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The Winter War in Finland
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In the war against the Soviet Union, which country helped Finland with a major economic contribution?
August 23rd 1939. The Foreign Ministers of the Soviet Union and Germany sign an agreement not to attack each other: the Molotov—Ribbentrop pact. In there, there is a secret section.. agreeing to divide up eastern Europe between the two of them. Germany will attack Poland and occupy its western part.
The Soviet Union will occupy eastern Poland, but will also install military bases in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania. And Germany will let them. On September 1st, Germany invades Poland. On September 17, so does the Soviet Union. The two attackers quickly occupy all of Poland, as they agreed, and begin to divide it between them.
At the end of September, the Soviet Union claims the right to establish military bases in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. These three countries cannot defend themselves against the Soviet Union, and are forced to agree. So on September 28th, Estonia signs an agreement giving the Soviet Union the right to have air and naval bases on Dagö and Saaremaa, and in Paldiski. But Soviet leader, Josef Stalin, is still not satisfied. On October 12th, he demands the right to establish a Soviet military base in Finland, at Hanko.
He wants the Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus to be moved further north, away from Leningrad - which today is called St. Petersburg. And he wants the border in northern Finland at Petsamo to be moved west. The Finnish Foreign Minister Eljas Erkko refuses to accept the Soviet demands. Finland and the Soviet Union have signed an agreement not to go to war against each other: a non-aggression pact.
But Erkko saw what happened when Hitler wanted to take over small parts of Czechoslovakia.. and then took almost the whole country. Erkko believes that the Soviet Union might do the same thing. He does not trust Stalin. November 26th: The Soviet authorities claim that four Soviet soldiers are killed in the Russian village of Mainila, on the border with Finland.
They claim that Finland is to blame, and they terminate the non-aggression pact with Finland. November 30th: Without any declaration of war, the Soviet Union bombs the capital of Finland, Helsinki, and many other Finnish cities. And the Soviet Red Army crosses the border into Finland at Ladoga and Petsamo. The Soviet Union claims that Finland started the war by killing the soldiers in Mainila. But this is a lie.
Later research shows that Finland was not responsible. It was a secret operation by Soviet forces - called a false flag operation - to provide an excuse to attack Finland. Finland asks Sweden for help in the war against the Soviet Union. But Sweden, which is a neutral country, says no. They do not want to risk being involved in war with the Soviet Union.
Instead, Sweden helps in other ways. In one year, the Swedes raise 490 million kronor in war aid to Finland. A huge sum, in today's value, about fourteen billion Swedish kronor. And thousands of Swedish volunteer soldiers fight for Finland against the Soviet Union. The motto Finland's cause is ours became known throughout Sweden.
The Soviet invasion army, led by Marshal Kirill Meretskov, has almost half a million soldiers. The Finnish army is led by Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, a seasoned soldier who is just about to retire. His army is less than half that size. Stalin expects to defeat the Finnish resistance in 12 days, but soon finds out that he's wrong. The Finnish people, even though outnumbered, do not plan to give in.
Stalin realises that invading Finland is going to be difficult and cold.