Interesting take. Finland was a democracy with universal suffrage. The red army was conducting an unprovoked invasion because finland refused to just cede land to Russia.
It was a land swap to which Finland would have come out ahead. They would have received more land of equal value in the trade in the Karelia region.
The point of the swap was to move Finland’s borders further from Leningrad, which was close enough to Finland that they could shell it from their side. The USSR was ultimately proven right as Finland joined with the Nazis in invading the USSR after Barbarossa.
They weren’t proven right. The continuation war was a direct result of the outcome of the winter war. They were attempting to regain lost territory. I’m curious where finland would have landed had they never been invaded in the first place. It’s OK to admit a state didn’t behave perfectly, no state in the history of man has.
The reason for proposing the swap in the first place was that Finland was cozying up to the Nazis and there was a very real risk they would let Germany through to attack the USSR.
I call it incredible foresight. Finland thought they were untouchable, so they spat on a good deal and where did that bring them.
Interesting take. Finland was a democracy with universal suffrage. The red army was conducting an unprovoked invasion because finland refused to just cede land to Russia.
It was a land swap to which Finland would have come out ahead. They would have received more land of equal value in the trade in the Karelia region.
The point of the swap was to move Finland’s borders further from Leningrad, which was close enough to Finland that they could shell it from their side. The USSR was ultimately proven right as Finland joined with the Nazis in invading the USSR after Barbarossa.
They weren’t proven right. The continuation war was a direct result of the outcome of the winter war. They were attempting to regain lost territory. I’m curious where finland would have landed had they never been invaded in the first place. It’s OK to admit a state didn’t behave perfectly, no state in the history of man has.
The reason for proposing the swap in the first place was that Finland was cozying up to the Nazis and there was a very real risk they would let Germany through to attack the USSR.
I call it incredible foresight. Finland thought they were untouchable, so they spat on a good deal and where did that bring them.
Finland was moving close to Germany before the nazi rise because Russia was fueling a Civil War in finland. Nothing happens in a vacuum.
Elaborate on what you mean by “fueling a civil war”.
Providing weapons