The Winter War:
Russia's Invasion of Finland, 1939-1940 - Robert Edwards
This book is an interesting combination of diplomatic and
military history. The goal of Stalin and his henchmen in the 1930s was that of
Czarist Russia: to protect European Russia from attack from the West by annexing
Eastern European countries such as Poland and the Baltic States. After the Nazi-USSR
non-aggression deal, the USSR occupied Eastern Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania and then set its sights on Finland. Edwards concisely and clearly
lays out the diplomatic maneuvering in the run-up to the war, which is
interesting for readers, who as they age, grow more interested in the preludes
and aftermaths of war. Edwards provides useful mini-biographies of the
diplomatic Finns and military Russians. I felt awe and respect reading about the brave ill-equipped Finns holding out against the ill-lead Communists
for three long cold months in 1939-40. A Finn I met while we lived in Latvia in
the 1990s told me that every Finnish family had a member killed or wounded in
that war.
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