How Finland Survived Stalin

A dramatic and timely account of Stalins failed invasion of Finland in 1939, and the decade of wars and fraught relations that followed In November 1939, Stalin directed his military leaders to launch an invasion of Finland. In what became known as the Winter War, the full might of the Soviet army was pitted against this small Nordic republic. Yet despite their vastly superior military strength, the Soviets suffered heavy losses and failed to mount Stalins intended full-scale invasion. How did Finland evade Stalins crosshairsnot once, but three times more? In this groundbreaking account, Kimmo Rentola traces the epochal shifts in Soviet-Finnish relations. From the Winter War to Finlands exit from World War II in 1944, a possible Soviet-backed coup in 1948, and Moscows designation of Finland as an enemy state in 1950, Finland was forced to navigate Stalins outsize political and territorial demands. Rentola presents a dramatic reconstruction of Finlands unlikely survival at a time when the nations very existence was at stake.