Grab it if you can't talk it over! How was Finland's 10% annexed by Russia?

Speaking of Finland, several powerful countries around it can not be ignored: Sweden and Norway in northern Europe and Russia in the east.

With the intensification of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the contradiction between Russia and NATO is also increasing. Under this circumstance, Finland suddenly gave up its neutral position of "never forming an alliance" since World War II and suddenly announced its participation in NATO, which shocked the international community. You know, as a neutral country, suddenly joining a military group is almost unprecedented in the history of the world.

Finland's move also means that St. Petersburg, the second largest city and the most important economic center in northern Russia, will be completely exposed to the threat of NATO, making Russia face a strategic dilemma of being attacked on both sides. However, Finland's sudden visit to backstab and Russia is not without reason. You know, Finnish hatred of Russia is engraved in the bone marrow, and the feud between the two countries can be said to have a long history. Therefore, it seems not surprising that Finland will suddenly choose to go to war with Russia at the critical moment of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Then, let's see why Finland suffers from "Russian phobia". How did Russia resolve its feud with Finland?

Finland, people's impression of this country may be a country with a weak presence in the Nordic countries, and its reputation is much smaller than that of Sweden and Norway, both Nordic countries. Perhaps many people in China know that Finland started with Nokia mobile phones, and perhaps many people still think that Nokia is a powerful country in electronic technology such as Britain, France, the United States and.

However, it is such a country that has been forgotten by many people. When it was the happiest country in the world for three consecutive years, it suddenly chose to step out of the comfort zone and join the NATO camp with increasingly fierce external conflicts. Obviously, the most fundamental reason for this move is that Finland feels the threat of expansion from eastern Russia.

Although Finland is rich and developed, it is a small country struggling to survive in the cracks. Its land area is only 338,000 square kilometers, almost equivalent to the area of two Henan provinces. In this pitifully small territory, one third of the land is frozen by the Arctic all the year round, with a total population of less than 6 million, and the development space is extremely limited.

Look at Finland's geopolitical environment, sandwiched between the Nordic boss Sweden and the superpower Russia. Both bosses are eyeing Finland, a seemingly helpless small country, which really makes Finland feel helpless.

From the origin of race, although Finland is located in northern Europe and Scandinavia, the Finnish race is not a Viking native to northern Europe, but originated in the Volga River basin in Russia today. After two large-scale migrations and expansions, we came to Finland in the Baltic Sea today. So in terms of blood, Finns have nothing to do with Vikings, but are closest to Slavs.

1 1 century, Sweden achieved reunification, then invaded Finland like a whirlwind and ruled Finland for more than 600 years. In this process, Sweden not only forced Finns to believe in Christianity, but also made Finns list Swedish as Finland's first language, requiring all civil servants and teachers to speak only Swedish, not Finnish. Even in Sweden's successive expansion wars, Finland was forced to help, making itself overwhelmed and very embarrassed.

Under such circumstances, life in Finland is naturally very wronged. It was not until the 6th century A.D./KLOC-that Finland, under the influence of the European Reformation, began to lay a Finnish writing system, and their national consciousness gradually awakened, thus opening an independent trend of thought against Sweden.

At the same time, a rapidly expanding Slavic nation, the Russian Empire, was born in the Eastern European Plain. Until18th century, Russia's expansion pawns gradually touched Sweden's sphere of influence, and a fierce battle was inevitable. At this time, Finland, sandwiched between Russia and Sweden, became the main battlefield of confrontation between the two great powers.

In the end, Sweden was defeated, and the sovereignty of Finland was handed over to the Russian Empire, thus Finland became a vassal state of Russia-the Grand Duchy of Finland, which opened the era of Russian rule. After Russia took over Finland, in order to further disintegrate Sweden's influence in Finland, Finland was granted a high degree of autonomy, which not only restored the status of Finnish, the official language of Finland, but also enabled Finnish officials at all levels and the Finnish parliament to decide most affairs except diplomacy and military affairs.

During this period, Finland also made full use of its autonomy and vigorously developed its domestic economy, which laid the foundation for today's prosperity and led a rich life. Therefore, after more than 600 years of restricting freedom, Finland was very satisfied with the system of the Grand Duchy of Finland and the rule of the Russian Empire, and the situation was once harmonious and abnormal.

