finland in war
finland's borders before and after winter war, areas ceded by finland to the soviet union:
in autumn 1939 soviet union demanded estonia, latvia and lithuania to give their lands to them, so soviet union could build more military basements on their lands. baltics bended on soviet union's will. the similar conference call eventually also reached finland.
the moscow negotiations, which took place three times between october 12 and november 13, 1939, under the leadership of state counselor j. k. paasikivi, aroused justified unrest in finland.
stalin made high demands, citing the security of leningrad. soviet union wanted large islands of finnish gulf, a part of karelian isthmus, and rent hanko so that the soviet union could establish a military base there. as compensation, soviet union could give areas of repola and porajärvi back. understandably, finland did not agree to rent hanko because it was seen as too drastic a violation of finland's sovereignty, obviously. it's too close within helsinki, finland's capital. the soviet union sees the finnish border too close to leningrad, but doesn't see hanko too close to helsinki, sure.
during the moscow negotiations, in stockholm, there was conference with finland and other nordic countries. finland felt that they didn't get any proper support. finland was pretty much alone. president paasikivi got a lot of sympathy, but left that conference empty-handed. although germany was an ally of finland, the molotov-rippentrop pact caused germany to threaten and prevent finland from seeking help against the soviet union, because germany wanted to maintain good relations with the soviet union.
peace terms were tough.
- giving land away, borders of time of peace of winter war and renting porkkala
- reducing finnish army to same size it was in peace time
- deportation of germans
- shutting fascist organizations
- punishing war criminals
- war reperations
--> supervisory commission to finland
sources:
1. YLE - Elävä Arkisto - Sodan kynnyksellä Suomi oli yksin
2. YLE - Elävä Arkisto - Suomi nousee tuhkasta