List of wars involving Finland

Last updated

This is a list of wars involving Finland since its declaration of independence on 6 December 1917.

Contents

List

ConflictParty 1Party 2ResultFinnish leadersFinnish losses
(dead or missing)
Head of StateChief of Defence
Finnish Civil War
(1918)
Flag of Finland 1918 (state).svg White Guard
Flag of the German Empire.svg  Germany
Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden
Socialist red flag.svg Red Guards
Flag RSFSR 1918.svg  Russian SFSR
Government victory
  • Uprising suppressed
~30,000 [1]
(Reds and Whites)
Heimosodat
(1918–1922)
Flag of Finland 1918 (state).svg White Guard
Flag of Estonia.svg  Estonia
KarelianNationalFlag.svg East Karelia
Ingrian people.svg North Ingria
Flag RSFSR 1918.svg  Russian SFSR
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Murmansk Legion
Treaty of Tartu
~550
Winter War
(1939–1940)
Part of the Second World War
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg  Soviet Union Moscow Peace Treaty
25,904 [2]
Continuation War
(1941–1944)
Part of the Second World War
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland
Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Germany
Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg  Soviet Union Defeat [3]
63,204 [4]
Lapland War
(1944–1945)
Part of the Second World War
Flag of Finland.svg  Finland Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Germany Victory
  • German retreat from Finnish territory
1,036 [5]
War in Afghanistan
(2009–2021)
Flag of Afghanistan (2004-2013).svg  Afghanistan
Flag of the Taliban.svg Taliban Defeat
  • Taliban retakes Afghanistan
2 [6]
War in Iraq
(2014–2017)
Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq
Seal of Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve.svg CJTF–OIR
AQMI Flag asymmetric.svg Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Victory
  • Iraqi and allied victory against ISIL
None

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Continuation War</span> Finnish war against the Soviet Union (1941–44)

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 and invasion 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.

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The following is a tabulation of United States military casualties of war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World War II casualties</span> List of human losses by participating country

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">European theatre of World War II</span> Theatre of military operations during World War II

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Rovaniemi</span> Battle in the Lapland War

The Battle of Rovaniemi was an event during the 1944 Lapland War. The actual fighting between the components of the Finnish Armoured Division and Finnish 3rd Division against the troops of the German Twentieth Mountain Army took place at the vicinity of the town of Rovaniemi. The notoriety of the encounter derives from the near-total destruction of the town.

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Operation Birke was a German operation late in World War II in Finnish Lapland to protect access to nickel.

Operation Nordlicht was a German operation during the end of World War II. After Finland had made peace with the USSR, the Germans planned to fall back to defense lines built and equipped in advance across Finnish Lapland. During the operation, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht gave an order to move from Operation Birke to Operation Nordlicht on 4 October 1944. That meant that instead of evacuating everything and then fortifying on the strong defensive positions, the German 20th Mountain Army was to retreat according to a set timetable to a new defense line in Lyngen Municipality in Troms county, Norway. The Germans retreated using scorched-earth tactics and destroyed almost all buildings and all boats in Finnmark, thus denying the enemy any facilities in the area. The same tactics had already been used in Finnish Lapland. The retreat ended on 20 January 1945. A detailed account of 'the Nazis' scorched earth campaign in Norway' by Vincent Hunt includes statements by eyewitnesses, photographs taken at the time and a map of locations and prisoner of war camps.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missing Research and Enquiry Service</span> Former RAF non-flying unit

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References

Citations

  1. National Archive
  2. Finnish detailed death casualties: 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.
  3. Mouritzen, Hans (1997). External Danger and Democracy: Old Nordic Lessons and New European Challenges. Dartmouth. p. 35. ISBN   1-85521-885-2.
  4. Finnish detailed death casualties: Dead, buried 33,565; Wounded, died of wounds 12,820; Dead, not buried later declared as dead 4,251; Missing, declared as dead 3,552; Died as prisoners of war 473; Other reasons (diseases, accidents, suicides) 7,932; Unknown 611
  5. Ahto 1980, p. 296.
  6. "OEF: Afghanistan: Fatalities By Year". icasualties.org. 9 September 2005. Retrieved 14 September 2013.

Bibliography