Finland in the 40s...Why didn't it become the 16th republic of the Soviet Union?

Question

What circumstances prevented Finland from becoming a 16th republic of the USSR? As you may recall, the only four Northern European countries that Russia has ever invaded in the 40s were Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia; however, it's only the tiny nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia that were made Soviet republics and incorporated into the USSR, but Finland - for one reason or another - had avoided that fate. Why? What circumstances were so favourable to Finland that helped her to retain its independence and not to become a 16th republic od the Soviet Union?

Answer 1

I largely agree with the previous answers, but they don't address why Finland wasn't absorbed into the USSR after the war. After all, they had allied themselves with Hitler.

Essentially, Stalin didn't see any good reason to. Strange as it seems, Stalin tended to keep to his treaties and the postwar settlement suited him fine. By reaching a settlement with the Finns during the war, Stalin freed up Soviet troops for the effort against Germany. Russia gained much territory and the use of the naval base at Porkkola for 50 years. As Alan Bullock (1) points out, Stalin, unlike Hitler, was enough of a realist to know when to stop.

Molotov said that after the war, a map of the USSR with its new borders was taken to Stalin at his dacha. Stalin had it pinned to the wall, and remarked "Let's see what we've got then; in the north, everything's all right. Finland greatly wronged us, so we've moved her frontier further from Leningrad. The Baltic States, which were Russian territory from ancient times, are all ours again." (2)

Essentially, despite his Georgian origins, Stalin became more of a Russian nationalist the older he got. He just didn't see Finland as "Russian", unlike the Baltic States. This was despite the fact that Finland had been a Russian Duchy until 1917.

Post-war Finland was no longer a threat, and so docile that Soviet agents could hunt down Russian emigrees there with impunity. In return, Stalin was quite happy to acquiesce in the exclusion of the Finnish Communist Party from power.

Another factor was his memory of the international outcry over his pre-war invasion of Finland.

In 1945, Stalin appointed Zhdanov as his representative in Finland. At the time, Stalin openly spoke of Zhdanov as his successor. Zhdanov was also the only (remaining!) person in the Party whose intellect Stalin regarded as equal to his own. Even so, when Zhdanov moved to annex Finland after the war, he was upbraided by Beria - "You've gone too far....You're too emotional!" (3)

The outstanding courage and toughness of the Finnish army during the Soviet-Finland war could not have been far from Stalin's mind. That, together with some wily and pragmatic Finnish policies after the war, kept Finland from the fate of the Baltic States.

Answer 2

From memory (of reading books on the subject- I'm not quite that old!) basically there were two phases to the war. In the first, the Finns fought like tigers, but were nearly beaten. The second phase came after Nazi Germany invaded Russia (or, to be pedantic, the USSR). At this point, Finland (no doubt on the principle that "My enemy's enemy is my friend" ) allied itself with Nazi Germany, and drove out (with German assistance) the remaining Soviet troops. Later on in the Second World War the Soviet Army was concentrated on defence initially, then subsequently on offensives, culminating in the drive to Berlin. They could not, therefore spare the troops to renew the Finland offensive. I have also read somewhere, that, towards the end of WW2 SIS and/or OSS (the predecessor of the CIA) undertook operations to limit Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. How true this is I do not know, but it might also help to account for Finland's independence after WW2.

Answer 3

Like Austria, Finland promised to follow a neutral foreign policy. It also had to make many territorial concessions : "Finnish Karelia, Salla, and Pechenga, which amounted to 10% of its land area, 20% of industrial capacity and 400,000 evacuees, mainly women and children." ("Finland : Finland during World War II (1939–1945)", Wikipedia) And the Finnish War was becoming a costly sideshow for the USSR.

"The Finnish front had become a sideshow for the Soviet leadership, as they were in a race to reach Berlin before the Western Allies. This, and the heavy casualties inflicted to the Red Army by the Finns, led to the withdrawal of most troops from the Finnish front. In September 4, 1944 a cease-fire was agreed, and the Moscow armistice was signed on September 19. In the armistice agreement Finland was obliged to expel German troops from the country. This led to the Lapland War."

"Moscow armistice"

"The Moscow armistice was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 19 September 1944 ending the Continuation War, though the final peace treaty was not to be signed until 1947 in Paris."

"The conditions for peace were similar to those previously agreed in the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty, with Finland having to cede parts of Karelia, part of Salla and islands in the Gulf of Finland. The new armistice also handed the whole of Petsamo over to the Soviet Union. Finland also agreed to legalize communist parties and ban fascist organizations. Finally the armistice also demanded that Finland must drive German troops away from its territory, which was the cause of to the Lapland War." ("Military history of Finland during World War II", Wikipedia)

Answer 4

The primary reason was fighting the Soviets to a stalemate in the Winter War of 1939. A negotiated peace gave some land and materials to the Soviets and allowed the Finns to retain sovereignty. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets had much bigger threats to worry about, namely the Germans!

The Winter War is a fascinating topic, and some believe that this relatively unknown conflict provided both the motivation for Hitler to invade Russia, and the wake-up call that the Red Army needed to eventually repel him.

Answer 5

Through much of the war (after 22 June 1941), Finland was technically an ally of Germany -- as the Finns had every right to be; they had been a victim of the Hitler-Stalin pact of August 39.

The fact that they had virtually fought Stalin to a standstill (at 100 to 1 odds in population) in the "Winter War" had little to do with their final status.

I believe that was due to their decision to keep to their pre-Hitler-Stalin agreement boundaries and not join in on German offensives, particularly against Leningrad, which could not but have fallen if Finnish pressure had been added to German.

Still, after the war, Finland had to be very careful to be "neutral" in every sense.

Answer 6

Finland was very much associated with Nazi Germany during the 1940s of WW-Two. The Fins beat the Russians hands down in combat. It really is that simple.

Answer 7

No, do no longer trouble approximately it. even however extra desirable than a million/2 of Russians are Soviet nostalgic, they have not any purpose to choose Soviet Union lower back, nor the government. there's a Communist occasion in Russia nonetheless whether it does no longer propose Russia is starting to be to be u.s. lower back. the government of Russia does not think of that starting to be to be u.s. lower back is an hassle-free attempt. it relatively is complicated by fact the rustic is so capitalistic now! Russians are relatively extra unfastened than some Western international places! i think of youthful generations in Russia will preserve this new government extra desirable than the older generations!:)