Editing Winter War (section)

==Aftermath and casualties==
{{Main|Aftermath of the Winter War|Continuation War|Lapland War}}
{{See also|Cross of Sorrow}}

===Finland===
[[File:Sankarihautajaiset Joensuussa 19.5.1940.jpg|thumb|left|Heroes' Memorial Day in [[Joensuu]] 19 May 1940.]]

The 105-day war had a profound and depressing effect in Finland. Meaningful international support was minimal and arrived late, and the German blockade had prevented most armament shipments.<ref name="Edwards_272-273">[[#Edwards2006|Edwards (2006)]], pp. 272–273</ref> The 15-month period between the Winter War and [[Operation Barbarossa]], part of which was the Continuation War, was later called the [[Interim Peace]].<ref name="JS2006_10"/> After the end of the war, the situation of the Finnish Army on the Karelian Isthmus became a subject of debate in Finland. Orders had already been issued to prepare a retreat to the next line of defence in the Taipale sector. Estimates of how long the Red Army could have been delayed by retreat-and-stand operations varied from a few days to a few weeks,<ref>[[#Laaksonen2005|Laaksonen (2005)]], p. 365</ref><ref>[[#Paasikivi1958|Paasikivi (1958)]]. p. 177</ref> or to a couple of months at most.<ref>[[#Halsti1955|Halsti (1955)]], p. 412</ref>

Immediately after the war, Helsinki officially announced 19,576 dead.<ref>[[#Dallin42|Dallin (1942)]], p. 191</ref> According to revised estimates in 2005 by Finnish historians, 25,904 people died or went missing and 43,557 were wounded on the Finnish side during the war.{{refn|A detailed classification of dead and missing is as follows:<ref name="Kur&Lent2005_1152"/><ref name=autogenerated2 />

* Dead, buried 16,766;
* Wounded, died of wounds 3,089;
* Dead, not buried, later declared as dead 3,503;
* Missing, declared as dead 1,712;
* Died as a prisoner of war 20;
* Other reasons (diseases, accidents, suicides) 677;
* Unknown 137;
* Died during the additional refresher training (diseases, accidents, suicides) 34.|group="F"}} Finnish and Russian researchers have estimated that there were 800–1,100 [[Finnish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union|Finnish prisoners of war]], of whom between 10 and 20 per cent died. The Soviet Union repatriated 847 Finns after the War.<ref name="Malmi1999_792" /> Air raids killed 957 civilians.<ref name="Kur&Lent2005_1152"/> Between 20 and 30 tanks were destroyed and 62 aircraft were lost.<ref name="Tillo1993_160"/> Also, Finland had to cede all ships of the [[Finnish Ladoga Naval Detachment]] to the Soviet Union by virtue of the [[Moscow Peace Treaty]].

During the Interim Peace, Finland aimed to improve its defensive capabilities and conducted negotiations with Sweden on a military alliance, but negotiations ended once it became clear that both Germany and the Soviet Union opposed such an alliance.<ref name="Turtola1999b_863">[[#Turtola1999b|Turtola (1999b)]], p. 863</ref> On 31 July 1940, German Chancellor [[Adolf Hitler]] gave the order to plan an assault on the Soviet Union and so Germany had to reassess its position regarding Finland. Until then, Germany had rejected Finnish appeals to purchase arms. However, the prospect of an invasion of the Soviet Union reversed the policy. In August, the secret sale of weapons to Finland was permitted.<ref>[[#reiter|Reiter (2009)]], p. 132</ref>

Karelian evacuees established an interest group, the [[Karjalan Liitto|Finnish Karelian League]], to defend Karelian rights and interests and to find a way to [[Karelian question|return ceded regions of Karelia]] to Finland.<ref name="helsinginsanomat1">[[#Ahtiainen2000|Ahtiainen (2000)]]</ref><ref>[[#KarelianLeague|Finnish Karelian League]]</ref> Finland wished to re-enter the war mainly because of the Soviet invasion of Finland during the Winter War, which had taken place after Finland had failed by relying on the League of Nations and on Nordic neutrality.<ref>[[#lunde|Lunde (2011)]], p. 9</ref> Finland aimed primarily to reverse its territorial losses from the Moscow Peace Treaty and, depending on the success of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, possibly to expand its borders, especially into [[East Karelia]]. Some right-wing groups, such as the [[Academic Karelia Society]], supported a Greater Finland ideology.<ref>[[#jokipii|Jokipii (1999)]], pp. 145–146</ref> The Continuation War began in June 1941 and led to Finnish participation in the [[Siege of Leningrad]] as well as the [[Finnish military administration in Eastern Karelia|Finnish occupation of East Karelia]].<ref>[[#rutherford|Rutherford (2014)]], p. 190</ref><ref>[[#yarov|Yarov (2009)]], p. 7</ref>

===Soviet Union===
[[File:Fin monument.jpg|thumb|upright|Monument devoted to the victims of the Winter War in St. Petersburg]]

The Soviet General Staff Supreme Command (''Stavka'') met in April 1940, reviewed the lessons of the Finnish campaign and recommended reforms. The role of frontline political commissars was reduced, and old-fashioned ranks and forms of discipline were reintroduced. Clothing, equipment and tactics for winter operations were improved. Not all of the reforms had been completed when Germans initiated Operation Barbarossa 14 months later.<ref>[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]] p. 264</ref>

