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Finland The Effects of the War
World War II had a profound impact on Finland.
Approximately
86,000 Finns died in the war--about three times the losses
suffered during the civil war. In addition, about 57,000
Finns
were permanently disabled, and the vast majority of the
dead and
the disabled were young men in their most productive
years. The
war had also left 24,000 war widows; 50,000 orphans; and
15,000
elderly, who had lost, in the deaths of their sons, their
means
of support. In addition, about one-eighth of the prewar
area of
Finland was lost, including the Petsamo area with its
valuable
nickel mines. One-half million Finns were refugees--more
than
400,000 from the ceded or leased territories and about
100,000
from Lapland, where their homes had been destroyed.
Another
effect of the war was the financial burden imposed by the
cost of
maintaining one-half million troops in the field for
several
years and by the requirement to pay the Soviets
reparations in
kind worth US$300 million (in 1938 dollars). The Soviet
lease of
the Porkkala Peninsula less than twenty kilometers west of
Helsinki, as a military base, was a blot on the nation's
sovereignty. Finally, an intangible, but real, restriction
was
placed on Finland's freedom of action in international
affairs.
Finland's relationship with the Soviet Union was
permanently
altered by the war.
Despite the great losses inflicted by the war, Finland
fought
for and preserved its independence; nevertheless, had the
Soviets
been vitally concerned about Finland, there is no doubt
that
Finnish independence would have been extinguished. Finland
emerged from the war conscious of these realities and
determined
to establish a new and constructive relationship with the
Soviet
Union.
Data as of December 1988
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