On 13 March 1940, the Moscow Peace Treaty ended the Winter War. The conflict was spurred by the Soviet leadership seeking to push the military infrastructure jeopardising the security of Leningrad away from its borders and make sure Finland stayed neutral. But in many aspects, those events prove oddly similar to the dynamic of the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Just as is the case with Russia’s current Ukraine special operation, the West was spinning the Winter War as an act of unprovoked aggression against an independent state. Very much like modern Ukraine, Finland used to be part of the Russian Empire. It only seceded in the wake of the country’s collapse a measly 22 years earlier. Crucially, for most of that time it served as a major stronghold for Soviet Russia’s adversaries. But since the Winter War had broken out, almost all of the western European nations began shipping military aid to Finland.
Finnish Maidan
Independent Finland became a thing following the abolition of Russia’s monarchic rule and largely resulted from the weakness of the Provisional Government. In responding to the Finnish declaration of sovereignty, the Bolsheviks recognised Finland’s independence on 31 December 1917.
Importantly, Soviet Russia was still at war with Germany. The imperial army was crumbling while the Soviet military had not yet been around. Besides, the communist ideology advocated the ‘nations’ right to self-determination’. Therefore the authorities in Petrograd (present-day St Petersburg), the then-government’s seat, decided against foiling the execution of that right. However, they secretly hoped that the Finnish revolutionaries would prevail shortly thereafter and the fledgling republic would either rejoin Russia or have a pro-Soviet government.
Early on the more motivated Finnish Red Guards seemed to be overpowering Carl Mannerheim’s ‘Schutzkor’ forces. But pursuant to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Russia had to withdraw its navy from Helsinki and eventually vacated the Sveaborg sea fortress. Meanwhile, the Schutzkor was greatly helped by the German landing troops.
At this point it pays to recall the Maidan events. In 2014, President Yanukovych signed an agreement with the opposition leaders that stipulated the western governments’ guarantees and the withdrawal of special forces from Kiev. But what followed was the nationalist rebels assaulting the government quarter and taking over the reins of power.
As Soviet Russia could not consistently help the Finnish communists at the final stage of the civil war, these forces were joined by the Latvian Riflemen who formally did not represent the Soviets after Latvia was seized by the German army by February 1918. In comparison, 2014 also saw a surge in volunteers from Serbia and Transnistria joining the Donbass campaign.
On 14 April, the German troops took over Helsinki. On 29 April, Vyborg followed suit. The triumphant newly installed Finnish authorities immediately unleashed a wave of unspeakable terror in a bid to eviscerate every single opponent of theirs, which sent a chill even through the Kaiser-led Germany. According to conservative estimates, they arrested a total of over 80,000 people, executed more than 7,000 and put around 75,000 in concentration camps. While incarcerated, a further 13,500 people were either tortured or starved to death. The repression targeted the revolution sympahisers, the new government’s opponents, but also discriminated against the national minorities. The authorities sought to banish the Russians and other ‘aliens’ who had the misfortune of calling this country home before the Bolshevik revolution. The post-Maidan events look like a spitting image of the 20th-century Finnish scenario.
Finland as an anti-Russian stronghold
Stamping out the domestic ‘red scare’ was not the new Finnish government’s sole goal. Starting in mid-to-late January 1918, the Finnish detachments were crossing into Soviet Russia to head for the northern towns of Ukhta and Kem. Finland aimed to annex Eastern Karelia, a section of the Murmansk railway route and the entire Kola Peninsula, just as some Ukrainian Maidan activists staked claims to Russia’s Kuban Peninsula and Rostov oblast.
Mannerheim approved the ambitious plan put together by Kurt Wallenius, which extended beyond the seizure of Karelia and the Kola Peninsula. It was a blueprint to turn Petrograd and its entire metropolitan area, including Gatchina, Tsarskoye Selo, Peterhof and Oranienbaum into a ‘free city’ on par with Danzig whose status was enshrined in the Treaty of Versailles.
On 15 May, the Finnish government declared war on Soviet Russia. The town of Ukhta saw the establishment of Belomor Karelia, a breakaway republic seeking to join Finland. Other records alternatively refer to it as Arkhangelsk Karelia, a name that implied the Finns staking claims to the Arkhangelsk region.
In a 22 May 1918 address to the unicameral Finnish parliament, representative Rafael Waldemar Erich, the country’s future PM, said: ‘Finland will sue Russia over the damage caused by the war. This damage can only be covered by Eastern Karelia and the Murmansk coast joining Finland.’ The statement eerily echoes Ukraine’s hopes to have Russia pay war reparations.
In July 1920, the Red Army ousted the Finns from most of Eastern Karelia. 14 October 1920 saw Soviet Russia and Finland sign the Treaty of Tartu. The document enshrined the state border between the two countries, with Russia ceding the Petsamo area and part of the Rybachy Peninsula. The lands bordering on the Barents Sea, Lake Ladoga and the Gulf of Finland were recognised as a demilitarised area.
