![]() ![]() ![]() Soviet Russia, later the Soviet Union, recognised the new Finnish government just three weeks after the declaration. On 6 December 1917, the Senate of Finland declared the nation's independence. On 15 November 1917, the Bolshevik Russian government declared that national minorities possessed the right of self-determination, including the right to secede and form a separate state, which gave Finland a window of opportunity. World War I led to the collapse of the Russian Empire during the Russian Revolution of 1917 and to the Russian Civil War. Those attempts were aborted because of Russia's internal strife, but they ruined Russia's relations with Finland and increased support for Finnish self-determination movements. The resulting Grand Duchy of Finland enjoyed wide autonomy within Russia until the end of the 19th century, when Russia began attempts to assimilate Finland as part of a general policy to strengthen the central government and unify the Empire by Russification. From 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809, the Russian Empire waged the Finnish War against the Kingdom of Sweden, ostensibly to protect the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, and eventually led to the conquest and annexation of Finland and its conversion into an autonomous buffer state. Until the early 19th century, Finland was the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden. Neutral countries with military bases established by Soviet Union in October 1939 After 15 months of Interim Peace, in June 1941, Germany commenced Operation Barbarossa, and the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviets began. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to believe that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful and confirmed negative Western opinions of the Soviet military. Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation. Their gains exceeded their pre-war demands, and the Soviets received substantial territories along Lake Ladoga and further north. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty in which Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union. After the Soviet military reorganized and adopted different tactics, they renewed their offensive in February and overcame Finnish defences. ![]() The battles focused mainly on Taipale along the Karelian Isthmus, on Kollaa in Ladoga Karelia and on Raate Road in Kainuu, but there were also battles in Salla and Petsamo in Lapland. Finland repelled Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders while temperatures reached as low as −43 ☌ (−45 ☏). Most sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland, and use the establishment of the puppet Finnish Communist government and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocols as evidence of this, while other sources argue against the idea of a full Soviet conquest. When Finland refused, the Soviets invaded. The Soviets made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons – primarily the protection of Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the organisation. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The war began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. The Winter War, also known as the First Soviet-Finnish War, was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. ![]()
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