Until the end of 19, with the rise and fall of Russia, people's living standards plummeted, and domestic national sentiment and separatist forces began to grow. Under such circumstances, the Russian Empire also began to change its policy and adopted a tough "Russian" high-pressure management of ethnic minorities.

For Finland, a minority, Russia is obviously no exception. They began to promote Russian in Finland, narrow the application scope of Finnish, restrict the legislative power of the Finnish parliament, and force Finns to serve in the Russian army instead of maintaining a relatively independent Finnish army as in the past.

Russia's move is obviously exactly the same as when Sweden ruled Finland, which completely angered the Finns. Therefore, taking advantage of the unstable political situation in Russia, Finland launched a vigorous anti-Russian movement, and the voice for independence became louder and louder. Finland did not declare its independence until Russia fell in 19 17.

In the early days of Soviet Russia's establishment, because Lenin had promised to return all the territories occupied by other countries during the Russian period, Soviet Russia was very tolerant of Finland at first, not only returning some Finnish territories, but also taking the lead in recognizing Finland as an independent country. It was not until Soviet Russia was transformed into the Soviet Union, Lenin died and ambitious Stalin came to power that the Soviet Union once again began to focus on Finland, a small country caught in the cracks.

After the signing of the non-aggression treaty between the Soviet Union and Germany in World War II, the Soviet Union stepped up the establishment of the "Eastern Front", started a vigorous Sino-Finnish war, and finally occupied a large area of Finland, including Karelia. So, why did the Soviet Union invade Finland?

This is because the Soviet-Finnish border is only 32 kilometers away from Leningrad, the second largest city and economic center in the northern Soviet Union. In the event of war, Leningrad will have no danger to defend. So the political reversal in Finland almost decided the life and death of the Soviet economic center. In order to ensure the geopolitical security of Leningrad, Stalin proposed a "land exchange plan" for Finland, in an attempt to exchange 5,523 square kilometers of Soviet territory for 276 1 square kilometers of Finnish territory in the north of Leningrad.

However, this seemingly cost-effective request was decisively rejected by Finland. Because the land of 276 1 m2 demanded by the Soviet Union includes the "Mannheim defense line" with a length of 135 square kilometers and a depth of 95 kilometers built by Finland in 12. Once the land is changed, this line of defense will fall into the hands of the Soviet Union, and Finland will not be in danger of resisting the Soviet Union, and it is very likely that it will be annexed by the Soviet Union again.

1939165438+1October 13, Soviet foreign minister molotov officially issued an ultimatum: "diplomats can do nothing, and then the army speaks." Soon the Soviet-Finnish war was started. However, the Soviet Union did not stop there. On the contrary, it established a "Karelia-Finland Republic" that joined Russia and Ukraine, in an attempt to annex the whole of Finland. It's really "grab it if you can't talk about it."

The Soviet Union's actions also made Finland feel a great threat. In order to fight against the Soviet Union, Finland actually stood in the camp of Nazi Germany. Germany is naturally willing to use Finland to complete its great cause of invading the Soviet Union and encourage Finland to recover lost ground. In this way, Finland managed to muster 654.38 million troops from a place with a small population to join the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and the result can be imagined. In the end, Finland was losing ground and had to be forced to cede territory to make peace with the Soviet Union.

Until 1945, Finland 10% of its territory was lost to the Soviet Union. Not only did they not recover their lost land, but even the most important ice-free port in the Arctic Ocean was lost, which was not worth the loss. After suffering heavy losses, Finland has since "closed its doors" and declared itself a neutral country, neither joining NATO nor the Warsaw Pact.

Unexpectedly, with the increasingly fierce hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union, Finland's neutral stance has become very popular. Western countries and the Soviet Union are trying their best to win over Finland and help it. Finland has also successfully become an industrial country under the nourishment of both sides, and its national strength has risen rapidly, becoming one of the developed countries.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Finland remained neutral for a long time even in the face of Russia, which is still huge. Today, Finland, which frequently suffers from "Russian phobia", has chosen to resolutely abandon this neutral position. Whether the outcome is good or bad can only be tested by time.