonstrate support for the soviet union these raids were unsuccessful in december 1941 the finnish army took defensive positions this led to a long period of relative calm on the front line lasting until 1944 during this period starting in 1941 but especially after the major german defeat in the battle of s...
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