In 1941, less than eighteen months after the Moscow Peace, Finland went to war again. The Continuation War against the Soviet Union lasted until 1944, and a final bitter campaign against Germany followed in the far north.
Together these conflicts mark the hardest years of Finnish history, and their outcome shaped the position of Finland for the rest of the century.
The road back to war
The peace of 1940 left Finland uneasy. The Soviet Union pressed for ever-greater influence, and Finland distrusted its intentions. When Germany turned on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Finland found itself in a dangerous position.
Finland hoped to regain what it had lost and to secure its borders. It cooperated militarily with Germany, which used Finnish territory as a base, but Finland insisted it was fighting a separate war for its own aims, not as a German ally in the fullest sense.
A separate war
Finland's leaders maintained that the war against the Soviet Union was Finland's own, fought to undo the harsh peace of 1940. The phrase 'the war of the Continuation' expressed this view: a continuing struggle, not a part of Germany's war.
Fighting alongside Germany
Finnish forces advanced in 1941, using the phrase 'the Continuation War' for the conflict. They pushed toward the old borders and beyond, reoccupying Karelia, while German forces operated against the Soviet Arctic.
- Finnish troops advanced into East Karelia, capturing Petrozavodsk in 1941.
- The war settled into long defensive lines after the initial advance.
- Finland refused repeated German and allied demands to do more than it chose.
As the war ground on, Finland's position grew harder. The western Allies pressed Finland to leave the war, and the Red Army grew stronger each year.
The armistice
In June 1944 the Soviet Union launched a massive offensive against the Isthmus. Finland's army held, but barely, and the price of continuing was ruin. In September 1944 Finland accepted an armistice with the Soviet Union.
The terms were harsh: Finland had to cede Karelia again and other territory, pay large reparations, and expel the German forces still in the country. The expulsion would prove to be one more war.
The Lapland War
The armistice demanded that Finland drive the German troops out of northern Finland. This duty produced the Lapland War of 1944-1945, a bitter conflict against a former fellow-in-arms.
German forces retreated slowly northward, destroying roads, bridges and villages as they left, and the Finnish army pursued them into the far north. By April 1945 the last German troops had left Finnish soil, and Finland's wars were over.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Continuation War fought?
From June 1941 to September 1944, beginning with the German attack on the Soviet Union and ending with the Finnish armistice.
Was Finland a German ally?
Finland cooperated militarily with Germany but insisted it was fighting a separate war for its own aims, not as a full ally of Germany.
What was the Lapland War?
The 1944-1945 campaign in which Finnish forces drove the retreating German troops out of northern Finland, as required by the armistice with the Soviet Union.
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