Finnish involvement in WW2 was defensive

[Sekarotuinen]

As the title says, Finland sided with Germany because of Soviet aggresion and the alignment of the west towards the Soviets. In the winter war, despite Finland overwhelmingly winning on a tactical level, we could not hold the soviets alone so ceded territory inhabitted by Finns to end the war.
With Barbarossa and the success of Germany, Finland sided with the Nazis to retake lost lands and hopefully prevent the innevitable second (third if you consider thr Finnish civil war) Soviet attack.
For this purely defensive action, the Finns were forced to hold show trials to sentence the good leaders of the nation, and those the soviets didnt like, inclusing soc-dem labor organizers to prison.

Finland has nothing to be ashamed about for this war, but the Russians have everything to apologize for in their treatment of the Finns and Finland.

What do you know about the winter and continuation wars? What is your opinion of Finland in WWII?

[Harkonnen]

The 1941 offensive aka reconquest of Ladoga Karelia obviously begun as a operation to reclaim the 1939 borders. During interim peace the general opinion was that conditions of the Moscow Peace Treaty were unfair.

When the old boarders were reclaimed the operation was halted for a moment. There was genuine disagreement within Finnish command and the general populus on further actions. However as the decision was made to take East Karelia I guess at that point there is reason to say that the operation changed from defensive to offensive.

The Finnish justification was that these areas were inhabited by ethnic Finnic peoples, but international law does not recognize this point.

Overall the Finnish command took very careful approach refusing to partake in the Leningrad siege or cut the Muurmansk railroad. Just doing our thang

[Wadaad]

German involvement in WW2 in a sense was also defensive...they were defending themselves againts the chokehold of the Versailles treaty...where Germany would have had to pay jizya all the way upto the 1990s had the treaty been realised.

[Dandelion]

A song from the era.

[EL_BARBARO]

German involvement in WW2 in a sense was also defensive...they were defending themselves againts the chokehold of the Versailles treaty...where Germany would have had to pay jizya all the way upto the 1990s had the treaty been realised.

There were no IWW nor IIWW but a WW from 1914 to 1945 with a truce in the middle.

[Wadaad]

There were no IWW nor IIWW but a WW from 1914 to 1945 with a truce in the middle.

yes, just as we call it today the Hundred Years war...that will be called the 20th century War...1914 (assassination of Archduke) -1991 (fall of USSR)

[Sekarotuinen]

The 1941 offensive aka reconquest of Ladoga Karelia obviously begun as a operation to reclaim the 1939 borders. During interim peace the general opinion was that conditions of the Moscow Peace Treaty were unfair.

When the old boarders were reclaimed the operation was halted for a moment. There was genuine disagreement within Finnish command and the general populus on further actions. However as the decision was made to take East Karelia I guess at that point there is reason to say that the operation changed from defensive to offensive.

The Finnish justification was that these areas were inhabited by ethnic Finnic peoples, but international law does not recognize this point.

Overall the Finnish command took very careful approach refusing to partake in the Leningrad siege or cut the Muurmansk railroad. Just doing our thang

Yeah, Finland didnt take the vital Murmansk railroad to appease the US, who never even declared war on Finland. If Finlans had assaulted Leningrad with the Germans, the city would have surely fallen as well.

[Sekarotuinen]

German involvement in WW2 in a sense was also defensive...they were defending themselves againts the chokehold of the Versailles treaty...where Germany would have had to pay jizya all the way upto the 1990s had the treaty been realised.

Versailles was what ended WW1, where honestly no party was truly responsible, but yeah Germany was over-punished. By contrast, the soviets invaded Finland without justification after failing to take over the country in 1918. Finland was truly on the defensive.

[Harkonnen]

Versailles was what ended WW1, where honestly no party was truly responsible, but yeah Germany was over-punished. By contrast, the soviets invaded Finland without justification after failing to take over the country in 1918. Finland was truly on the defensive.

Finland was offensive.

[Sekarotuinen]

This pic pretty much sums up the winter and continuation war, many many Soviets went to their deaths on Finnish soil.