Post by guest1 on Jul 5, 2007 10:53:18 GMT -5
I had a little converation with Ser Donal earlier today and I made some promises that will be fullfilled in this thread. The idea is, that you can post here and tell about your nation, about its glorious history, its foods, etc.
Finland, is a country in the northern europe. It was originally habitated by different Finno-Ugric tribes, until kingdom of sweden conquerd it in the 13th century. Finland remained as a part of sweden, until it was conquered by russia in 1809. Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of russia, until it declared independent at 6. of december 1917 during the Bolshevik revolution. In 1918, Finland experienced a brief but bitter Civil War. War was fought between two different militia forces: "Whites" supported by germany and communist "Reds" supported by Bolshevik goverment of Russia. Eventually, the Whites overcame the Reds, but deep social and political enmity between the Reds and Whites remained. After Civil war, Finland became a presidential republic, with Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg as its first democraticly elected president. Finnish goverment also survived a minor uprising of extreme rightist Lapua movement in early 30s. During world war II, Finland fought two separate wars against Russia. First one was called: "The winter war", which started, when Soviets staged the shelling of Mainila, an incident in which Soviet artillery shelled areas near the Russian village of Mainila, then announced that a Finnish artillery attack had killed Soviet troops. despite the facts, that
1. Finland did not have enough artillery, to destroy a whole village to the ground.
2. Finland had absolutely no reason to attack soviet union, unlike Soviet union, today the evidences prove, that Hitler and Stalin had made treaty, where Finland was consigned to the Soviet "sphere of influence"
On November 30, Soviet forces attacked with 23 divisions, totalling 450,000 men, which quickly reached the Mannerheim Line. Named by popular marshall Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. Initially, Finland had a mobilized army of only 180,000 men, but these troops turned out to be fierce adversaries employing small-unit surrounding tactics. Many of these soldiers had spent their whole lives in northern forests, where -40°C temperatrures were not unusual. Finnish army also was supplied with white camouflage suits, while Soviet army had dark uniforms. Despite these facts, the soviet generals estimated, that it would take 10-12 days to reach finlands capital city "Helsinki" These calculations were not quite so accurate as Soviet generals had thought. According to Nikita Khrushchev, 1.5 million men were sent to Finland and one million of them were killed, while 1,000 aircraft, 2,300 tanks and armored cars and an enormous amount of other war materials were lost. Finland's losses were limited to around 22,830 men. Insted of being annexed to soviet union, Finland lost upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Finnish_areas_ceded_in_1940.png These areas. (By the way, both of my grandparents lived there before soviet invasion.
)
That was all the "interesting" stuff from Finnish history. Kind of "winter war" post this turned out to be. ;D
I will post you soon some Finnish curiosities, including "Mämmi" and Sauna.
Finland, is a country in the northern europe. It was originally habitated by different Finno-Ugric tribes, until kingdom of sweden conquerd it in the 13th century. Finland remained as a part of sweden, until it was conquered by russia in 1809. Finland became an autonomous grand duchy of russia, until it declared independent at 6. of december 1917 during the Bolshevik revolution. In 1918, Finland experienced a brief but bitter Civil War. War was fought between two different militia forces: "Whites" supported by germany and communist "Reds" supported by Bolshevik goverment of Russia. Eventually, the Whites overcame the Reds, but deep social and political enmity between the Reds and Whites remained. After Civil war, Finland became a presidential republic, with Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg as its first democraticly elected president. Finnish goverment also survived a minor uprising of extreme rightist Lapua movement in early 30s. During world war II, Finland fought two separate wars against Russia. First one was called: "The winter war", which started, when Soviets staged the shelling of Mainila, an incident in which Soviet artillery shelled areas near the Russian village of Mainila, then announced that a Finnish artillery attack had killed Soviet troops. despite the facts, that
1. Finland did not have enough artillery, to destroy a whole village to the ground.
2. Finland had absolutely no reason to attack soviet union, unlike Soviet union, today the evidences prove, that Hitler and Stalin had made treaty, where Finland was consigned to the Soviet "sphere of influence"
On November 30, Soviet forces attacked with 23 divisions, totalling 450,000 men, which quickly reached the Mannerheim Line. Named by popular marshall Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. Initially, Finland had a mobilized army of only 180,000 men, but these troops turned out to be fierce adversaries employing small-unit surrounding tactics. Many of these soldiers had spent their whole lives in northern forests, where -40°C temperatrures were not unusual. Finnish army also was supplied with white camouflage suits, while Soviet army had dark uniforms. Despite these facts, the soviet generals estimated, that it would take 10-12 days to reach finlands capital city "Helsinki" These calculations were not quite so accurate as Soviet generals had thought. According to Nikita Khrushchev, 1.5 million men were sent to Finland and one million of them were killed, while 1,000 aircraft, 2,300 tanks and armored cars and an enormous amount of other war materials were lost. Finland's losses were limited to around 22,830 men. Insted of being annexed to soviet union, Finland lost upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Finnish_areas_ceded_in_1940.png These areas. (By the way, both of my grandparents lived there before soviet invasion.
) That was all the "interesting" stuff from Finnish history. Kind of "winter war" post this turned out to be. ;D
I will post you soon some Finnish curiosities, including "Mämmi" and Sauna.
Hope you all are well and happy.