Should the Finland-USSR wars be recognized separately from WW2?

Question

I'm asking you Americans. It appears when our President, Tarja Halonen broached the subject with Mr Bush he was dismissive of the subject and was not willing to negotiate.

For the uninitiated, Finland was at war with USSR but was not formally allied with the Axis during WW2 but was attacked by the USSR in order for them to either create a "buffer zone", or to reclaim the whole country.

USA did not under any time declare war against Finland despite allying itself with the USSR, but Great Britain did.

Finns did receive aid from Nazi-Germany, to a small extent. But Finns did not export Jews or persecute on behalf of the Nazi party, and were governed by a stable democracy.

This is a political issue, not a historic one, I'm afraid. It is of course useless to talk about this with the Russians who at this date do not even recognize that they started the war, but consider it a part of their "Great Patriotic Front"- a justified war against an aggressor.

Any support for this? Views?

Okay... Thanks for the answer. Lets see if it is indicative of general sentiment in the US... if I get more answers... which I doubt.

Answer 1

Sadly it is one of those moments in history that only really affects the parties involved even if the impact was important globally.

At the time the US was not allied with the USSR, The United states was almost entirely isolationist and had little care or concerns for any events on the Global stage.

The fact that Finland had ties to the Germans is really inconsequential as the actions of Nazi Germany were not widely known at the time and the Finns had always taken a very opposite view on what had been going on in Germany at the time. If some one takes the stand that Finland deserved what it got because of its ties to Nazi Germany, then it should be noted there was a strong Pro-German/Nazi movement here in the United states up until We entered the War. And yet we are still considered the good guys.

Historically I be live the Finnish-Russian war is separate from ww2. Although an important portent to the land grabbing nature of the Soviet Union after the war, it can still be looked at as the last "imperial" grudge land disputes that had been going on for centuries trough out Europe.

Russia is not alone in taking this "well its not my fault" attitude, Japan is the same way, they still teach the reasons Pearl Harbor happened is because of the United states' foreign policies and not because of Tojo's desire to control the Pacific.

Answer 2

The English conducted a raid on one of the northern cities of Finland, I forget which though. Yet tellingly the flight drop ed the bombs in the harbor of that city on purpose, so it was a symbolic act. That tells me that the allies considered Finland part of the war but not a nation that should be punished for the transgressions of the soviets. Finland was and is justified in defending herself and she did so against all odds. Consider that of all the states that the USSR attempted to absorb how many remained independent.

Answer 3

And you forgot to mention the the Finns put up a hell of a fight, beating the Russians in almost every engagement, doing to the Russians what the Russians would do to the Germans years later. They took advantage of the terrain and weather to beat a superior force. The only reason they lost was that they were so severly outnumbered.

But I think it is considered part of WWII because of the time, just like the invasion of Poland and other military actions before war was formally declared.

Answer 4

It should be a separate conflict, since the USSR attacked Finland before the outbreak of WW2.

Answer 5

Most Americans are clueless about this part of history. If your President tried to talk with G. Bush about it, Mr. Bush was probably completely ignorant of the subject and had to brush it off before he said something really stupid.

Answer 6

The enemy of my enemy is my pal - a minimum of for now. it would have been lots harder to triumph over Germany and Japan if the Soviets weren't there assisting us. Germany fell because of the fact the Soviet military killed some thing like 3 quarters of the German military. nicely ok, 0.5 of those iced over to loss of life attempting to combat you... Japan surrendered because of the fact the Soviets refused to sign a neutrality %. with Japan, and then the Soviet military invaded Japan maximum appropriate as quickly as we dropped the atomic bomb on them. The conflict would have lasted lots lots longer with out the Soviets on our side.

Answer 7

No, because you guys were in alliance with Nazis.