Areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union

The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on March 12, 1940. It marked the end of the Winter War. The Moscow Peace treaty shouldn't be confused with Moscow armistice of 1944 which ended the Continuation War. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (619x800, 52 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Winter War Moscow Peace Treaty (1940) ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (619x800, 52 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Winter War Moscow Peace Treaty (1940) ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... Year 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft[1][2] 1,000,000 men 3,000 tanks 3,800 aircraft[3][4] Casualties 26,662 dead 39,886 wounded 1,000 captured[5] 126,875 dead... The areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Continuation War. ... Combatants  Finland Germany  Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Strength 250,000 (total 530,000) Finns[1] + 100,000 (total 220,000) Germans 650,000 (total ???) [2] Casualties 58,715 dead or missing 158,000 wounded 1,500 civilian casualties[3] 200,000 dead or missing 385,000 wounded...

Background

The Finnish government received the first tentative peace conditions from the Soviet Union (through Stockholm) on January 29. Until then, the Red Army had fought to occupy all of Finland. By this point, the Soviet government was prepared to temper its claims. The demands were that Finland cede the Karelian Isthmus, including the city of Viipuri, and Finland's shore of Lake Ladoga. The Hanko Peninsula was to be leased to the Soviet Union for 30 years.   (IPA: ; UN/LOCODE: SE STO) is the capital of Sweden, and consequently the site of its Government and Parliament as well as the residence of the Swedish head of state, King Carl XVI Gustaf. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... The short forms Red Army and RKKA refer to the Workers and Peasants Red Army, (in Russian: Рабоче-Крестьянская Красная Армия - Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya), the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918. ... The Karelian Isthmus is the narrow stretch of land between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. ... Not to be confused with the Danish town and county of Viborg in Jutland Viapori, a Finnish transcription of Sveaborg, better known as Suomenlinna castle Vyborg from the tower of the castle Vyborg (transcription of Russian Выборг) is a town with 70,000 inhabitants at... Map of lake Ladoga Towpath Bridge between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (from a photograph taken ca. ... Hanko, (Hangö in Swedish) in Finland is a small bilingual port town on the south coast of Finland, 130 kilometers west of Helsinki. ...

Finland rejected these demands, and intensified their pleas to Sweden, France and the United Kingdom for military support by regular troops. Although Finland in the long run had no chance against a country 50 times its size, the reports from the front still held out hope for Finland anticipating a League of Nations intervention. Positive signals, however inconstant, from France and Britain, and more realistic expectations of troops from Sweden, for which plans and preparations had been made all through the 1930s, were further reasons for Finland not to rush into peace negotiations. (See Foreign Support for a detailed account.) The League of Nations was an international organization founded after the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft[1][2] 1,000,000 men 3,000 tanks 3,800 aircraft[3][4] Casualties 26,662 dead 39,886 wounded 1,000 captured[5] 126,875 dead...

In February 1940, Finland's Commander-in-Chief marshal Mannerheim expressed his pessimism about the military situation, prompting the government to start peace negotiations on February 29, the same day the Red Army commenced an attack against Viipuri. Commander-in-Chief (in NATO-lingo often C-in-C or CINC pronounced sink) is the commander of all the military forces within a particular region or of all the military forces of a state. ... This article is about the Finnish statesman and Commander-in-Chief. ... February 29th, or bissextile day, is the 60th day of a leap year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 306 days remaining. ...

Harsh peace

On March 6, a Finnish delegation lead by Prime Minister Risto Ryti travelled to Moscow. During the negotiations, the Red Army broke through the Finnish defence lines around Tali and were close to surrounding Vyborg. March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... The Prime Minister (Finnish Pääministeri, Swedish: Statsminister) is the head of government in Finland. ... Risto Heikki Ryti (February 3, 1889 - October 25, 1956) was the president of Finland from 1940 to 1944. ... Location Position of Moscow in Europe Government Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Geographical characteristics Area  - City 1,081 km² Population  - City (2005)    - Density 10,415,400   8537. ... Tali may refer to: Tali (school), secular schools with added religious studies in Israel Tali, Sudan, a town in Sudan Tali, Finland, a town in Finland Tali Yehudai, sister of the notorious Ohad Yehudai Tali (musician), a drum n bass artist Knucklebones used for dice in ancient Rome. ... A view of Vyborg from the castle tower Vyborg (Russian: ; Finnish: ; Swedish: ; German: ) is a town in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, situated on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of the Bay of Vyborg, 130 km to the northwest of St. ...

