1939, the last summer

1
1939, the last summer

• 1939 and the difficulties of staying neutral
• Misunderstanding
• Poor contacts with Moscow, lack of trust on both
  sides
• The Finnish leadership tried to stay out of
  trouble and, for many, believed in neutrality and
  a bluff by Stalin
• The French were afraid of German influence in the
  Baltic
• The catastrophe of the German-Soviet pact, August
  24, 1939
• Zones of influence in the Baltic
• War in September
• The Balts fell, September-October 1939
• Negotiations with Moscow, October-November 1939
• The refusal to bow to Russian demands of border
  modifications
• For Paasikivi, Mannerheim
• Against Tanner, Cajander, Eljas Erkko
• Misunderstanding, lack of information

2
The Winter War (December 1939-March 1940)

• The Red Army attacked, 30th November 1939
• Lack of elementary preparation
• Bad evaluation of the Finns will and capacity to
  fight the Soviet Union
• In Helsinki for Stalins birthday
• The bombing of Helsinki 7 years old Armi Hellevi
  Metsäpelto
• The Terijoki puppet government
• A government made of Finnish communist exiles,
  led by Otto Ville Kuusinen
• December The Red Army repelled
• The battle for Suomussalmi
• Motti
• National unanimity the spirit of the Winter
  War An ambiguous, yet real feeling

3
Diplomacy of the Winter War

• Stalin did not recognize any other Finnish
  government than the government of Terijoki until
  January 1940
• Finland fights! Finland as a European symbol
• In January, Stalin entered again in contact with
  the Finns
• The rather haphazard implication of the western
  countries in support of Finland had at least the
  benefit of frightening Stalin into resuming talks
  with Finland
• The last days of the war and signing the peace
• Finland stuck between the western powers and
  Stalin Max Jakobsons interpretation 25th
  February-13th March three weeks for nothing,
  paid in Finnish blood
• The last days of the war exhaustion, panic

4
The Moscow treaty and the interim peace,
1940-1941

• The Treaty of Moscow, 13th March 1940
• Karelia, Viipuri, territories in the north,
  Petsamo lost
• National identity Finland ended up second
• Finland tried to resume relations with the
  western states and Germany
• But France was beaten and England besieged by
  Hitler
• Tensions rose between Moscow and Berlin
• What to do?
• The peace widely regarded in Finland as a
  temporary arrangement
• Where to find help against increasing Soviet
  pressures?
• The domestic implications of foreign policy
  choices
• White activism and revenge
• Communists against the war
• Others divided

5
Germany rising, 1940-1941

• World War II
• Germany beat France and besieged Great-Britain,
  Summer 1940
• France occupied, Norway, Denmark occupied
• Germany attacked Russia, Summer 1941
• Germany as the main European power of 1940-1941
• The development in Finland of demands for
  alliance with Germany
• Claiming back the lost territories

6
The Continuation War, 1941-1944

• June 1941 Barbarossa, a war that started well
• During the summer and autumn, the Finnish Army
  was on the offensive, retaking the territories
  lost in the Winter War.
• However, the Finnish army also advanced further,
  especially in the direction of Lake Onega,
  leading to the occupation of Russian eastern
  Karelia, which had never been a part of Finland -
  or even, before 1809, of Sweden-Finland. This
  caused Great-Britain to declare war on Finland on
  December 6th 1941.
• A difficult situation
• Finland associated to Germany, depending on it
  for resources
• Yet reservations Mannerheim insisted on keeping
  the control of the German troops, he refused to
  complete the siege of Leningrad, he did not cut
  the Murmansk railroad
• The Finns were divided between those who wanted
  to press on with German aid, those who wanted to
  just take back the territories lost in 1940, and
  those who wanted to stop the war
• Most political leaders evolved from hawks to
  doves during the course of the war
• The Greater Finland project

7
To end a war

• February 1943 Stalingrad, the tipping point
• Military pressure June 1944, the Red Army
  launched a massive offensive against Finland.
  Vast numerical superiority, complete surprise
• Retreat to approximately the same positions the
  Finns were holding at the end of the Winter War.
  Eventually the Soviet offensive was fought to a
  standstill (Battle of Tali-Ihantala)
• International pressure March 1944, the US
  president asked for Finland to dissociate itself
  from Germany
• President Risto Ryti gave Hitler his personal
  assurance that Finland will not go out of the war
  
• But the equilibrium changed in Finland, and
  Mannerheim replaced Ryti as president in the
  summer of 1944
• Fierce internal debate, but the peace camp had
  more and more possibilities to express itself
• The Finns negotiated a peace with the USSR in
  September 1944
• Why Finland was not occupied and annexed?
• Is it luck? In September 1944, Finland was a
  sideshow for Stalin as he raced to Berlin

8
The war in Lapland, 1944

• The Soviet Union forced the Finns to expel German
  forces from the north of Finland
• The Germans fell back to Norway in good order,
  destroying most of Laplands villages and towns
• Ivalo raised to the ground
• In the north, the memory of this war is still
  very much alive

