Finland not annexed by Russia after the war, why?

Why was Finland not annexed by the soviets after the war? I would think that since Mother Russia has an axe to grind after their failed invasion in 1939.

 

Finland was a tough bunch (from what I gather), not sure if Russians really wanted to mess with them.

Here is what I found in Wiki

Post-war

The war had caused great damage to infrastructure and the economy. From the autumn of 1944, the Finnish army and navy performed many mine clearance operations, especially in Karelia, Lapland and the Gulf of Finland. The sea mine clearance lasted until 1950. The mines caused many military and civilian casualties, particularly in Lapland.
As part of the Paris Peace Treaty, Finland was classified as a belligerent and fascist power. The Soviet Union imposed heavy war reparations on Finland and took the Porkkala area near the Finnish capital Helsinki as a military base. The reparations were initially thought to be crippling for the economy, but a determined effort was made to pay them. They were actually paid off years in advance, in 1952. Porkkala was returned to Finnish control in 1956.
In subsequent years the position of Finland was unique in the Cold War. The country was heavily influenced by the Soviet Union, but retained democracy and a market economy. Finland entered into the YYA Treaty with the Soviet Union, which in theory guaranteed mutual assistance, but the Soviet Union largely respected Finland's wishes to remain uninvolved in the Cold War. Arms purchases were balanced between East and West until the fall of the Soviet Union.

 

That is a difficult question which is hard to answer.

Actually the Red Army tried harder in summer 1944, making a breakthough in June 1944 through the Karelian isthmus, taking Vyborg, after which the Finnish troops stopped the Russian forces at Tali-Ihantala battle where the Red Army lost some 600+ tanks. This was very much thanx to the Finns having German panzerfausts and also Luftwaffe help ( Stukas,Fw 190´s ). And also the Finnish soldiers knowing this was the last stand before losing their country. After this battle the Red Army send their main forces to fight the Germans. Later on there were still some breakthrough attempts on several areas but the Finns managed to counter these and the peace was signed in Sept 1944 which demanded the Finns would drive the Germans out of Lappland.

My guess is that Stalin considered the possible losses too high to take Finland by military force, besides he got what he had wanted in the first place back in 1939, the islands to cover Leningrad, a base in Finland near Helsinki, and a "pro-soviet government" in Finland. Finland was also during the cold war phase a sorta example how the USSR can co-operate in total understanding with a capitalistic country. Also Finland paid huge sums mainly in goods to the USSR for the wartime USSR losses until early 1950´s, which definitely benefitted them more than taking the country and getting none.

Perhaps the best example of how much Stalin valued the Finnish army is how in the late 1940´s a Finnish delegate was visiting Stalin, and Stalin raised a toast saying " For the Finnish Army!"

 

Thanks guys for your answers, this has plagued me for some time, since Finland is just nextdoor to the Soviet Union. After the war, Mother Russia annexed most eastern european countries, even as far away as Yugslavia, since you have to cross Romania or Hungary first. Finland is very close to St. Petersburg, Sweden and Norway should be thankful to those brave and wonderful Finns.
My guess is that there was a secret deal on what countries to be kept under its protection (or partaken by the Russians) between the Allies and the Soviets, during the conference between Stalin, Churchuill and Roosevelt in Yalta?
Those Finns on skis and sniper rifles plus the coniferous Finnish forrest sure stopped the Red Army in its tracks. I love Nordic countries, Finland, Sweden, Norway even Denmark are great places to live.

 

Well, those countries it annexed were typically Communist in the first place or had been conquered by the Russians drive to Berline. Yugoslavia, for instance, was in a civil war during World War II...Tito's Communist were given aid by the allies (a Communist Spy was feeding the Allies false information, turning them against the anti-communist faction). Tito, meanwhile, basically was selling Yugoslavia to the USSR in exchange for help. It is often said that Yugoslavia and the execution of Brava (can't spell his last name, he was the leader of the other faction in Yugo) was the first casualty of the Cold War.