The Peace Agreement was signed on the evening of March 12, Moscow time, i.e. 1 A.M. on March 13, Finnish time. The fighting ended at 11 A.M., Finnish time. March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in leap years). ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ...

Finland was forced to cede nearly all of Finnish Karelia (with Finland's industrial center, including Vyborg/Viipuri, Finland's second largest city; in total, nearly 10% of the territory), even though large parts were still held by Finland's army. Military troops and remaining civilians were hastily evacuated to inside the new border. 422,000 Karelians, 12% of Finland's population, lost their homes. Finnish Karelia, historically also Swedish Karelia or Carelia, is a historical province in eastern Finland. ... Evacuation of Finnish Karelia was the resettlement of the population of Finnish Karelia into Finland from the territory ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union. ...

Interestingly, there was also an area that the Russians captured during the war, which remained in Finnish hands according to the Peace Treaty: Petsamo. However, the peace treaty also stipulated that Finland would grant free passage for Soviet civilians through Petsamo to Norway. The area of Petsamo (Pechenga in Russian) in northern Lapland, indigenously inhabited by Samis, came to Finland in 1920 and to the Soviet Union in 1944. ... The area of Petsamo (Pechenga in Russian) in northern Lapland, indigenously inhabited by Samis, came to Finland in 1920 and to the Soviet Union in 1944. ...

Finland also had to cede a part of the Salla area, the Finnish part of the Kalastajansaarento (Rybachi) peninsula in the Barents Sea, and in the Gulf of Finland the islands of Suursaari, Tytärsaari, Lavansaari and Seiskari. Finally, the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviet Union as a naval base for 30 years. Salla is a municipality of Finland and is located in Lapland. ... Rybachiy Peninsula (Russian: Полуостров Рыбачий, Norwegian: Fiskerhalvøya, Finnish: Kalastajasaarento) is the Northernmost part of the European part of Russia. ... Location of the Barents Sea. ... The Baltic Sea The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic Sea that extends between Finland (to the north) and Estonia (to the south) all the way to the city of Saint Petersburg in Russia, where the river Neva drains into it. ... Hogland (Russian: Гогланд; Finnish: Suursaari; Swedish: Hogland) is an island in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, located some 180 km west of Saint Petersburg and 35 km away from the coast of Finland. ... Kolari (Russian: Гогланд; Finnish: Tytärsaari; Swedish: Tytterskär) is an island in the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, located 75 km away from the coast of Finland. ... Hanko, (Hangö in Swedish) in Finland is a small bilingual port town on the south coast of Finland, 130 kilometers west of Helsinki. ... Modern Naval Tactics It is tempting to regard modern naval combat as the purest expression of tactics. ...

Contrary to common belief, the Soviet troop transfer rights by railway to the Hanko base were not granted in the peace treaty, but they were demanded first on July 9, after Sweden had acknowledged railway transit of Wehrmacht troops to occupied Norway. The matter of German troop transfer through Sweden and Finland was an important theme in Allied propaganda during World War II, and remains after the war one of the more controversial aspects of modern Scandinavian history beside Finlands co-belligerence with Nazi Germany in the Continuation War, and the... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 175 days remaining. ...

