WW2 From Finland's Perspective | Animated History

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Sources:

Birks, Chris., Wirtanen, Toni., Nenye, Vesa., Munter, Peter. Finland at War: The Winter War 1939–40 (United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015).

Birks, Chris., Wirtanen, Toni., Nenye, Vesa., Munter, Peter. Finland at War: The Continuation and Lapland Wars 1941–45 (United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016).

Johansen, Claes. Hitler’s Nordic Ally? Finland and the Total War, 1939-45. (United Kingdom: Pen and Sword Books, Ltd., 2016).

Lunde, Henrik O. Finland's War of Choice: The Troubled German-Finnish Coalition in World War II (United Kingdom: Casemate Publishers (Ignition), 2011).

Mannerheim, Carl Gustaf Emil. Memoirs. (United States: Dutton, 1954).

Saarelainen, Tapio A.M., The White Sniper: Simo Häyhä. (United States: Casemate Publishers, 2016).

Vehviläinen, Olli, Finland in the Second World War: Between Germany and Russia (United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2002).

Wuorinen, John H. Finland And World War II, 1939-1944 (United States: Verdun Press, 2015).

Music:
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[TheArmchairHistorian]

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[JussiViitanen]

My grandfather fought against the soviets. Injured, he stayed behind in a bunker while others retreated. A grenade flew in and exploded, gravely injuring him; shrapnel was 1cm away from striking his heart, and he survived. He died in 2004, and while I was only 3 then, I do still remember him.

[HistoryHustle]

Amazing video! Finland is often overlooked. I can recommend everyone the Finnish war movie: Tuntematon Sotilas.

[somnamnaa]

Finnish general Ehrnrooth was visiting England in the 1970s. A British admiral was wondering how many Soviet troops had been deployed to Finland.
- A few hundred thousand, said Ehrnrooth.
- Where have they been deployed?
- About 6 feet under, along the border, said Ehrnrooth.

[snarf]

My great-grandfather was one of the last Finns to leave Viipuri (Vyborg). He was injured in the winter war, so during the continuation war he was assigned to drive trucks. He was assigned to help with the evacuation in 1944. He saw the Russians on the other side of the market square as he left, never to see the city again.
He died a few years back. Three weeks before his 100th birthday.

[heh]

As a Finn, I can tell my grandmas story during the ww2, she's nowadays 90 years old.
She was born in Southern Karelia, quite close to Laatokka lake, and what she told me about the evacuation, was that her dad burned their house there, as they wouldn't want to give it into the soviets hands, they moved to Mikkeli. And during the continuationwar she had to live in sweden with her littlesister for 3 years, as it was too dangerous to live in Finland where there were occasional russian bombingraids. After the war she went to the school in Mikkeli which used to be the headquarters of Mannerheim.
Nowadays she keeps saying that if she met Putin, she would personally shoot him on sight xd... but yea, hard early life for her.

[HoH]

Beautiful work and a fascinating topic that doesn't nearly receive enough attention. Thank you for covering it.

[chizera]

My grandmother lost her own father to the war when she was only 3 years old. She only had a few memories of him, but losing him was something that stayed with her through her whole life. She passed away this year in February, before the war in Ukraine began. While her passing was sad, I'm also happy that she didn't have to be here to see and hear about the war, or go through the memories and feelings that it would've brought up once again.

We have discussed with my family that if there would be such a situation where our safety was in danger here in Finland, we would move to my grandmother's old house to the countryside for a while. I like to think that she left us with a safe haven of our own. It's a very dear place to me after all the childhood summers spent there, and I know it's the safest place we could go to if something bad was to happen in our country.

[Jarod-vgwq]

I feel proud to Han Finnish ancestry, love to Finland 🇫🇮 from Canada 🇨🇦

[zachariasholmberg]

The house where I live in Helsinki (built in 1917) still carries the mark of the bombs, a sobering reminder. Three out of four of my grandparents served in the war, and somehow all survived - at least physically. And as others have mentioned, the role of Norwegian and Swedish volunteers shouldn't be forgotten - "Finlands sak är vår", as the saying went.

[internetstrangerstrangerofweb]

Wish you would’ve made mention’s of Finland’s staunch refusal to submit to German demands to suppress Jews in the country, and at several moments german troops fought with openly practicing Finnish Jews in areas such as Petrozavodsk.

[jokujoku]

A large group of Russian soldiers in the border area in 1939 are moving down a road when they hear a voice call from behind a small hill:

"One Finnish soldier is better than ten

Russian".

The Russian commander quickly orders 10 of his best men over the hill where Upon a gun-battle breaks out and continues for a few minutes, then silence.

The voice once again calls out: "One Finn is better than one hundred Russian." Furious, the Russian commander sends his next best 100 troops over the hill and instantly a huge gun fight commences. After 10 minutes of battle, again Silence.

The calm Finnish voice calls out again: "One Finn is better than one thousand Russians from:

The enraged Russian commander musters 1000 fighters and sends them to the other side of the hill.

Rifle fire, machine guns, grenades, rockets and cannon fire ring out as a terrible battle

is fought...

Then silence.

Eventually one badly wounded Russian fighter crawls back over the hill and with his dying words tells his commander, "Don't send any more men!!! It's a TRAP! There are TWO of them!"

[IonutTudorica]

Finland is by far my favorite contry in the world. Your way of doing things, your people. In not such a friendly envrionment, but beautiful nonetheless. Greets from Romania and be proud of your history.

[dingusdean]

“They are so many, and our country is so small. Where will we find room, to bury them all?”
-Saying from the winter war

[iliketrainspwned]

As important as the Winter Wars were historically, their impact on current events is HUGE in Finland. A lot of Putin's threats in 2022 carry the same undertones and demands as Stalin's threats in 1940. And combined with the recent, indiscriminate damage Russia is causing to Ukraine, joining NATO is looking less like an option and more like a necessity.

[Lostmario]

My grandfathers dad was in the winter war. He survived the war but got a shot in his arm. I think he was a legend how he fighted for my country finland🙂🇫🇮

[batwing-plays]

I am a simple Pole: I see video about Finland and I click thumb up.

Terve to all the Finnish buddies up there pohjala :)

[RedLogicYT]

Yeah there's definitely a different feeling when you talk about the smaller countries just trying to EXIST VS literally any and every major power.
Obviously they aren't guilt free, but the Finnish wanted independence- Russia, Italy, Japan, & Germany wanted to expand territory and took advantage of neighboring countries.
Britain and France wanted to maintain colonial power.
America wanted to stay out of it.
So many wrongs, but we must not forget that history is never good vs bad.
It's people vs people.

[vandalfinnicus]

For Armchair Historian, you might be interested in the Lotta Svärd organization. That was a 100k women, who were field nurses, ammo manufacturers, and general infrastructure overseers. This is not modern politics, this is history.

[Samsihvonen]

As a Finn, especially the Winter War is highly regarded as the peak of Finnish fortitude. The war is still talked about at dinner tables, schools and with family, and is an important historical piece in almost every Finnish person’s mind. However, only with this video I really understood how desperate and alone we were during the darkest hours in the international scene, with other countries not picking up the phone. I’m so glad that now the international community is lining itself up behind Ukraine to help.
Thank you for the video! It is a masterpiece.