But the treaty did little to prevent the Finns from attempting a new incursion into Eastern Karelia. On 6 November 1921, the Finns launched an offensive that saw them reach the Kestenga – Suomusalami – Rugozero – Padany – Porosozero line. It was not until mid-February 1922 that the Finnish troops got kicked out of Eastern Karelia.
Yet Finland doubled down on its hostile policy towards the Soviet Union. In 1932, they made clandestine deals with the Baltic states and Poland to join forces and oppose the Soviet Union together in case one of the signatories was to square off with the USSR.
On 27 February 1935, Soviet foreign minister Maxim Litvinov had a conversation with Finland’s envoy to the USSR, Aarno Yrjö-Koskinen. The top diplomat said: ‘Finland has been mounting an unprecedented, consistently hostile media campaign against us. No other country has ever done that. No other neigbouring state is openly calling on people to attack the Soviet Union and annex part of its territory the way Finland is doing.’ Again, this is reminiscent of the propagandist rhetoric Ukraine was employing against Russia between 2014 and 2021.
As of 1939, among other nationalities, the USSR was home to a lot of Finns, the political exiles who had had to escape the right-wing nationalist terror unleashed by the Finnish government, which evokes the images of millions of Ukrainians fleeing their country as they feared political retribution from the newly installed Kiev authorities.
Ahead of the operation
Between 7 and 12 August 1939, Finland staged a large-scale military exercise on the Karelian Isthmus that simulated a potential Soviet invasion. A Soviet military attaché was not even invited to the event. It was a clear indication that Finland would only remain neutral until it found a powerful ally.
Soon enough the Wehrmacht’s Polish campaign showed that a heightened manoeuvrability of modern militaries could facilitate a blitz of a foreign country, with troops advancing dozens of kilometres in no time. That put Leningrad, a major city sitting just 32 kilometres southeast of the border, in jeopardy.
In October 1939, the Finnish delegation was invited to hold talks in Moscow. During a series of meetings, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, the head of the Finnish party, asked Stalin: ‘Who is it that is going to attack Russia?’ Stalin said it was either Germany or England. He added: ‘I clearly realise that Finland seeks to stay neutral, but rest assured, it is all but impossible. The great powers will not let you do that.’
In retrospect, we may think we know that Germany was the sole country that was eyeing an invasion of the Soviet Union because it ultimately did happen on 22 June 1941. But it was not that obvious back in the day. The hostilities that involved Germany fighting Britain and France were called the Phoney War for a reason. As the Wehrmacht was obliterating Poland, the Western Front action saw 85 French divisions taking on the 23 ill-equipped and poorly trained German divisions. But the Allies did nothing to stop it.
Meanwhile, in September 1939, Soviet merchant ships were arrested in British ports. France seized the equipment purchased by the Soviets and froze the Soviet assets placed with their banks. British ships began patrolling the Barents Sea.
In other words, Poland was still mounting a mammoth resistance effort, whereas the Allies were preparing to fight the Soviets instead of the Germans. True, Churchill eventually did deliver his now-famous speech on 22 June 1941. But the pronouncement came after the Battle of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, the Battle of Crete and the Nazi occupation of Greece. Yet the then-British PM, Neville Chamberlain, was busy appeasing Hitler. His political ambition involved letting Germany off the hook and finding a common enemy for the unlikely duo of the British Empire and the Nazis. The Soviet Union ticked all the boxes.
The Soviet authorities did not rule out that scenario but were doing their utmost to pre-empt a hot war with the West. One of the most urgent steps was to push the potential strongholds of the enemy forces far away from the Soviet borders. Between 28 September and 10 October 1939, the USSR negotiated mutual aid agreements with the three Baltic states. Moscow was entitled to setting up its military bases in these countries. The offer was extended to Finland on 5 October. However, the Finnish government rejected the deal, citing the country’s absolute neutrality.
The Moscow talks saw the Soviet leadership suggest that its Finnish counterparts swap 2,700 square kilometres of land on the Karelian Isthmus for a 5,500-square-kilometre swathe of land in Karelia (something Finland had dreamt of in 1918–19) and hand over a patch of land for the construction of the Soviet-run Hanko Naval Base under a 30-year lease agreement.
Finland made an attempt to defect to Germany. But at the time the Nazi authorities were still looking to keep things peaceful with the Soviets. Hermann Göring explicitly told Finland’s foreign minister Juho Erkko that they would be better off taking the naval base deal instead of hoping for Germany’s help. Yet the Finnish government did not budge even after Stalin suggested dropping the Hanko Peninsula clause and replacing it with any off-shore islands, which had been seen by the Finnish side as an acceptable move before the negotiations.
