The reasons the Soviets accepted a peace treaty in 1944 were quite simple. First, the Soviet offensive against Finland in the summer of 1944 had been finally stopped and defeated on all fronts by the Finnish army. If the Soviets wanted to push further they would need another offensive and a build up of troops and equipment to try again. Second, it was more important to beat the western allies to Berlin than it was to annex Finland as a whole. Simply put, Finland wasn't weak enough to be easily crushed and not important enough to have even more resources thrown at it when they were needed elsewhere.

@jaakkomaaniemi2136

3 ай бұрын

The key was the rush to Berlin. Conquering Finland was taking way too much time and troops, which the Soviets needed badly to get to Berlin before the Allies. A difference of just a few months might have made things turn out very differently.

And now Karelia is one of the poorest regions of Russia. A shame :( I think todays Finland would be a lot worse to face in combat. Always prepared. Tough people. Respect from Norway.

@Mojova1

Ай бұрын

You think todays Finland would be a lot worse to face in combat? 😁Largest artillery in Europe and over 900 000 men capable to fight. Love you too Norway.

Indeed, there are stories that soviets tried to advance over frozen lake, but finnish artillery placed few good shots around the "horde", resulting to the ice breaking and soviet troops (and their equipments) drowning.

I love your calm and insightful reactions. Best wishes! My Finnish grandparents fought those wars, left their homes behind the border. When we were kids we were taught nothing like that happens again.

Baltic countries gave soviets the land they demanded and then got occupied after.

@planetfourthreich3022

2 ай бұрын

Yeah USSR was expanding to 7-9 diffrent countries (+Starting war against Poland 1920 and then later Finland)...I dont hear much from Britain or USA during all this All they really can do cry and piss blood over Germany, And Hitler..

Watch a video on Continuation war to get a better understanding about the end result. I also recommend to watch a Finnish movie called Unknown Soldier.

Finland used explosives, mines and artillery to destroy the ices on lakes and rivers and Gulf of Finland to make Soviet vehicles and soldiers to sink into the water

Like the grandfathers of all of us Finns, my own grandfather also fought in the winter war against Soviet. We are such a small nation that every Finn took a part in the war, in one way or another. It therefore plays a big role in our identity even today. About 2,000 of these winter war veterans are still alive. As for those who did not survive, they rest in cemeteries in Finland in hero's graves. There are large numbers of these hero graves in every Finnish cemetery. We still honor and remember them. And we haven't forgotten.

The legend of sniper Simo Häyhä has a kind of happy ending. He survived the war but was wounded in the face. Anyway, he lived a good rest of his life and died at last in 2002.

Thank you! My mother and her siblings were sent from Turku to Sweden as child refugees and never got to go home again.

"" The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. he Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, signed the next day, guaranteed peace between the parties and was a commitment neither government would aid or ally itself with an enemy of the other. In addition to the publicly announced stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included the Secret Protocol, which defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. The secret protocol also recognized the interest of Lithuania in the Vilnius region, and Germany declared its complete uninterested in Bessarabia"" So the fear of German offensive via Finland was nonexistence 1939...

@Ikkaveelsiin

2 ай бұрын

Stalin was not nervous, he just wanted to expand the Soviet Union and though that Finland will be an easy prey.

Yes, artillery did strike russians where grossing icy lakes and sea also, huge casulties

The Baltic sea does in fact freeze pretty bad. It's the amount of modern ice classified ships and assistance of heavy icebreakers when needed that keeps Baltic sea routes going around the year. Things were very different in those times.

Lapland is where the Sami people are present in large numbers and that area is divided among four powers that be, Kingdoms of Sweden (Lappland) and Norway (Finnmark), the Republic of Finland (central and northern parts of Lapland) and the Russian Federation (Kola peninsula).

In reality Soviets and Nazis had made a pact to divide eastern europe between the two. Finland was left to soviet sphere of influence in that pact. That's the real reason (together with the Soviet/Russian imperialism) for the Winter War. Besides that, Soviets and Nazis invaded Poland together and divided the country according to the same pact. They even held a joint victory parade. It's so frustrating to hear these and countless other Soviet/Russian lies repeated over and over again.

