Re: 1939 Soviet invasion of Finland (Winter War)
As a Finn I don't expect people abroad to know all that much about Finland including its fate in WW2. But what naturally annoys a lot is how easily "uneducated" people associate Finland with nazism. This particularly annoying when a Brit does it for two reasons, one being England's own history with Oswald Mosley &Co.
For those interested there is this on YouTube, "Strangers in a Stranger Land: Finland's Jewish Soldiers in WWII".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emgOzd0ng1A&t=345s
As we know England had no means to help anybody against the Russians, or against the Germans (Dunkirk) and soon the Russians become allies according to the old logic of my enemies enemy is my friend.
When Finland was attacked by the USSR Churchill, a man of the word, held a very nice speech on the BBC about the small brave Finland fighting the bully from the east.
Russia was then expelled from the League of Nations.
In Finland the war continued with the "Continuation War" and Churchill came to promise Finland military help but absolutely nothing came of that and as a result the Finns had to ask for help from Germany with the old logic of my enemies enemy is my friend.
There are a few things the Finnish tend not to remember, one is that Britain declared war on Finland because of that. Churchill claimed he had to because of the Allies but was lying as the Americans never did such a stupid thing. Winston was simply appeasing his Uncle Joe. It must have annoyed him immensely that Stalin realised he was less important than the Americans.
Finns forget that because on the whole Britain is a respected country, if with a slight sneer now after Brexit.
The other thing Finns tend to forget is how very crucial that German help was for Finland to stay independent especially towards the end.
The reason for that is much that the Germans had to be pushed out of Finland by force. When they could have peacefully just walked to Sweden without first burning down norhern Finland in the "Lapland war".
One forgotten group of Germans helping Finland was "Detachment Kuhlmey". A group of some 70 airplanes set agains the Russians.
Finland was of course rather lucky in that Stalin pulled troops out of Finland when he considered taking Berlin was more important than trying to take Helsinki.
This video about Kuhlmey is in German and Finnish for those who get along with that. It's hard to find much in English about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7yT23EYyME
Finland was one of those small countries pushed around when the big got mad, it could have been worse too.
As for previous experiences about the Ryssians 300 years ago, try this, texted to Swedish or English. And the music is good too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjFglWuwn6g&t=3119s
Greater Wrath