Finland in World War II
military engagements regarding Finland during World War II
Finland participated in the Second World War initially in a defensive war against the Soviet Union, followed by another, this time offensive, war against the Soviet Union acting in concert with Nazi Germany, and then finally fighting alongside the Allies against Germany.
The first two major conflicts in which Finland was directly involved were the defensive Winter War against an invasion by the Soviet Union in 1939, followed by the offensive Continuation War, together with Germany and the other Axis powers against the Soviets, in 1941–1944. The third conflict, the Lapland War against Germany in 1944–1945, followed the signing of the Moscow Armistice with the Allied Powers, which stipulated the expulsion of Nazi German forces from Finnish territory.
The Soviet attempt to conquer Finland in the Winter War was thwarted, and by the end of World War II, Finland remained an independent country. Finland ceded approximately 10% of its territory to the Soviet Union, including Viipuri (Finland's second-largest city [Population Register] or fourth-largest city [Church and Civil Register], depending on the census data). Finland was also required to pay out a large amount of war reparations to the Soviet Union and to formally acknowledge partial responsibility for the Continuation War. Finnish political policy during the Cold War aimed to appease the Soviet Union to maintain good relations.
Background
Finnish independence
In 1809, the Russian Empire seized Finland from Sweden in the Finnish War. Finland entered a personal union with the Russian Empire as a grand duchy with extensive autonomy.
On 6 December 1917, during the Russian Civil War, the Finnish parliament (Suomen Eduskunta) declared independence from Russia, a declaration that was accepted by the Bolshevik government of the Soviet Union on 31 December.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Finland in World War II” as military engagements regarding Finland during World War II. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3315504. The Library of Congress control number is sh2008113909. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1941, 1944 and 1945.
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This entry incorporates text from “Finland in World War II” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.