The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet-Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 September 1944 with the Moscow Armistice. The Soviet Union and Finland had previously fought the Winter War from 1939 to 1940, which ended with the Soviet failure to conquer Finland and the Moscow Peace Treaty. Numerous reasons have been proposed for the Finnish decision to invade, with regaining territory lost during the Winter War regarded as the most common. Other justifications for the conflict include Finnish President Risto Ryti's vision of a Greater Finland and Commander-in-Chief Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim's desire to annex East Karelia.
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland covers a total area of 338,145 square kilometres (130,559 sq mi), including a land area of 303,815 square kilometres (117,304 sq mi), and has a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. The official languages are Finnish and Swedish; 84.9 percent of the population speak the first as their mother tongue and 5.1 percent the latter. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic during the country's transition from a grand duchy ruled by the Russian Empire to a fully independent state. The clashes took place in the context of the national, political, and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The war was fought between the Red Guards, led by a section of the Social Democratic Party, and the White Guards, conducted by the senate and those who opposed socialism with assistance late in the war by the German Imperial Army at the request of the Finnish civil government. The paramilitary Red Guards, which were composed of industrial and agrarian workers, controlled the cities and industrial centres of southern Finland. The paramilitary White Guards, which consisted of land owners and those in the middle and upper classes, controlled rural central and northern Finland, and were led by General C. G. E. Mannerheim.
Helsinki is the capital and most populous city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About 684,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.26 million in the capital region and 1.6 million in the metropolitan area. As the most populous urban area in Finland, it is the country's most significant centre for politics, education, finance, culture, and research. Helsinki is 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 kilometres (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 kilometres (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. Helsinki has significant historical connections with these three cities.
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that war films often end with them. Themes explored include combat, survival and escape, camaraderie between soldiers, sacrifice, the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and the moral and human issues raised by war. War films are often categorized by their milieu, such as the Korean War; the most popular subjects are the Second World War and the American Civil War. The stories told may be fiction, historical drama, or biographical. Critics have noted similarities between the Western and the war film.
The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.
1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1918th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 918th year of the 2nd millennium, the 18th year of the 20th century, and the 9th year of the 1910s decade. As of the start of 1918, the Gregorian calendar was 13 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately 260,000, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 423,000. It is the 3rd most populous municipality in Finland, and the second most populous urban area in the country after the Helsinki metropolitan area.
Jyväskylä is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Central Finland. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Jyväskylä is approximately 149,000, while the sub-region has a population of approximately 193,000. It is Finland's 7th most populous municipality, and fifth most populous urban area.
The siege of Leningrad was a prolonged military siege undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad on the Eastern Front of World War II. Germany's Army Group North advanced from the south, while the German-allied Finnish army invaded from the north and completed the ring around the city.
Vyborg Bay is a deep inlet running northeastward near the eastern end of Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea. The city of Vyborg is located near the head of the gulf.
Tali-Ihantala 1944 is a 2007 Finnish war film directed by Åke Lindman and Sakari Kirjavainen, based on the Battle of Tali–Ihantala during the Continuation War. Filming began during the summer of 2006 and was screened in autumn 2007. Lindman wanted the film to be as real as possible, and only include facts. He also wanted Finns to remember the sacrifices the soldiers made in those battles.
Finnkino Oy is a Finnish film distributor and producer the biggest cinema chain in Finland. It was established in 1986 as a union of 34 companies working in the film industry. In 1994, Finnkino was acquired by the Rautakirja Group, which became a division of the Sanoma Group in 1999. Finnkino operates a total of 16 cinemas in eleven cities. It also has subsidiaries in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, operated under the names of Forum Cinemas and Forum Distribution. In early 2017, Finnkino and other Scandinavian and Baltic cinema chains were acquired by AMC Theatres as part of its acquisition of Nordic Cinema Group.
Vyborg is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, 130 km northwest of St. Petersburg, 245 km east of the Finnish capital Helsinki, and 38 km south of Russia's border with Finland, where the Saimaa Canal enters the Gulf of Finland. The most recent census population of Vyborg is 72,530 (2021 Census).
Elonet is a website run by the Finnish National Audiovisual Institute which provides a database of about 150,000 films created or screened in Finland. It was launched in 2006. In 2024, the National Audiovisual Institute launched the free streaming service Elonet+. The service can be accessed via a web browser, and it also has a mobile app for Android and iOS devices and a TV app for Apple TV. As of January 2024, the service has about 450 Finnish feature films and thousands of TV programs, advertising films, documentary films and short films available.
Vares: Private Eye is a 2004 Finnish crime film directed by Aleksi Mäkelä. It is based on the eleventh Vares novel Keltainen leski (1999) by Reijo Mäki. The setting is Turku, a city on the west coast of Finland. It stars Juha Veijonen as private detective Jussi Vares who investigates a case involving a large amount of dirty money. The film is the first of nine films in the Vares series. The first sequel, V2: Dead Angel, was released in 2007.
The Battle of Bengtskär was an amphibious landing action fought between Finnish and Soviet forces on 26 July 1941 during the Continuation War.
Here, Beneath the North Star is a 1968 Finnish drama film directed by Edvin Laine. It was entered into the 6th Moscow International Film Festival. The film is based on the first two volumes of Väinö Linna's novel trilogy Under the North Star. The third volume was adapted into a film two years later under the title Akseli and Elina.
The following lists events that happened during 1944 in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
Tammela is a district in Tampere, Finland, located east of the city centre. Tammela was born in the 1870s as a working-class neighbourhood, today it is especially popular among the students of the nearby Tampere University. As of 2014, the population of Tammela was 5,646.