 

Musso -- You are thinking of Draza Mihailovich (the Serbian leader during WWII).

 

Yep, we cant really include Yugoslavia in the same book as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary etc. It was never going to be under yoke of Russia per se as with other eastern block countries...Allied in some way certainly but independant in its ways. Probably because they never needed Mother Russia to invade and kick out the Germans.

 

Correct - Draza Mihailovich was whom I was thinking of...Yugoslavia was a key country in the Iron Curtain and the spreading of Communism in the region. Tito clashed heads with Stalin several times of course, but ran the country like any Communist State at the time. Tito and Draza Mihailovich were huge arch-rivals and Tito had Draza hunted down at the end of the war and executed after a 'trial' in which he was found guilty of trumped up charges (and charges that could have legitimately been brought against Tito).

 

Russia NEVER wanted to fully occupy Finland..... ( Kai might argue this. )


Before the winter war, Finland's border was only 40 miles from Russia's second largest city, Leningrad. In case of war, Stalin knew that Leningrad was vulnerable. Before the outbreak of war, negotiations were being conducted for land swap between Finland and Russia. Russia wanted Finland to push her borders back about 400 miles, in return Russia would give Finland land as compensation ( the northern part ) while this might have very well been a simple bluff on Stalin's behalf, such an offer was made. Finland refussed and Stalin attacked. While loosing far more soldiers then Finland had, The peace treaty was signed on Russia's terms and NOT Finland's. The Moscow treaty was the aftermath which resulted in Finland sceding the very same territories for which nagotiations prior to war were being conducted.

File:Finnish areas ceded in 1940.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While Russia lost more men, Finland lost territory.

I think its safe to assume that had Russia trully wanted to conquer Finland, she would have done so in 1944 as payback for Finland siding with Germany and breaking the peace treaty, however, the Red Army stopped its offensive after reaching the very same territories established in the Moscow Treaty after the Winter War. Many claim that this is proof that Stalin never had any interest in occupying ALL of Finland.

 

The finns have been described in many books as "probably the best soldiers in europe, including the Germans." This no doubt had an influence on Stalin's treatment towards them during and after the war especially after the azz-kicking the russkis got from them in 1940. Mannerheim and the Finnish gov't arranged a seperate peace with Stalin in 1944 when it became clear the Germans were going to lose, part of the deal was all German troops were expelled from Finland (the Germans being their former allies). Stalin made little Finland pay dearly for having allied with the Nazis but in money not in lives this time.

Probably a big part of Finland's being allowed relative independence compared to the former Warsaw pact countries was its location in an out of the way corner of the world. NATO could certainly not have used Finland as a staging area for any attack against Russia due to the violent weather, remote location, and clear desire to remain neutral from both NATO and Russia.

The Warsaw pact countries by contrast, were from 1945-1989 simply a buffer zone between Russia and the big bad NATO armies that (to the paranoid Russians), were no doubt busy plotting and scheming, night and day to attack the motherland again at anytime. As such during the cold war period, all the countries caught in the middle (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Rumania, Bulgaria) were forced to toe the Soviet line and be communist, or else. Only after all the old, paranoid commie leadership died off was Gorbachev able to start enacting any effective reforms to the disastrous Russian economic system. Russia today would like to be more like the West in economic and lifestyle terms but it would seem they still have much work ahead of them to do this.

 

Russia has been invaded more then then most (possibly any) other European country and at a time when she herself was much weaker then her invader. Can you really blame their paranoia? Not to mention that the Soviet Bloc consisted of the very same countries who have had a tendency of going to war with Russia.

With that said, Paranoia went both ways. NATO afterall, was created to counter the so called Soviet threat.

 

Well, the Soviet Union had just lost over 25 million of her citizens and had the western part of her soil completely devastated... I think it is understandable, just as the French were eagger to make the Rhine the new Franco-German border in 1918, after two invasions in 44 years (and Churchill acknowledges this in The Gathering Storm).

 

Because the Russians could NOT afford another war in the West.