Additional demands were that any equipment and installation on the ceded territories were to be handed over. Thus Finland had to hand over 75 locomotives, 2,000 railroad cars, a number of cars, trucks and ships. The Enso industrial area, which was clearly on the Finnish side of the border, as it was drawn in the peace treaty, was also soon added to the Finnish losses of territory and equipments. A locomotive (from Latin loco motivus) is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train, and has no payload capacity of its own; its sole purpose is to move the train along the tracks. ... A railroad car (or, more briefly, car, not to be confused with railcar), also known as an item of rolling stock, is a vehicle on a railroad (or railway) that is not a locomotive — one that provides another purpose than purely haulage, although some types of car are powered. ... Enso (in Jääski) was a Finnish industrial town that was lost to the Soviet Union due to a unilateral Soviet reinterpretation of the Moscow Peace Treaty. ...

The new border was not arbitrary from the Soviet viewpoint.

• Before the war, Finland had been a leading producer of high quality pulp, which was an important raw material for explosives. Including the Enso factories, the Soviet Union captured 80% of Finland's production capacity.
• Finland had to cede 1/3 of her built hydroelectric power, mainly in the form of hydroelectric power plants in River Vuoksi, which was badly needed in Leningrad where the industry suffered a 20% shortage of electricity.
• The location of the new border was consistent with the Soviet defence doctrine, which envisioned taking the fight onto enemy soil through counter attacks and pre-emptive strikes. Under this doctrine, the ideal border should not allow the enemy to have natural defensible barriers; so instead of running through natural border locations like the Bay of Viipuri or the swamp region at the isthmus between Lake Saimaa and Lake Ladoga, the new border ran on the western side of those. But those positions were also very easy to encircle for an offensive enemy of the Red Army, which was soon to be shown.

The Finns were shocked by the harsh peace terms. It seemed as if more territory was lost in the peace than in the war, and the loss was in many ways some of the highest valued parts of Finland: International Paper Company Wood pulp is the most common material used to make paper. ... The River Vuoksi (Finnish) or River Vuoksa (Russian standard transcription) runs in the northernmost part of the Karelian Isthmus, from Lake Saimaa in southeastern Finland flowing into Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. ... A preemptive attack (or preemptive war) is waged in an attempt to repel or defeat an imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending (usually unavoidable) war. ... The Bay of Vyborg is a deep inlet running northeastward near the eastern end of Gulf of Finland. ... A Picture of Saimaa Saimaa, or Saimen in Swedish, is a lake in southeastern Finland. ... Map of lake Ladoga Towpath Bridge between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega (from a photograph taken ca. ...

• Large parts of the most populated southern region of remaining Finland had been connected to the world via the Saimaa Canal system, that now was severed at Vyborg where it connects to the Gulf of Finland.
• The southern part of the lost area was Finland's industrial heart.
• Karelia is considered the heart and origin of the Finnish culture. Before the Winter War, the Soviet sovereignty over the main part of Karelia, and Stalinist atrocities there, had been a major source of grief for many Finns. Under the terms of the treaty, the rest of Karelia was also lost. This started the Karelian question.

Sympathy from the world opinion seemed to have been of little worth. A certain bitter disappointment became a common feature of the Finns' view of other nations, not the least the Swedes, who had offered plenty of sympathy but not lived up to their obligation to support Finland with blood. Saimaa Canal (Finnish: Saimaan kanava, Swedish: Saima kanal) is a canal in a system of 120 interconnected lakes in the south-central and south-east part of Finland. ... Areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union. ...

For better or for worse, the harsh terms made the Finns inclined to seek support from Germany, and made many Finns regard revenge as justified. In the end, this might have been a necessary condition for Finland's survival in the World War.

Only a year later, in June 1941, hostilities resumed in the Continuation War. This article is about the year. ... Combatants  Finland Germany  Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Strength 250,000 (total 530,000) Finns[1] + 100,000 (total 220,000) Germans 650,000 (total ???) [2] Casualties 58,715 dead or missing 158,000 wounded 1,500 civilian casualties[3] 200,000 dead or missing 385,000 wounded...

See also

• Treaty of Tartu
• Interim Peace
• Moscow armistice

The Finnish-Russian border was decided in the Treaty of Tartu. ... Interim Peace was a short period in the history of Finland during the Second World War. ... The areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Continuation War. ...

External link

• Text of the Moscow Peace Treaty