Finland during World War II
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The Winter War
After Poland’s defeat in the autumn of 1939, the Soviet Union, wishing to safeguard Leningrad, demanded from Finland a minor part of the Karelian Isthmus, a naval base at Hanko (Hangö), and some islands in the Gulf of Finland. When Finland rejected the demand, the Soviet Union launched an attack on November 30, 1939, beginning the Russo-Finnish War. Immediately after the attack a coalition government formed under Risto Ryti. Despite courageous resistance and a number of successful defense actions, the defense of the Karelian Isthmus broke down, and Finland had to initiate peace negotiations. By the Treaty of Moscow of March 12, 1940, Finland surrendered a large area of southeastern Finland, including the city of Viipuri (renamed Vyborg), and leased the peninsula of Hanko to the Soviet Union for 30 years.
Cooperation with Germany
After the Treaty of Moscow the plan for a Nordic defense union was resumed. The Soviet Union still objected, however, and the plan was thus abandoned. In December 1940 President Kyösti Kallio resigned, and Ryti was elected in his place. When the tension between Germany and the Soviet Union grew in the spring of 1941, Finland approached Germany but did not conclude a formal agreement. Nevertheless, Finland, like Sweden after Norway’s capitulation, allowed the transit of German troops. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, therefore, German troops were already on Finnish territory, and Finland was ready for war; its submarines, in fact, were operating in Soviet waters. The “War of Continuation” (1941–44) began with a successful Finnish offensive that led to the capture of large areas of eastern Karelia. Some Finns were reluctant, however, to cross the old border of 1939, and the spirit of the Winter War that had united the Finns began to weaken. From the winter of 1942–43, Germany’s defeats gave rise to a growing demand for peace in Finland. After the breakthrough of the Red Army on the Karelian Isthmus in June 1944, President Ryti resigned on August 1. He was succeeded by Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim, who began negotiations for an armistice. This was signed on September 19, 1944, on condition that Finland recognize the Treaty of Moscow of 1940 and that all foreign (German) forces be evacuated. A pledge was given, moreover, to cede Petsamo; to lease an area near Porkkala, southwest of Helsinki, for a period of 50 years (in place of Hanko); and within 6 years to pay the equivalent of $300 million in goods for war reparations. In the meantime, however, the German army refused to leave the country, and, in the series of clashes that followed, it devastated great areas of northern Finland in its retreat. The final peace treaty, signed in Paris on February 10, 1947, reiterated the conditions of the armistice agreement.
Jörgen WeibullMarkku Ilmari Henriksson