80 years ago, on November 30, 1939, the Soviet-Finnish war ("Winter War") began. Soviet troops launched an offensive on the Finnish border. The war was caused by objective reasons: the hostility of Finland, the inability of the Finnish leadership to come to an agreement with Moscow, and the vital necessity for the USSR to move the border away from Leningrad amid a major war in Europe.
The myth of the aggression of the "bloody" Stalinist regime
The Winter War was not widely covered in Soviet historiography. This was due, on the one hand, not very successful actions of the Red Army, on the other hand, a kind of "political correctness" of the USSR in relation to Finland. Finland after the Great Patriotic War, when she was "forced to peace", was considered a friendly country, although it did not enter the socialist camp. The Finns were "an affectionate calf that sucks two queens." That is, they used the benefits from friendship with the Union, and continued to be part of the capitalist world. Therefore, the official Soviet propaganda tried not to offend the “partner”.
After the collapse of the USSR, the situation changed dramatically. Liberal-democratic propaganda of Russia, official and free, began by all means to tarnish the image of the USSR and especially the Stalinist period. The "Winter War" became a popular topic in the denunciation of Soviet totalitarianism, "the Soviet" evil empire "and" bloody Stalin. " The authors, many of whom had previously loudly praised the USSR, Marx and Lenin, quickly "repainted" as liberals and defamed their homeland in every possible way. At the same time, they cited absolutely fantastic ratios between our and Finnish losses. It got to the point that it seemed that the USSR had lost the war, and Finland was the winner. Many ordinary people were sincerely convinced that the USSR had lost the war with a bang. That the Finnish skier-skiers easily defeated the “bast shoes” Red Army.
It is clear that any reasonable, objective reasons for the actions of the USSR were completely denied. The war was declared not unnecessary, unpopular to anyone. Supposedly, there was no objective need to attack "sweet and peaceful" Finland. The point is in the personal bloodthirstiness of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator. There was no logic in the actions of the “criminal Stalinist regime”. However, this is an obvious lie and enemy propaganda aimed at destroying Russian historical memory. Suffice it to recall the history of Finland.
The state created by the Russians
As you know, the Finnish tribes have never had their own statehood. Some of the Finnish tribes became part of the Russian state (for example, Izhora), or were part of the Russian sphere of influence. Other Finnish tribes in the XII - XIV centuries. were gradually conquered by the Swedes and became part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Moreover, during the weakening of Russia, Sweden also seized a number of territories where Finnish tribes lived, which were previously subordinate to the Russians. Under Swedish rule, Finland had no autonomy, not even cultural one. The official language was Swedish. The local nobility spoke Swedish, all educated people, it was taught in schools, books were printed. Only ordinary people spoke Finnish. Obviously, in the future, the Finns were waiting for a more complete assimilation and loss of language and culture.
However, the Finns were lucky. Sweden fought with Russia for domination of the Baltic. As a result, the Swedes fought to the extent that in 1809 they had to give Finland to Russia. Russian tsars were very generous people, especially to the national outskirts. The Russian empire was built not through the exploitation of colonies, like Western empires, but through the “internal colonization” of the Russian people. The Russians paid (including in blood) for the civilizational, spiritual and material rise of the national outskirts, including Finland. The Grand Duchy of Finland was created. In a little over 100 years of being a part of Russia, from the former deaf Swedish province, Finland, through the efforts of the Russian government, has actually become an autonomous state with all the necessary attributes. The Grand Duchy had its own authorities, monetary unit, post office, customs, did not pay taxes to the general treasury, did not give soldiers to the army. The taxes collected in the principality were spent only on local needs. Money from the capital went to the development of Finland. Finnish became the official language. All posts in the Finnish administration, except for the post of governor-general, were held by local natives. The imperial authorities tried not to interfere in local affairs.
There was no religious harassment of local Protestants. The Orthodox Church practically did not carry out missionary activity in the Grand Duchy. The policy of Russification was also practically not carried out. The Russians were not even allowed to move to the Grand Duchy. Moreover, the Russians living in Finland were in an unequal position compared to the locals. Some restrictions appeared only under the emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II, when Finnish separatism began to develop, and Finland, due to its autonomy, became a nest of various Russian revolutionaries. And these measures were too late and weak.
