WW2 Soviets and Finland?

Question

Why did the soviets attack Finland?
Did Germany's actions provide some way for the soviets to attack?

Nov 30, 1939 - Soviets attack Finland.
March 12, 1940 - Finland signs a peace treaty with Soviets.
Sept 4, 1944 - Finland and the Soviet Union agree to a cease-fire.

Why did we help Soviets when they were attacking other countries?
Sept 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up Poland.
July 23, 1940 - Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

But why did the soviets attack finland

Answer 1

The Fins were part of the Russian Empire and along with Poland they got free during the Russian Revolution. At the beginning of WWII Russia wanted access to some lands that the Fins had. The Fins, fighting on skis kick Russian butt for a time, but the numbers were to much. The peace treaty came about the time the Nazis invaded Russia.

If the Soviets had lost the war, then the US would have been fighting a two front war, Germany and Japan, while the Germans would be fighting only the US and the British. The Eastern front troops would have been available to fight us in Africa and later Italy. Remember, the Soviets lost about 20 million while the US lost a little over 250K. Also, looking back, the Soviets are gone. The Eastern block is now with the West, and this was done without ever going to war with the Soviets.
Worked out pretty well.

Answer 2

there may have been long term border disputes between the finns and russians, there certainly were between russia and poland and to this day between them and the chinese. Having said that, dont forget that the finns (quite understandably given that they lost out in the 1940 peace treaty) did side with and fight on the same side as the nazis during hitlers invasion of russia of 41..but by 44 the russians were so overwhelmingly strong I think they could have swallowed up finland too had they wished to do so rather than sign a peace treaty with them, by then they were a very different army then from the one that did so poorly in the war against the finns in 39.
Unpleasant as communism was, it was a whole lot better than the evil of the nazis and this is something that countries like estonia etc, are forgetting today when they rip down the war memorials. If the germans had won in 41 they would all be slave labourers in the BMW and mercedes factories rather than being able to drive around in them as they can do today.

Answer 3

~Great Britain, and later the US, allied with Stalin and the Soviet Union for one reason and one reason only. As Winston Churchill told Franklin Roosevelt, the only nation which could defeat Nazi Germany in a war on the continent was the USSR. That is why the preliminary involvement of the US in WWII was in Africa. Only after the Soviets had repelled Operation Barbarossa and, for all intents and purposes, determined the outcome of the war by beating the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad, did an invasion of the continent by the British and Americans (along with their other allies) become feasible. Check the casualty lists and the Orders of Battle and results for the major confrontations in both theaters. The Soviets beat Hitler and the Chinese beat Tojo (at least on the ground). The US contribution in Europe was minimal and only slightly greater in the Pacific, except in the naval component of the war.

As to whether or not Fall Weiss had anything to do with the Soviet invasions of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, check into the protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The answer is more than obvious.

Why would the US ally with an aggressor nation? Why not? Don't forget that other wonderful ally in WWII, China. One of the reasons the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor was the assistance the US was giving the Chinese in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Soviets, British and Germans were allied with China, too, until Germany switched sides and signed the Tripartite Pact in 1940.

Read a little of US history. The alliance with the Soviets is no different than assisting Iraq in the war with another former US ally, Iran, or in arming, supplying and training Osama bin Laden in his guerrilla war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, or in refusing to allow the promised elections in Vietnam in 1956 and in instead shoring up the tyrannical government of Ngo Dinh Diem until he decided to stop kow-towing to Uncle Sam's whims, then, with the approval of JFK, assassinating Diem and substituting the equally corrupt but more cooperative Nguyen Van Thieu in his stead.

It's the American Way, and a large reason for why disgruntled folks want to fly airplanes into skyscrapers.

Answer 4

the U.S. did not truly change facets: the Soviets and Nazi Germany have been very plenty enemies. As Germany began increasing formerly WWII, Stalin have been pushing the Western powers to combat Germany mutually. while the British and French enable Germany shrink away area of Czechoslovakia at Munich, the Soviets theory that Germany grow to be being recommended in direction of the East -- that Britain and France have been attempting to steer away from conflict with Hitler with the help of having Germany to attack the U.S. truly. So he signed a "Non-Aggression p.c.." that the two (enemies) would bypass away one yet another on my own. besides the terror of a German invasion without help from the Western Allies a million - Stalin grow to be grasping and used the treaty as a pretext to invade harmless countries. 2 - the U.S. confronted a probably adversarial Japan, and would have wound up combating a 2-front war. there is particularly some conjecture in any "what-ifs", yet without signing the "Non-Aggression p.c..," WWII could have began with Germany and Japan attacking the Soviet Union from the two facets and tearing it to products, possibly without the Western powers ever getting in contact.

Answer 5

Finland was part of the old Russian Empire under the Tsars before the revolution of 1917 and the civil war.
Stalin wanted to return it to Russian rule.

Answer 6

the question here was which one was the lesser evil, of two great evils if on can be destroyed the better, so the US chose to aid theUSSR especially in 1941 after germany declared war on the Us supporting its Japanesse ally, by this time Germany had attacked and invaded russia so the enemy of my enemy is my friend so our friend was the USSR.