Between the Winter War and ''[[perestroika]]'' in the late 1980s, Soviet historiography relied solely on Molotov's speeches on the Winter War. In his radio speech of 29 November 1939, Molotov argued that the Soviet Union had tried to negotiate guarantees of security for Leningrad for two months. The Finns had taken a hostile stance to "please foreign imperialists". Finland had undertaken military provocation, and the Soviet Union could no longer abide by the non-aggression pacts. According to Molotov, the Soviet Union did not want to occupy or annex Finland, but the goal was purely to secure Leningrad.<ref name="Viha1999_893-896">[[#Vihavainen|Vihavainen (1999)]], pp. 893–896</ref>

The official Soviet figure, with reference to the command of the Leningrad Military District, was published at a session of the Supreme Soviet on 26 March 1940, with 48,475 dead and 158,863 sick and wounded.<ref name="Sokolov00_340" /> More recent Russian estimates vary: in 1990, [[Mikhail Semiryaga]] claimed 53,522 dead, and [[N. I. Baryshnikov]], 53,500. In 1997, [[Grigoriy Krivosheyev]] claimed 126,875 dead and missing and total casualties of 391,783, with 188,671 wounded.<ref name="Krivo1997_77-78" /> In 1991, Yuri Kilin claimed 63,990 dead and total casualties of 271,528. In 2007, he revised the estimate of dead to 134,000<ref name="Kilin2007b_91" /> and in 2012, he updated the estimate to 138,533.{{sfnp|Kilin|2012|pp=21–24}} In 2013, [[Pavel Petrov (historian)|Pavel Petrov]] stated that the Russian State Military Archive has a database confirming 167,976 killed or missing along with the soldiers' names, dates of birth and ranks.<ref name=autogenerated3 /> [[Nikita Khrushchev]] stated in his memoirs that over one million Soviet soldiers were killed.<ref>[[#reiter|Reiter (2009)]], pp. 128</ref><ref>[[#Nenye2015|Nenye (2015)]], p. 284</ref>

There were 5,572 [[Soviet prisoners of war in Finland]].<ref name="Manninen1999b_815" /><ref>[[#VanDyke1997|Van Dyke (1997)]], p. 191</ref><ref>[[#Trotter2002|Trotter (2002)]], p. 263</ref> After the Winter War, the Soviet prisoners were returned to the USSR in accordance with the Moscow Peace Treaty. Of these, 450 were released, 4,354 were sentenced to imprisonment in labour camps ranging from 3 to 10 years and 414 were exposed to be "active in traitorous activities while in captivity", with 334 criminal cases being transferred to the [[Supreme Court of the Soviet Union]]; 232 of those cases ended in a death penalty.{{sfnp|Bichekhvost|2012}}

Between 1,200 and 3,543 Soviet tanks were destroyed. The official figure was 611 tank casualties, but Yuri Kilin found a note received by the head of the Soviet General Staff, Boris Shaposhnikov, reporting 3,543 tank casualties and 316 tanks destroyed. According to Finnish historian [[Ohto Manninen]], the 7th Soviet Army lost 1,244 tanks during the breakthrough battles of the Mannerheim Line in mid-winter. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Finnish estimate of the number of lost Soviet tanks was 1,000 to 1,200.<ref name="Kilin1999" /><ref name="Kanta1998_286" /><ref name="Manninen1999b_810-811" /> The Soviet Air Forces lost around 1,000 aircraft, but fewer than half of them were combat casualties.<ref name="Manninen1999b_810-811" /><ref name="Kilin1999_381" /> According to Carl Fredrik Geust, based on the studies of Soviet air force units, Finnish anti-aircraft units shot down 119 and Finnish fighter pilots 131 Soviet aircraft, though all Soviet aircraft losses had been more than 900.

===Germany===
The Winter War was a political success for the Germans. Both the Red Army and the League of Nations were humiliated, and the Anglo-French Supreme War Council had been revealed to be chaotic and powerless. The German policy of neutrality was unpopular in the homeland, and relations with Italy had suffered. After the Moscow Peace Treaty, Germany improved its ties with Finland, and within two weeks, [[Finnish-German relations]] were at the top of the agenda.<ref name= "Edwards_277-279">[[#Edwards2006|Edwards (2006)]], pp. 277–279</ref><ref name="Lightbody_55"/> More importantly, the very poor performance of the Red Army convinced Hitler that [[Operation Barbarossa|an invasion of the Soviet Union]] would be successful. In June 1941, Hitler declared, "we have only to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down".<ref>[[#Sedlar2007|Sedlar (2007)]], p. 8</ref>

===Allies===
The Winter War laid bare the disorganisation and ineffectiveness of the Red Army and that of the Allies. The Anglo-French Supreme War Council was unable to formulate a workable plan, revealing its unsuitability to make effective war in either Britain or France. This failure led to the collapse of the [[Édouard Daladier#Daladier's third ministry, 10 April 1938 – 21 March 1940|Third Daladier Government]] in France and the nomination of [[Paul Reynaud]] as the new [[Prime Minister of France]].<ref name="Edwards_13-14">[[#Edwards2006|Edwards (2006)]], pp. 13–14</ref>