Finland survived: An account of the Finnish-Soviet winter war, 1939-1940

by Max Jakobson

Softcover with dust jacket. Contents The Art of Survival; Friendly Persuasion; The Soviet Monroe Doctrine; The Phone Peace; Victory in Defeat; and an The Finnish-Soviet Peace Treaty of 1940.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1984

About the author

Max Jakobson was a Finnish diplomat and journalist with Finnish-Jewish descent. Jakobson was an instrumental figure in shaping Finland's policy of neutrality during the Cold War. In 1971, Jakobson was a candidate for the post of United Nations Secretary-General. His candidacy failed, ostensibly because of a Soviet Union veto.

Max Jakobson was born in 1923 in Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia), as son of Finnish-Jewish tailor Leo Jakobsson and his ethnic Finnish wife Helmi (née Virtanen). He began his career as a journalist. He worked at the BBC. From 1953 to 1974 he was employed by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs eventually acting as Finland's ambassador to the United Nations in 1965-1971 and Finland's Ambassador to Sweden in 1971−1974.

Reviews

[Karl Jorgenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dry and academic telling of the diplomatic maneuvering from fall 1939 when the Nazis and Soviets crushed Poland into spring, 1940. France sat complacent and corrupt behind the Maginot Line, waiting for Hitler to waste his army in a frontal attack. Stalin may have desired to improve his position for an eventual battle with the Nazis, or he may have simply seen the opportunity to emulate Hitler and rob a weaker neighbor. He certainly followed the Nazi playbook: make demands, negotiate in bad faith, make ever more ridiculous demands, then attack with overwhelming force and supply a puppet government to replace the legitimate one.
Except the brave, motivated, and well-trained Finns were having none of it; they slaughtered tens of thousands of Soviet troops and held against forces ten times their strength.
The spectacular historical point to this mostly-forgotten war is that when it happened, Stalin and Hitler had a non-aggression pact whereby the Soviets supplied Hitler with oil and other necessary war material for him to fight the Allies. Both Britain and France talked about coming to Finland's aid; had they done so, WW II would have taken a completely different shape with the Allies fighting both the Soviet Union and the Nazis. Fortunately, the Allies were lazy, lying, patronizing, dilettantes and never made any useful move to help the democratic Finns against the predatory Soviets. And the rest is history.

[Wilte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book on the Finnish Winter war. Main focus (& very insightful) is on the diplomatic side, hardly any info on the military developments.

Summary/quotes: https://wilte.wordpress.com/2022/04/1...

Best quote: "On paper, the French design looked like a grand pincer movement of continental scope-from the Arctic to the Black Sea. The trouble was, of course, that the pincer was as weak as a pair of sugar tongs used to squeeze the back of a whale."