Thus, the Finns lived in the Russian "prison of peoples" very well and much better than the Russians themselves. In addition, St. Petersburg also cut the land to Finland. In 1811, the Vyborg province was transferred to the Grand Duchy, which included the lands that Russia had conquered from Sweden and received under the peace agreements of 1721 and 1743. This decision was very unreasonable from the point of view of military strategy - the administrative border of Finland came close to St. Petersburg (the then capital of Russia). But then the Russian tsars could not even imagine that someday Finland would be an independent, and even a hostile state. Russian rulers naively thought that the population of the new territories would be infinitely grateful to them for various gifts and forever remain loyal to the throne.
Strong pillow of St. Petersburg
Russia needed Finland for the defense of St. Petersburg and the north-western borders of the state. To do this, the Russians were fighting the Swedes even before the creation of the Russian Empire. And the Romanov empire fought four times with Sweden to protect the metropolitan area. The Gulf of Finland is the western gate of St. Petersburg. The southern coast is flat and low, inconvenient for the construction of fortresses and batteries. The Finnish coast is rugged with many islands and islets (skerries). It is convenient to build coastal fortifications here. There is also a unique skerry fairway along which the enemy fleet could pass from Sweden itself to Kronstadt itself. Therefore, the Russian Emperor Alexander the First said that Finland should become "a strong pillow of St. Petersburg."
Russia has invested many millions of rubles to strengthen the Finnish coast. Russian fortresses did not interfere with the Finnish population, as they were built on stony lands unsuitable for agriculture. But the Russian army and navy gave income to thousands of Finns. Russian military bases in Finland greatly helped the development of the economy of the Grand Duchy. Not to mention the fact that Russian officers, soldiers and sailors annually left significant sums in Finnish shops, shops, etc. In addition, at the shipyards of Abo, Bjerneborg, Helsingfors and others, hundreds of combat and auxiliary ships were built for the Baltic Fleet over the course of a century. Finnish shipbuilders enriched themselves well on this.
During the First World War, Finland enriched itself well from military orders and smuggling. There was no Russian customs here and various goods were transported through the principality. The Entente countries imposed an economic blockade on Germany, as a result, there began to be difficulties with food supplies. This is where Finnish agricultural products came in handy. Before the war, Finland supplied butter, cheese and other products to the central Russian provinces, and imported bread. With the outbreak of the war, food supplies to Russia were seriously reduced, while the import of grain to Finland, on the contrary, increased significantly. Russian grain and Finnish products went to Germany in transit through neutral Sweden (the Swedes also warmed their hands well during the war). The tsarist government was constantly informed about this by the gendarmerie, border guards and military counterintelligence. It got to the point that England and France in the fall of 1915 demanded that the tsar stop the supply of food and other goods to Germany through Sweden. However, St. Petersburg did not quarrel with Sweden, fearing her going over to the side of Germany. As a result, the "Swedish transit" flourished and brought huge profits to Swedish and Finnish businessmen.
In 1909, the construction of two powerful forts began: on the southern coast of the bay near the village of Krasnaya Gorka, the construction of the Alekseevsky fort was started, on the northern coast on the cape near the village of Ino - the Nikolaevsky fort. The forts were commissioned at the end of 1914. In 1915, the Russians began to equip the Abo-Aland position (it became part of the fortress of Peter the Great). By December 1917, the number of coastal and field guns in Finland increased even more. Part of the artillery of the Kronstadt and Vladivostok fortresses was delivered to Finnish territory (it was practically disarmed in peace with Japan and the war with Germany), guns bought from Japan, and even ship guns from the disarmed Amur flotilla. Almost all this wealth and ammunition, equipment went to the Finns. So Finland inherited a powerful arsenal, which in power exceeded the artillery of several European states at once.
