This is the first part of a series on what it means to be Finnish. If you’ve ever visited Finland you know we live in one of the greatest places in the world. But it’s not all fun an games. There are some things you just have to master to live here

Let’s get started with essential history. I could go on about the times as part of Sweden and Russia, or the fight for independence. But that’s not really important. To understand us there is one historical event you must know and that is:

The Winter War 1939-1940.

It was kind of like the battle of Hoth.

Main difference was that the Soviet tanks didn’t have legs, so instead of rope we used Molotov’s Cocktails.

How to use a Molotov's Cocktail

So why are the improvised fire bombs called Molotov’s cocktails? Well, it’s a joke, obiously. Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that the Soviet Union was not dropping bombs but rather delivering food to starving Finns, so Finns started calling the bombs “bread baskets”. Soon they responded by attacking advancing tanks with “Molotov cocktails” which were “a drink to go with the food”.

That’s pretty much sums it up. The Soviet Union attacked with half a million men and thousands of airplanes and tanks. The Finns, being short on pretty much everything, threw bottles at them. Their tanks blew up and eventually the Soviets called quits so they’d have an army left to fight Hitler.

As usual, Wikipedia has a more historically accurate description of events.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 10:29 am and is filed under Finland, History, Soviet Russia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.