Abstract

The Winter War of 1939-1940, also known as the Russo-Finnish War, is one of the most important wars in European history. The small Finnish army showed tremendous and distinctive resistance against the Soviet army, and was initially able to overcome the might of the giant Red Army of the Soviet Union, had the situation not changed in the end and the balance became in favor of the Soviets. One of the reasons for this war was the lack of trust between the two countries. Finland believed that the Soviet Union wanted to expand its territory, while the Soviet Union feared that Finland would allow Germany to use it as a base from which to attack the Soviet Union during World War II (1939-1945). Although Finland declared its neutrality at the beginning of World War II, the Soviet Union demanded that Finland make concessions, which the latter delayed, due to its desire to use the time to mobilize its army, as well as requesting assistance from Sweden and the Western Allies, including Britain and France, but its attempts failed to achieve any significant success. The Soviet Union took the incident as a A false border was a pretext for invading Finland, and it did so on November 30, 1939. The Red Army was poorly equipped, poorly led, and unable to deal with the Finnish terrain and winter weather. The Finnish army, despite its small size and limited resources, was flexible. It had good leadership and knowledge of its difficult terrain, which helped it achieve good results. Despite the enormous difficulties Finland faced and the meager foreign aid, it was able to resist for three months ,But it was only a matter of time before the balance of power tilted in favor of the Soviet Union, The Red Army returned in force, due to the reorganization of its command structure, as well as the introduction of modern equipment, and making much-needed changes in tactics and personnel within the Soviet army, Which made it a terrible force in the face of the Finnish resistance, which began to run out of equipment, which forced the Finnish president to request a release in the Moscow Peace Treaty, and thus the conflict ended in favor of the Soviets in 1940.