@londop.a.3048

3 ай бұрын

Russians have their own history books, Soviets and the Nazis were friends when Soviets invaded Finland.In August 23, 1939, Stalin and Hitler reached an agreement known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In a secret addendum to the pact, Hitler and Stalin divided the countries of Europe among themselves. Hitler was able to conquer new territories easily, Stalin thought Soviet army could do the same and take Finland in two weeks. On November 30, 1939, the USSR attacked Finland. Finland asked help from Germany didn't give because of the union with USSR. The USSR also together with Germany invaded Poland on September 17, 1939 and held a joint victory parade on September 22.

@esakoivuniemi

3 ай бұрын

@@londop.a.3048 Thanks for providing the details. It's a shame that Russian narratives like the one presented in the video are often widely shared and accepted without question in the West.

@liudmylab2328

21 күн бұрын

One of this kind of russian narratives in the beginning of the video: 'the reason of the russian invasion to Finland was security'🙈 that is crazy🙊

you should react to kings and generals Winter War - Soviet Finnish 1939-1940 War - FULL 3d DOCUMENTARY

Just watched the 53 minute War Stories channel, Winter War documentary. Which gives more of the background and a more detailed account of the timeline of the fighting.

Pretty sure there are some inaccuracies in this video. For one, the Russian casualties were much higher. Yes, Finland belonged to Russia for 100 years, but was a part of Sweden for 700 years, which these sort of videos always seem to forget. I like to mention this, as to make watchers understand that Finns are not Russian in origin, and they don't have anything in common with them neither language nor culture. Finns have their own unique culture, that is considered western, partly because of their history as a part of Sweden. Sweden sent some 9000 volunteer soldiers, 1/3 of our airforce and tons and tons of guns & ammo to help the Finns beat back the Russians.

@osk9013

2 ай бұрын

Not to mention that the most of the "Russian era" Finland had its own central, regional and local administration, own stamps, currency and army.

Its Because baltic sea is only connected to atlantic ocean by a small gap between denmark and norway. And the salt amount east of that is only like 0.7% - to 0.8% making it basically a gigantic lake compared to other oceans so it freezes easily

11:10 Ye a absolutely right, lake ice is mineable. And for the reference, here in Finland during winter monthss, the ice is usually roughly 1,5 to 2 meter / 4,9 to 6,5 feet thick. So, yeah, you can just drill a sufficent mine hole, lay the landmine, cover it with snow and then randomize your enviroment by dispercing the snow unevenly naturaly looking. The only thing ye need to do is aggro the tank for followin you to the lake. Another strategy is cablerized dynamite, obviously hiding the cables and takind the detonator to the shoreline.

The video's pronunciation of Häyhä as "hoya" is pretty impressive as it manages to get one of two consonants and all three vowels wrong in a five letter name.

12:20 Yes, it's truly interesting. I just visited the coast of Arctic Ocean 11 days ago and to my surprise I saw a sandy beach. Water was cold indeed but it still felt pretty wild to be able to visit a beach, even tho it was probably maintained.

The Petsamo Harbor in "Finland" is relatively ice-free due to its location in the Arctic Circle and its proximity to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. The warm waters from the Gulf Stream help to moderate temperatures in the region, preventing the harbor from freezing over completely, even during the colder months. Additionally, Petsamo Harbor is located in a fjord-like inlet, which can offer some protection from sea ice compared to more exposed coastal areas. However, while it may be relatively ice-free compared to other Arctic regions, ice conditions can still vary depending on factors such as seasonal changes and weather patterns.

"Kollaa Kestää" ("Kollaa will hold") is I guess as known in Finland as McAulliffe's "Nuts" at Bastogne is known in the U.S. It was Maj.Gen Woldemar Hägglund commanding the Finnish IV Army Corps who put the question "Will Kollaa hold?". He got the answer from AArne Juutilainen who was Simu Hayha's commandig officer: "Kollaa will hold" Hägglund was concerned because if Kollaa did not hold the entire IV Army Corps was in danger of being encircled. The Kollaa front did hold.

