Background to the Winter War

Winter is Coming (Part I)

Later this month, the Tactical Notebook will begin a series of decision-forcing cases set during the Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940. The following resources will help readers set the stage for these exercises.

Podcasts

Weighing in at a total of 44 minutes, a pair of episodes (Episodes 213 and 214) of the History of the Great War tell the tale of the Finnish Civil War of 1918. (The link will take you to the website of the series. If you would like ad-free versions of these episodes, you can get them via a RSS link provided to those who subscribe via Patreon.)

The work of Wesley Livesay, the creator of the History of the Great War, the History of the Second World War has published sub-series on the Red Army of the 1920s and 1930s (Episodes 137 through 141) and the immediate run up to the Winter War (Episodes 143 through 145.) You can get uninterrupted versions of these programs on Patreon and ad-bearing copies on the main website. (You can also find the latter on various podcatching sites.)

The Worthy House offers substantial reviews of A Concise History of Finland and the literature on the Finnish Civil War.

Pamphlets

While its title seems nearly as long as its text, the Statement concerning Finnish-Russian Relations and the Circumstances Leading to the Invasion of Finland by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on November 30, 1939 provides both a quick history of Finland and a readable account of the road to war.

Though I am loathe to recommend a work of Communist propaganda, Finland: The Facts provides a snapshot of the “Party line” at the time of the Winter War. (The work begins with the argument that Stalin sought bases in Finland because they feared that, after dealing a quick defeat to National Socialist Germany, France and Britain would enlist their former foes in a crusade against the Soviet Union.)