Customer Reviews

The Winter War: The Russo-Finnish Conflict, 1939-1940

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some consider the war between Germany and the Soviet Union that started in 1941 an inevitable thing. I do not. Both Hitler and Stalin proved to be opportunistic followers of their own interests, and as the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact showed, they were both willing to cooperate in operating as if no other nation had a right to exist. What convinced Hitler that his armies could defeat the Soviet Union was the most amazing feat of arms that has occurred in the twentieth century. A small, lightly armed country with almost no border defenses managed to hold off the Soviet military forces for several months. This convinced Hitler and the German leadership that the Soviet military was inept and could easily be defeated.
This is the story of that war, told from the Finnish side. As was the case of so many events in the early part of the war, it started with a powerful nation demanding an increase in security at the expense of a weaker one. The actions of the Finns in standing up to one of the neighborhood bullies defines courage and tenacity. I was moved by the stories of how they fought until they simply had nothing left. It is also extremely significant that nearly all the Finns in the territory "won" by the Soviet Union abandoned their homes rather than stay and live under the grip of Soviet power.
The phrase Finlandization was used derisively during the cold war to refer to any nation that agreed with the Soviet Union. In this book, you realize how much Finland lost in the winter war, but also how much they gained as they stood up to a powerful neighbor and demonstrated how fiercely they value their independence. We can all learn something from that.

Hitler misread the capacity of the Red Army because Finland held out, alone, for 105 days against it in the winter of '39-40. An almost unbelievable tale of national and individual courage; a cautionary parable for small countries trusting the sweet words of the Great Powers.