Finnish gratitude to Russia
Raised and nourished with the full support and connivance of the Russian government, the Finnish nationalist elite has well "thanked" Russia. In December 1917, the Sejm proclaimed Finland an independent state. The Soviet government recognized the independence of Finland. The Council of People's Commissars did not know that the head of the Finnish Senate (government) Svinhufvud entered into negotiations with the Germans. That the Finnish nationalists are preparing for war by sending all the gold from the Bank of Finland to the north of the country.
In January 1918, a revolution began in Finland. It escalated into a civil war, where the Red and White Finns fought. The Reds had every chance to take up, since they relied on the most industrialized cities of the south, military factories, in their hands were the main arsenals of the former Russian imperial army. However, the Red leadership adhered to defensive tactics. Therefore, in February - March 1918, the war took on a positional character without a continuous front line, where the Reds and Whites confronted each other near settlements and important communications.
The passivity of the Red Finns led to their defeat. Whites (nationalists, liberals and the bourgeoisie) called for help from the Germans. Back in January 1918, Germany through Sweden transferred to the area of the city of Vasa the Jaeger battalion, which had previously fought with the Russians in the Baltic States. The White Finnish units began to train dozens of Swedish officers. In April 1918, the Germans landed on the Hanko Peninsula - the Baltic Division under the command of von der Goltz (12 thousand soldiers). Another German landing was landed near the city of Lovisa. With the help of well-armed and trained Germans, the White Finns took up. On April 14, the Germans captured Helsinki (Helsingfors), on April 29, Vyborg fell. The war was over in May.
White unleashed terror. Thousands of people were executed, thousands died in concentration camps. The total number of people thrown into prisons and camps has reached 90 thousand people. For comparison: during the hostilities, the White Finns lost 3, 1 thousand people, and the Reds - 3, 4 thousand people. In addition to the supporters of the Reds, the Russian community of Finland was hit. Russians were exterminated and expelled without any distinction, officers, their families, soldiers, students, old people, women, in general all Russians. If the Red Finns were exterminated on the basis of class, then the Russians - on the basis of nationality. That is, it was an ethnic genocide.
The White Finns began to attack the Russians at the beginning of 1918. They attacked parts of the Russian army located in Finland with the aim of seizing weapons, ammunition, and ammunition. Then these attacks in Finland were justified by the support of the Soviet government of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic. But this accusation is clearly strained. Russian troops in Finland lost their combat effectiveness in the fall of 1917, and were not going to participate in the local turmoil, they only dreamed of quietly leaving for Russia. The officers for the most part had a negative attitude towards the Bolsheviks, and were not going to help the Red Finns. The Soviet government, though sympathetic to the Red Finns, declared its neutrality, fearing Germany. The Bolsheviks could not even protect the Russian officers and soldiers who remained in Finland, the military property belonging to the Russian army.
At the same time, the Finns committed a large-scale robbery of the Russian community and Russian state and military property. In the very first days after the capture of Helsingfors, Abo, Vyborg and other cities, the property of Russian merchants and entrepreneurs was confiscated. The Finns captured all private Russian ships (the warships were defended in their own interests by the Germans). The White Finns seized Russian state property worth many billions of gold rubles (still pre-war).
The Germans and their local supporters planned to establish a monarchy in Finland with a German prince at the head. In October 1918, the parliament elected Friedrich Karl, Prince of Hesse-Kassel, as king. Finland was to become the protectors of the Second Reich. However, in November there was a revolution in Germany. Germany surrendered and lost the world war. Thus, the German king on the Finnish throne became irrelevant. The Finnish government, sympathetic to Germany, was dissolved. Pressure from the Entente forced the new government to ask the Hessian prince to abdicate. In December 1918, Frederick Karl of Hesse abdicated, and German troops were evacuated from Finland.
Greater Finland project
Not content with secession from Russia, the Finnish nationalists and capitalists tried to take advantage of the Russian Troubles and snatch Russian land. Back in February 1918, the commander-in-chief of the Finnish army, General Mannerheim, announced that he would not "sheathe the sword until East Karelia was freed from the Bolsheviks." In March, Mannerheim approved a plan to seize Russian territory up to the White Sea - Onega Lake - Svir River - Lake Ladoga. Finland also claimed the Pechenga region and the Kola Peninsula. Petrograd was to receive the status of a "free city" like Danzig. Finnish radicals generally dreamed of a "Great Finland" with the inclusion of the entire Russian North, Arkhangelsk, Vologda and up to the Northern Urals.
