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Origins of the Winter War: A Study of Russo-Finnish Diplomacy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 July 2011
Extract
The origins of the Winter War cannot be explained solely by reference to the hectic days which followed the Nazi attack upon Poland in September 1939. Issues then debated in both Helsinki and Moscow had deeper historical roots. Neither country could forget the bitter days of revolution, counter-revolution, and civil war in 1917–1918. Neither party had been fully satisfied with the Treaty of Dorpat (1930) which drafted the territorial lines of demarcation and specified mutual rights and obligations.
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References
1 He asked that the talks be kept in strictest confidence, since not even the Soviet minister was aware of them! Cf. Tanner, Väinö, Finlands Väg, 1919–40, Helsingfors, 1950, p. 9.Google Scholar
2 Ibid., pp. 14–17; also Mannerheim, Gustaf, Minnen, II, Helsingfors, 1951, p. 76Google Scholar; and Wuorinen, John H., ed., Finland and World War II, 1939–1944, New York, 1948, pp. 44ff.Google Scholar (The anonymous author of the Wuorinen manuscript is a respected and responsible Finnish scholar.)
3 This situation was fully understood by the German minister in Helsinki. Cf. his report of August 1, 1938, to the German Foreign Office, Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, Series D, Vol. v, Washington, 1953, pp. 589–93Google Scholar (hereafter cited as DGFP).
4 For the observations of the German envoy in Helsinki, cf. Blücher, Wipert von, Gesandter zwischen Diktatur und Demokratie, Wiesbaden, 1951, pp. 91–93.Google Scholar
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7 Cf. Blücher, , op. cit., pp. 115–17.Google Scholar The sharply critical, almost tragically toned article of the left-wing Social Democrat, Atos Wirtanen, in Arbetarbladet, were exceptional in their specific indictment of Hitler's program and their implied criticism of Western diplomacy. Articles for September 28–30, 1938, reprinted in his Ofärd och Gryning, Helsingfors, 1946, pp. 91–93.
8 This is paraphrased from a confidential Finnish source, which in turn is based upon archival research.
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10 Cf. Palmstierna, Carl-Fredrik, Alandsfrågan, 1918–1951 (Världspolitikens dagsfrågor, No. 4), Stockholm, 1951, pp. 18f.Google Scholar Although these islands were a part of Finland, Sweden had peculiar interests there because she was a signatory to the “Guarantee” of 1921, the vast majority of the population was Swedish-speaking and looked to Sweden as a kind of “protector” of its minority status, and the islands lay in waters which were of strategic importance to Sweden.
11 It is noteworthy that Germany gave its assent despite the categorical warning from Minister Blücher in Helsinki that the remilitarization was directed primarily not at the USSR but at Germany. See DGFP, Series D, Vol. v, pp. 607–9.
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15 Mannerheim, , op. cit., 11, p. 85.Google ScholarBlücher, , op.cit,. p. 142Google Scholar, furnishes the information that Erkko knew the islands were so located that they were defenseless, and “One rightist politician went even further and conceded that the [Karelian] isthmus lay in the Russian sphere of influence.”
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36 For the full speech and its proper context, cf. Pravda and Izvestia for November 1, 1939. Selections are reprinted in Finnish Blue Book, pp. 56–60.
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39 Quoted in ibid., p. 93.
40 Ibid., p. 94.
41 Quoted in ibid., p. 103; Tanner is the only available source for the Helsinki con, versations and communiqués of November 7–8.
42 Izvestia, November 14, 1939.
43 Ibid., November 29, 1939.
44 Pravda, November 16, 1939.
45 From Defense Minister Niukkanen's notes of the meeting, Försvarsminister under Vinterkriget, p. 96.
46 Source as given in note 8 above. This source also intimates that only the English minister, Snow, had any real fears of imminent hostilities.
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49 Ibid., p. 71.
50 Ibid., pp. 71–73.
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52 See his note in Finnish Blue Book, pp. 73–74.
53 An indication of the confidence with which the Soviet government played this game is that Pravda and Izvestia, on November 29, printed both the Finnish note and Molotov's reply in full on the front page.
54 Finnish Blue Booh, p. 76.
55 Some of the information in this paragraph comes from the source indicated in note 8 above.
56 Paasikivi reported, after his final return from Moscow, “It is my belief that Russia's interest in Finland has always been of a strategic nature, and that other considerations … have never been of any significance.” Source as indicated in note 8 above.
57 Cf. a recent work by “Candidate of Historical Science” Ivashin, I. F., Nachalo vtoroy mirovoy voiny i vneshnaya politika SSSR, Moscow, 1951, pp. 9–10.Google Scholar (The present writer is grateful to Professor Arvi Korhonen of Helsinki University for bringing this monograph to his attention.)
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