Ekaterina E. AGUREEVA,
Dmitry S. EFIMOV,
Lyubov A. KIM,
Polina K. KORNYAKOVA,
Georgy A. MAKAROV,
Nikita S. MIKHAILOV,
Daria A. SENATOVA.
THE WINTER SOVIET-FINNISH WAR OF 1939-40: MYTHS AND REALITY (VIDEO)

 

 

This documentary film was created by students from the Department of Sociology, the Department of History and Social Science Teaching Methodology at the Institute of History and Social Sciences, as well as the Department of Public Relations and Advertising at the Institute of Human Philosophy, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia within the framework of the project “Historical Context VS Mythology.” The work presents an experience in deconstructing persistent mythologems that have formed in domestic and foreign historiography around the Soviet-Finnish War of 1939–1940 (the Winter War).

The authors offer a historically grounded interpretation of events in the context of the obvious impending threat to the Soviet Union from Nazi Germany. It is consistently argued that the USSR's actions in 1939 were dictated by the necessity to ensure strategic security for Leningrad and the Northwest region as a whole, under conditions of persistently hostile relations between Finland and the Soviet Union throughout the entire preceding period since Finland’s independence in 1918.

Reconstructing the pre-war context, the authors turn to little-known facts about Finnish expansion in Karelia during 1918–1920, raids by White-Finnish detachments on Soviet territory, and hostile activities by Finnish intelligence in the 1930s. Attention is given to patient but unsuccessful attempts by Soviet diplomacy in autumn 1939 to propose a territorial exchange to the Finnish government: ceding 2700 km² on the Karelian Isthmus—vital for the naval base at Kronstadt—in exchange for twice as much area (5500 km²) along Finland’s eastern border.

The film’s authors avoid definitive moral judgments and focus instead on structural causes of the conflict: the geopolitical vulnerability of the USSR, Finland’s aspiration to expand its borders at the expense of Russian lands, and the growing threat from the Third Reich. They emphasize that the border adjustments resulting from the Winter War of 1939-40 played a significant role in the defense of Leningrad in 1941–1944, when Finnish troops blockaded the city while acting in alliance with the Wehrmacht.

Special attention is paid by the authors to the modern political context. Finland’s pursuit of NATO membership after nearly eighty years of neutral status and friendly relations with the USSR/Russia is considered as a reason to rethink historical memory and actualize questions of sovereignty amid geopolitical instability. The script serves not only as a historical narrative but also as a reflexive media text stimulating critical reflection on the past through the lens of the present.

 

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Keywords:

War, Finland, Soviet-Finnish relations.

 

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Idea author — Dr. of Pedagogical Sciences, Prof. A.A.Akhayan
Scientific consultant and script author — Dr. of Historical Sciences, Prof. E.A.Okladnikova

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Reference to this publication:

Agureeva E.E., Efimov D.S., Kim L.A.,  Kornyakova P.K. ,  Makarov G.A., Mikhailov N.S., Senatova D.A. The winter Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40: Myths and Reality (video) // Stoll Hall: scientific-pedagogical network video journal. 2026, No. 1, ART 260302e - ISSN 2782-1684. - URL: https://stoll.spb.su/26/260302e.htm