The goals of the Finnish invasion of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula were not only territorial acquisitions. The Finns knew that during the world war huge stocks of weapons, ammunition, various military equipment, equipment and food were accumulated in Murmansk. All this was delivered by the Entente by sea. Before the revolution, the tsarist government could not take everything out, and then the country was engulfed in chaos and the export was stopped.
The Finnish command gave the order for volunteer detachments to set out for the conquest of Eastern Karelia. On May 15, 1918, the Finnish government declared war on Soviet Russia. However, thanks to the intervention of Berlin, which concluded the Brest-Litovsk Peace with the RSFSR and was not interested in the Soviet-Finnish war at that time, the Finns did not fight until the fall of 1918. Germany in an ultimatum form forbade the Finns to attack Petrograd. The Finnish "hawks" had to come to terms with this for a while. The overly zealous Mannerheim was even temporarily dismissed. It is clear that the decision of the Finns was influenced not only by the position of Berlin, but by the strength of the Reds in the Petrograd area. Significant forces of the Red Army were concentrated on the Karelian Isthmus, the Red Baltic Fleet was a serious argument, which could deliver strong blows on the right flank of the Finnish army advancing on Petrograd. The Bolsheviks created military flotillas on the Ladoga and Onega lakes.
In the summer of 1918, Finland and Soviet Russia negotiated peace terms. In July, the Finnish General Staff prepared a project for the transfer of the Finnish border on the Karelian Isthmus from Petrograd in exchange for generous compensation by the territory of Eastern Karelia. This project was approved by the Germans. In essence, this plan repeated the same thing that Stalin proposed to Finland in 1939. However, on August 21, at the talks in Berlin, the Finns refused to conclude an agreement with Russia. They wanted more.
The situation changed radically after the defeat of the Germans in the world war. The Finnish authorities have sharply revised their foreign policy and relied on the Entente. The Finns suggested that the British send a fleet to the Baltic Sea. Cooperation between Finland and the Entente began, directed against Soviet Russia. In mid-October 1918, Finnish troops captured the Rebolsk parish. In January 1919, the Porosozerskaya volost was occupied. In April 1919, the so-called. Olonets Volunteer Army. Having captured part of South Karelia, including Olonets, the Finnish troops approached Petrozavodsk. However, in the summer, Soviet troops defeated the enemy and drove him out of our territory. In the fall of 1919, Finnish troops again launched an offensive against Petrozavodsk, but at the end of September they were defeated.
In July 1920, Soviet troops drove Finnish forces out of the territory of Karelia, except for the Rebolskaya and Porosozerskaya volosts. After that, the Finnish side agreed to negotiations. On October 14, 1920, the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed between the RSFSR and Finland. Russia ceded to Finland the entire Pechenga region (Petsamo) in the Arctic, also the western part of the Rybachy peninsula, and most of the Sredny peninsula. Volosts in Eastern Karelia occupied by Finnish troops returned to Soviet Russia.
Nevertheless, Helsinki was not going to abandon plans to create a "Greater Finland". Taking advantage of the fact that Moscow made a promise for two years not to contain troops on the territory of Rebolskaya and Porosozerskaya volosts, except for border guards and customs officers, the Finnish government again tried to resolve the Karelian issue by force. In the fall of 1921, a temporary Karelian committee was created, which began to form "forest detachments" and gave the signal for the invasion of Finnish troops. To repulse the enemy by the end of December, the Soviet authorities concentrated 8, 5 thousand people in Karelia. By the beginning of January 1922, Soviet troops defeated the main enemy grouping and in early February took the military-political center of the Karelian committee - Ukhta. By mid-February 1922, the territory of Karelia was completely liberated. On this, the fighting ended.