You are right about those lake minings. We called them icemines. When I was in my military service we made 2 or 3 times those in the training. It is fast to make and enemies will swim in ice cold water if they try to get over. It is not so fun. I dipped into lake in -28C in one training session. My fastest 5 km run ever to back to our tents. :D

1300 km boarder with the Comunists or bolsheviks . In Lapland only some hundred Finns were able to stop the world's biggest army , Stalin's Red Army. Finland was with 3.5 million and CCCP with some 250.000.000 citizens.

McJibbin what is your military rank?

great vid brother as always.defo need more mark felton reactions!!!

what comes to the tanks, in the start of winter war, finland had only ONE ( 1 ) battle ready tank, and it was already outdated old renault.

@jv-collects6252

3 ай бұрын

Incorrect. Finland had a total of 64 tanks at the beginning of the Winter War. These comprised of: 32 Vickers 6-ton light tanks 18 Renault FT Char canon "Male" 14 Renault FT Char mitrailleuse "Female" The Renaults were mostly useless at the outbreak of war and were only used as dug-in pillboxes / machine gun emplacements and training vehicles.

@MrBanaanipommi

3 ай бұрын

@@jv-collects6252 no, i said battle ready, all other tansk lacked either guns or radio systems etc.. only one was ready for battle use.

@jv-collects6252

3 ай бұрын

My bad, I guess I skipped over the battle ready part by accident.

@MrBanaanipommi

3 ай бұрын

@@jv-collects6252 lol probably, and i was about to tell about that we had around 60 tanks BUT... then thought its less to write that way lol

1944 soviet union took so huge casualties during continuation war + stalin had to get all man power to german front. That's why they accepted peace with finland

I don't know what Stalin felt but Lenin distrusted Stalin. He for sure did'nt want Stalin to be his successor.

So can you drive a tank over frozen water and would it make sense to plant mines on the ice to blow the ice up under neath the cross ice advancing enemy? Yes and yes. In the mid winter ice will hold under a tank easily and you can set traps by mining ice and blowing it up under the advancing enemy. Both are not just possible but also done during winter war.

Hi, Connor. 'Lapland' extends through the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and a bit of Russia, and is mainly inhabited by the Sámi people, also known as 'Lapps.' The latter name became widely used in the rest of the World, where it has no particular connotations, but be aware that within Scandinavia it is perceived, particularly by the Sámi themselves, as insulting, and the more acceptable name for the region is Sápmi. Formerly, discrimination against the Sámi and their cullture was not dissimilar to that against Native Americans in the USA and Canada, with many children forcibly removed from their families and 're-educated' in distant boarding schools, and their language generally deprecated. Re ice-free ports: the Baltic is semi-freshwater because of all the rivers draining into it and its restricted entrance straits, consequently it more readily freezes than the saltier waters of the Arctic Ocean.

Baltic sea freezes, that time surely, nowadays, mostly

highest number of swedes fighting in winter war is 15 000. It's a fraction of finnish troops but we are still today respecting them...there were estonian troops too but all to all, little help. And we are trained for that still (even in nato). Mobility, terrain, hit and run tactics and high tech.

Great video and reaction. Shame about you interrrupting yourself at 0:22 though😂

What invation? And when? They tried but not sucseed.

I think the reason why the Soviets/Russians accepted Finland's white flag was the fact of the Finnish territory. If you look at the map, the Russians would have to fight through the lake region of Finland with ample opportunities for ambush. This is in fact the defence policy the Finnish defence policy relies on (and totalitarian war employing the whole population) today. Plus they had too much to do with stopping the Germans at their Southern border.

Stalin's offer for land swap with Finland was treacherous. He offered some waste land from north to get the Karelian Isthmus. Karelian Isthmus in Soviet hands would've offered excellent starting point to conquer whole Finland. We know what happened to Baltic States after they made deals with Stalin.

Before being Grand duchy of Russia's Empire of tsar 100 years Finland was directly a part of Sweden for over 600 years. Finland's second official language is still swedish.

Let's remembwr that the main goal of the soviets was to conquer finland.