Britian & US were opposed to Russia occupying Finland.

Also, the Russians were more worried about what could happen in the Far East, since the US had plenty of ground troop available there.

 

Finland was part of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact where countries were divided between these two nations. Of these only Finland was not occupied for some reason....

BTW what was the Terijoki government created by Stalin? The Soviet Union argued that it was the only rightful government for all of Finland that was capable of ending the Winter War and restoring peace.

Finnish Democratic Republic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Well, as well Molotov was pretty much interested in discussing the fate of Finland in Dec 1940 with Hitler in Berlin, however this time Germany had already decided to attack the USSR and needed Finland/Lapland to do this.

Jatkosota 1941-44

Molotov arrived to Berlin on November 12th 1940, invited by the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop. In Berlin, Molotov met Adolph Hitler many times in the following days. In their negotiations, Molotov stated that the secret agreement (included in the Non-Aggression pact, where Germany and Soviet Union had “divided” the countries between into “spheres of interest”) had otherwise been fulfilled except in Finland’s case. Hitler stated that Germany didn’t have any other interests in Finland, except as a source of nickel and timber, but because these products were vital for Germany’s war industry, Germany wouldn’t allow a new war in Finland. Molotov responded that the Soviet Union wouldn’t want to start a new war, instead the situation could be handled like it had been done with the Baltic States. Hitler opposed also any plans of this type, “...as they would increase tension between the relationships of Germany and the Soviet Union and thereby have far reaching consequences...”

This political help by Hitler (most likely saved Finland from a new war in late 1940), created a political debt.

 

OT: I read somewhere that right after the war the USSR wanted to put Japan under its sphere of influence, to keep Japan's military in check by the Russians after WW2, also due to paranoia and I guess getting their a$$ kicked on the battle of the Tsushima strait back in WW1. Japan after all was a formidable sea power in asia, only second to the US. Luckily for Japan the US did not agree to this.

 

No one could afford another war including Great Britain and the U.S., and Finland if im not mistaken had the same deal as Austria got. No communism, but NO NATO.

There was no reason for worry, the war was over and the bad guys had been defeated. Not to mention, that the Red Army had more then enough resources in the east.

The Japanese were well aware of Soviet Union's military capability; they experienced it first hand on several occasions after Tsushima strait... First was in 39 at the battle of Khlain Ghol and then again in 45' at Operation August Storm. Russia was not worried about Japan and there was no paranoia.


Soviet invasion of Manchuria (1945) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

I'm guessing although Finland never joined NATO, but they were benefactors of the Marshall Plan? I'm not really sure, but besides lack of political will, I don't see any other reason why considering its proximity to the Russian border.

 

The Soviets also imposed large reparations payments on the Axis allies that were in its sphere of influence. Finland, Hungary, Romania, and especially East Germany were forced to pay vast sums and ship large amounts of supplies to the USSR. These reparation payments meant that the Soviet Union received almost as much as any of the countries receiving Marshall Plan aid.

Finland, which did not join the Marshall Plan... ( Political reasons....)

Marshall Plan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The political stability in the Nordic countries is stable as long as "only" Norway is part of NATO. If Sweden or Finland decided to join, that would mean a "forced decision" for the other country to decide its direction. Thankfully this has not happened yet.

 

from my understanding of finnish history
the red army did try to annex finland during the 1944 summer offensive but that failed
now finland is a peaceful country with no threatning neighbours on its borders

 

You are absolutely right, in 1945 Russia saw herself as being surrounded by enemies. After losing so much of her population and resources the Soviet Union was in 1945, absolutely paranoid. (Despite his magnificent foresight, after Patton's jubilant talk about "lets crush em while we got it" is there any wonder about his mysterious death?) Stalins course was firm after 1945 (see "paranoia") and this led to American involvement in Korea and this led to the cold war which in turn, led to American involvement in Vietnam. (Communist paranoia leading to American paranoia = "my dad can beat up your dad!"= more, too many more, lives lost over political bullshit.)