9
Finland an ally of Germany?

• The nature of association with Germany
• The ajopuu theory Finland the hapless victim, no
  choice, forced by external events?
• A separate war, with its own motives and goals
  (Tarja Halonen and official point of view
  Erillissota)?
• An association bordering on the alliance, with a
  strategic-political similarity of purpose
  (Leonard Lundin, Mauno Jokipii, Markku
  Jokisipilä)?
• Certainly the result of hope from increasingly
  embittered and radicalized Finnish leaders in
  1941 to associate with the strong power of the
  moment to conquer territories lost in 1940
• The association with Germany is undoubtedly a
  close association, based on a common venture
  (invading Russia, then defending from the Soviet
  Union) and that became a dependency
• Yet Finland remained a specific case in Europe

10
Concentration camps, partisan warfare

• Finnish Jews
• Concentration camps in Karelia and the North for
  Russian PoWs or local populations seen as
  unreliable
• Between 4000 and 8000 deaths
• Finnisizing Karelia the goal of the Finnish
  occupation authorities in eastern Karelia 47 of
  the population are Russians
• Mannerheim gave already in July 1941 the order to
  organize concentration camps.
• At first, classifications were made between
  national, a-national, foreign elements,
  etc
• This was abandoned in 1943
• The weight of previous cultural notions on the
  Russians
• Ryssä-viha
• Partisan warfare on the part of Russian troops
• Executions of spies, deserters, etc

11
Under the shadow of the Hotel Kamp

• The years of danger 1944-1947
• Finlands status after the signature of the
  armistice in 1944 is extremely precarious
• In the shadow of the Hotel Kamp an allied
  commission dominated by Russia and Andrei Jdanov
• The butcher of Estonia
• A Soviet leader using local communists and trying
  to influence Finnish politics
• Local communists unorganized, also nationalists
• Communist ministers in the government Domestic
  affairs, police
• The Red Valpo
• Bad appreciation on the part of Jdanov
• The local communists do not amount to much
• Controlling the police and the Domestic affairs
  does not give you the rudder of the country in
  Finland

12
Finland in 1947-1948

• Strategic change
• The USSR as a dominant neighbor, whose opinion
  has to be known, and approval has to be sought in
  all matters of importance
• The base of Porkkala, near Helsinki, as a symbol
  of the Soviet presence
• Germany divided
• Europe dormant, but soon unifying (what to do?)
• The United States a new, but remote power
• Intellectual, political, collective changes
• The sudden resurgence of the Labor movement
  memory, the idea that now is their time, at the
  same time worries for the future of the country
• Communists in the government in 1944-1948
• The narrative of White Finland challenged, the
  politics of White Finland challenged
• The SKs disbanded, a Communist Party allowed
• A world had crumbled

13
The Paasikivi line, 1947-1956

• A difficult balancing act
• preserving Finlands independence, market
  economy, and democratic institutions, while
  ensuring satisfactory relations with the USSR
• Changing the president
• In 1946 from Mannerheim to Juho Kusti Paasikivi
• Mannerheim had suggested the basis for a peace
  treaty with the USSR, Paasikivi negotiated it
• An intelligent man, a world-class diplomat, a
  conservative
• Ex-member of the Senate under tsarist rule,
  partisan of accepting Soviet demands in 1939,
  mostly in the peace camp during the war
• The idea that, however tasteless, Russia will
  not go away
• Paasikivi Accomodate the USSRs legitimate
  worries, but preserve the essential
• The Army is under alert in spring 1948 the
  reserve of equipment and weaponry of the Mobile
  Police (dependent on the Interior Minister) are
  emptied the Army and Navy guard the presidential
  palace
• Once the treaty is signed, Yrjö Leino is
  dismissed from his post on a matter of form in
  May 1948
• From Stalins point of view, a satisfactory
  treaty that allowed him to concentrate resources
  elsewhere Prague, for example

14
In the shadow of power

• April 6, 1948, the Agreement of Friendship,
  Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance (Ystävyys-,
  yhteistyö- ja avunantosopimus)?
• The Soviets sought to deter an attack through
  Finnish territory.
• The obligation to resist armed attacks by
  "Germany or its allies" (in reality interpreted
  as the United States and allies) against Finland,
  or against the Soviet Union through Finland.
• If necessary, Finland was to ask for Soviet
  military aid to do so. The agreement also
  recognized Finland's desire to remain outside
  great-power conflicts, allowing the country to
  adopt a policy of neutrality in the Cold War.
• Surprisingly favorable terms, even if open to
  interpretation for the future in which case
  should consultations be started?
• This problem of interpreting the treaty is the
  big question of the Cold War for Finland and the
  USSR
• The USSR uses it to gain leverage on Finnish
  domestic politics the Finns use it as a
  protection