The Winter War
On 29 November 1939, the Soviet government withdrew its envoys from Finland. The next day the Soviet troops crossed into Finland without the government formally declaring a war. Shortly after being liberated by the 70th Rifle Division, Terijoki proclaims the establishment of the Finnish Democratic Republic and the People’s Government chaired by Otto Kuusinen.
While in 2022, the LPR and DPR people’s militias along with the Russian troops were faced with powerful concrete fortifications in the Donbass, in 1939, the Soviet troops were confronted with the similarly designed Mannerheim Line fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus and had a hard time clearing those obstacles.
Similarly to what happened shortly after Russia had started its special operation, in 1939, both Britain and Frances were ramping up a frenzied anti-Soviet propaganda campaign. Moreover, Finland was flooded with Western-made military equipment.
London and Paris were the biggest suppliers followed by Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Hungary and the Union of South Africa, a British dominion. Although the estimates vary, Finland is said to have received 374 aircraft, about 1,000 artillery pieces, anti-tank guns, machine guns, rifles, shells, cartridges and handgrenades.
Sweden sent 8,000 volunteers, with a further 800 coming from Norway. Denmark set up the almost 1,000-strong volunteer corps, only for the mercenaries to arrive on the scene too late.
Once the Mannerheim Line was eventually breached in February 1940, Moscow approached the Finns with an offer of peace talks. Moscow would be happy to have a neutral Finland with a slightly redrawn border, which was the subject of a previous negotiation. The situation was strikingly similar to the Istanbul peace talks of 2022.
But at the time the West was treating Finland just as it would treat Ukraine in 2022. They insisted on prolonging the hostilities. On 1 March, Britain and France told the Finns that 150,000 French, Polish and British troops were ready to be boots on the ground. They were forcing Finland to accept the military aid.
As the peace talks commenced on 5 March, the Allies – Britain and France – were insistent that Sweden and Norway allow them to send their troops through these countries’ territories, only for their plea to be turned down. Stockholm even warned that an attempt to do so would lead to Sweden incapacitating its railway network and public roads.
On 12 March, Neville Chamberlain and Édouard Daladier made a new statement where they encouraged Finland to ask them for fresh manpower, a request they were willing to grant. But the Finns never did it. Instead, that same day the Soviet draft peace deal was approved by the Finnish parliament by the score of 145 ‘yeas’ vs three ‘nays’. PM Risto Ryti signed the Moscow Peace Treaty, which came into effect on the night of 13 March.
The West eyeing direct involvement
Just like the way things are unfolding these days, the West was gearing up for a hot war with Russia. A French newspaper wrote in a 5 January 1940 piece: ‘The foreign aid has finally been approved for shipments to Finland. The British and Italian ambassadors have left Moscow indefinitely.’ According to historian Daniil Proektor, the soldiers posted to the Maginot Line were being inculcated with the idea that Nazi Germany was not France’s archenemy. The Soviet Union was.
On 19 January, before the Mannerheim Line was breached, French PM Édouard Daladier tasked Chief of Staff Maurice Gamelin and Navy chief François Darlan with devising a plan to invade the USSR and seize the oil fields. The three scenarios included intercepting the oil tankers, invading the Caucasus and inciting separatism Muslim riots in the Caucasus. The top brass opted to launch the aerial bombing of the key industrial hubs. The report Gamelin submitted to the PM on 22 February 1940 reads the fuel shortages would put a heavy strain on the Soviet armed forces and agriculture with a potential mass-scale famine or even a collapse of the state. In 2022, the West was too adamant about shredding Russia’s economy.
Besides, the Allies were planning on capturing Northern Norway and Sweden and rolling into Finland in a bid to repel the Soviet invasion and take over the Swedish iron ore fields (Plan R4). Deploying the navy to the Baltic Sea was part of Operation Catherine.
Even after the Winter War was over, the Allied top command was still busy masterminding land offensives in Scandinavian countries. The Norway operation could involve up to 100,000 British troops and 50,000 French army personnel covered by both the navy and the air force. Between 10,000 and 15,000 were supposed to cross into Finland. The Allies reckoned that the takeover of Norway would help them straddle the iron ore supplies to Germany and coerce Hitler into backing down. Meanwhile, the British and French troops would leverage the stronghold to pound on the Soviet Union . That would propel a large-scale Moscow offensive and put an end to the Phoney War by turning Germany into a weaker partner state with little to no say.
Today, the British government is jumping at every opportunity to force the new US administration to continue military supplies to Ukraine and the standoff against Russia the UK is going to benefit from big time.
However, the Norway-related plans crumbled after Germany had unleashed a massive attack on France. Both London and Paris had to abandon their hopes of an eastbound blitz and, instead, focus on their own survival. In the meantime, the USSR was preparing for a much larger and momentous conflict: the Eastern Front action of WW2.