In snowy forest, you can move around much faster with skies than trying to run knee deep in snow. no downhills needed edit: About why USSR didn't occupy Finland 1944, there is multiple possible reasons - Stalin just wanted it to be over with, busy to finish Germany - Hope of socialists taking power in Finland - As neutral country Finland worked as buffer for St. Petersburg (Stalin saw that after the war the west would be the next opponent) - Not worth the trouble Finland proved to be, Finnish soldiers started right after peace hide weapons for guerrilla warfare in case of Finland being occupied. - Finland paying war reparations which soviet needed (Interestingly that boosted finnish industry which was one of the things that helped create modern welfare state)

If russia shoot about 10k shells these days in ukraine.. its hard to understand how it would be when being shot 300k shells in a nonstop shelling..

gulf stream keeps the arctic ports open. that why murmansk was and is important to russia

stalin was like minor that short time when lenin was in power. It was bloody civil war (like nothing american's seen) and lasted years and casualties were 7-12 million (source wikipedia. i didn't know it was so high and don't bother so confirm that from other sources) and most of them civilians. Trostky was that time 1920 most reasonable candidate but Stalin weaseled himself from georgia...as normal dictator: Killing every opponent. He even killed trostky when he was having quiet life in mexico. When it comes to russians, craziest shit always happens. UK can compete with craziest shit they have done. lol

They were stopped.

You still got it wrong. Don't learn how to pronounce something from English speaker. No, you're not thinking. At all. Finns used artillery sending countless soviet soldiers to their freezing grave.

Well, reason being why The USSR accepted the peace in 1944, was due to "ridiculous" terms that USSR layed down into peace treaty: 1. All The German Troops had to be deported out Finfland, having only 2 weeks time to do so without use of force. (Thus the Lapland War ensued). 2. Island of Porkkala had to be rented out to the USSR for the next 10 years. 3. The War Tax had to be paid, 150 Million US Dollars. But, here comes cicker, its needs to be in prewar value, essentially doubling the sum and it needed to be as in industrial products, such as trains, ships, machinery and metal. FAILURE TO COMPLAIN IS PUNISHABLE BY FULL NATIONVIDE INVASION! Yeah, talk about unfavorable. But yes, WE DID IT! Even today FINLAND IS THE ONLY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD AND WORLD WAR HISTORY WHO HAD PAID HIS WAR DUES IN COMPLETE FULLNESS!

It would appear that history repeats itself thinking of present day Ukraine and Russia's poor performances . Putin would appear to use his troops as pure gun fodder as did Stalin. Stalin was supplied by America and Britain much as Ukraine is today. Putin has taken land from Ukraine and would insist he keeps that land in any peace talks. Ukraine is performing well and also using captured Russian tanks though the ending could be very different than the Finnish war future events will determine the ultimate outcome.

Hi love the vids, Stephen Kotkin has some excellend lectures on Stalin and has written two enormous books on him if you want to learn more about him.

I suppose, the nearly four hundred thousand Russian soldiers dead or injured and the enormous loss and cost of military equipment in their attack against 'little' Finland in 1939-40, must have given Russia pause. Finland was no pushover and Stalin must have been looking over his shoulder at Hitler's rolling conquest of Europe. He had no time to 'dig in' and strategize his Finland battles. A quick wind-up of his War against Finland was needed, now it was looking like some sort of a victory for Russia. Stalin's urgent and greater need would be to build up Russian's defences and train larger armies for an even greater threat coming over the hill. Finland's Alliance with Germany must have been a great and bitter blow to Russia. Just an opinion.

13:00 Soviets accepted because they were in a harry to Berlin.

Häyhä :D Hayaaa, Hey Hey, Haw Haw, Ho ho, Hay eh, How ah... none of these are correct :D from various popular historical yt videos.

you mean soviet union ? plus stalin wasnt even russian either...

Iceland is icefree.

What have Russians chance, comapre today in Ukraine?

Finland was proper Nazis them days

@londop.a.3048

3 ай бұрын

Actually, the USSR and the Nazis were friends before 1941, they even developed tanks together on Soviet soil (Rapallo agreement). In August 23, 1939, Stalin and Hitler reached an agreement known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Finland asked help when the Soviet Union attacked but Germany didn't give because of the union with USSR. The USSR also together with Germany invaded Poland on September 17, 1939 and held a joint victory parade on September 22.