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From
The National Interest:
Soviet Union Communist Party General Secretary Josef Stalin—known
simply as the “Vozhd” or “Boss” to his inner circle—had ordered his
massive armies to invade Finland, a blatant act of aggression, in 1939, a
year of aggression. His massive armies, lavishly equipped with tanks,
guns, and aircraft, easily outnumbered the Finns, and Stalin expected
that he would carve out a land barrier between Leningrad, Russia’s
“Window on the West,” and his supposed ally, Nazi Germany.
At first the bloodthirsty dictator sought to gain millions of
acres of Finnish soil through diplomacy, but despite their country’s
small size and weaker economy the Finns were tougher than the nations
that had given in to Hitler in 1938 over Czechoslovakia. They would not
yield an inch of their forested soil. Their three million people would
stand against the Soviet Union’s 105 million.
On paper, the Finns had no chance. But this war, like all wars,
was not fought in a ledger book. Unlike other wars, the war between
Russia and Finland was fought in a winter landscape of endless forests,
swamps, frozen lakes, subfreezing temperatures, and wilderness. Unlike
their enemies, the Finns were at home in this dreadful environment and
prepared to fight in it. (Read more.)
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3 comments:
This is a fascinating topic, I can highly recommend studying this war, as well as the life of the Finnish commander, Marshal Mannerheim, a Swedish nobleman, Tsarist officer, and finally, in spite of his own monarchist convictions, soldier/ statesman of the new Republic of Finland. In terms of his significance to Finnish history, he could be compared to Washington, Lincoln and Churchill all in one.
http://www.mannerheim.fi
There are excellent biographies of Mannerheim by J.E.O. Screen and Stig Jagerskiold, which are in English.
Probably could make a great novel too !
Whatever anyone says about the better preparedness of the Finns, this was still a historical miracle.
I should have added, that his eldest daughter, Anastasie Mannerheim, converted to Catholicism and was a Carmelite nun for some time.
Mannerheim served in the Chevalier Guards in St. Petersburg as a young man and was married to a Russian lady, Anastasia Arapova. If I remember correctly, I believe the children were raised Orthodox, although he himself was technically Lutheran (his actual religious beliefs are not completely clear and I don't think he was a typical Lutheran). Although his marriage did not work out and the couple separated and eventually divorced, they were reconciled shortly before his wife's death. Even the separation turned out to be providential in a way, because his wife had taken the girls to live in France, so they were safely outside Russia when the Bolshevik Revolution broke out. While he never converted, Mannerheim was moved by the Orthodox liturgy and devoted all his life to Tsar Nicholas II, although he disagreed with some of his policies. He also prayed in an Orthodox church upon hearing of the death of his wife.
Thanks so much for the fascinating information!!
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