And I'm back to World War II. Finland, specifically.
... who knew Finland was so strong. ;__;
After a strange chain of events (wait - why must I start almost every post with some kind of introduction LOL) I ended up reading the history of Finland during world war II and their brave but unsuccessful battle for Karelia. Who knew the Allies had a dark side, LOL. And after reading the History of Britain too, LOL. I'd always thought Finland was a neutral country during the war (which to an extent was actually)... But Russia's sadistic nature proved me wrong. XDDD Oh - and this war really reminded me of this fic.
3 battles: The Winter War, The Continuation War and The Lapland War (<-- this one involved Finland fighting Germany actually ;;;). It all started with Russia's (OK, stalin) plan for total communist domination, which involved the occupation of Poland, the Baltic States and eventually Finland which Russia never got shame on you for trying to pwn my favourite character XPPP. The Baltic States gave in quite easily (as usual XD) but Finland put up quite a fight.
Actually Russia was planning to occupy the whole of Finland; they just had to take some parts of the place and Finland would completely fall into his hands.
'' But the Finns traditionally mistrust Russians, so it was no surprise that they mistrusted this murderer, Stalin. There is absolutely no way that Stalin could be considered a normal human being - he was a pathological, but clever, genocidal criminal, back-stabbing friend of Churchill and Roosevelt, who was never punished. This is the man many of the other writers want to believe at face value.
Stalin wanted to make a deal the Finns could not refuse: "say Finnsky, how about you all giving us Karelia, and we will more than compensate you with some wasteland up north." (not an exact quote but the spirit is there) The Finns have an uncanny ability to see through Russian demands; it comes with the territory.''
You have to salute the little guy for the instinct.
So unsatisfied Russia attempts and fails to conquer Finland's territories. It was a pretty EPIC FAIL too since Russia was supposed to be a very strong country with a powerful army.
''The odds pitted against Finland were so overwhelming that observers abroad expected the Finnish resistance to collapse in a short time because Finland was not well equipped to wage war with Russia in 1939. But the Finnish Army was well trained and they improvised and captured enemy weapons. Unlike the Norwegian army which required 84 days military service, every Finn had to serve a full 365 days. They would need every bit of that training.
By the end of December, 400,000 Russians were dead, wounded, captured or trapped. After many defeats, Stalin was desperate for a victory, so he installed new leaders, changed his tactics, and sent in 1.2 million men with masses of artillery. Finally in March, after Stalin's Red Army, that was coming to "liberate" Finland, had become an embarrassment to Soviet Union, the Finns began secret negotiations for peace.''
Where were the Allies at this time? Supporting their good Russian buddy and turning their backs on poor little Finland. The worst part is that because Finland had fought against Russia - although only to maintain their independence - they were automatically counted as an enemy. And even more so when they started accepting Germany's help.
A funny note: one of the 'reasons' for the loss:
"Stalin thought the problem was that his soldiers were poorly motivated, so he had political commissars there to encourage them and to follow them into battle. If they advanced against the Finns, then the Finns shot them down. If they retreated to the rear then the NKVD officers shot them down. They were also told that if they were taken prisoner their families would be arrested. And they themselves would be sent to Siberia or killed upon returning to their homeland."
Note the 'motivation'. XDDD
One thing that was standing in Russia's way of conquering Finland was the non-aggression pact made with him a few years back. And in order to break it, they bombed their own troops and blamed it on Finland. ;__; So Finland had to accept Germany's help - although not an official one because they only wanted Karelia back.
Whenever I read about World War II I have this feeling of wanting to change my ambition to being a linguist or a historian. XD And I'm supposed to be BA~D at history. Like BA~~~D.