Finnish Military Effectiveness in the Winter War, 1939-1940

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Introduction: Understanding Military Effectiveness

   • Pasi Tuunainen

   Pages 1-50

3. The Origins of Political and Strategic Effectiveness

   • Pasi Tuunainen

   Pages 51-82

4. The Roots of Operational and Tactical Effectiveness

   • Pasi Tuunainen

   Pages 83-134

5. Professional Leaders and Citizen Soldiers as an Effective Fighting Force

   • Pasi Tuunainen

   Pages 135-170

6. The Logistics and Maintenance of Effectiveness

   • Pasi Tuunainen

   Pages 171-192

7. Conclusion: The Sources of Finnish Military Effectiveness

   • Pasi Tuunainen

   Pages 193-208

8. Back Matter

   Pages 209-266

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This book analyzes the multi-faceted phenomenon of Finnish military effectiveness in the Winter War (1939–40). Drawing on a wide array of primary and secondary sources, Pasi Tuunainen shows how by focusing on their own strengths and pitting these against the weaknesses of their adversary, the Finns were able to inflict heavy casualties on the Red Army whilst minimizing their own losses. The Finns were able to use their resources for effective operational purposes, and perform almost to their full potential. The Finnish small-unit tactics utilized the terrain and Arctic conditions for which they had prepared themselves, as well as forming cohesive units of well-motivated and qualitatively better professional leaders and citizen soldiers who could innovate and adapt. The Finnish Army had highly effective logistics, support and supply systems that kept the troops fighting.

• Finland
• Arctic warfare
• History of conflict
• Second World War
• Red Army

“Finnish Military Effectiveness in the Winter War, 1939–1940, is an outstanding study, providing an insightful, well-researched, and nuanced understanding of ‘the reasons why the Finns were able to adapt to the realities of combat and translate the lessons of combat into lessons learned’ … . It definitely fills a historiographical void by compellingly capturing the complexity of the multifaceted phenomenon of Finnish military effectiveness in the Winter War.” (Harold E. Raugh, Jr., International Journal of Military History and Historiography, Vol. 37, 2017) “Tuunainen’s work is a valuable addition not just to the field of Second World War History; anyone interested is any aspect of the Winter War should read Finnish Military Effectiveness, as the literature review in the introduction is the best English-language review existing on the Winter War” (Augustine Meaher, The Journal of Military History, Vol. 83, No. 2 (April 2019)

• Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern Finland, JOENSUU, Finland

  Pasi Tuunainen

Pasi Tuunainen is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Eastern Finland. He has previously published on the Vietnam War, the Finnish art of war, and Arctic warfare. He has been awarded three research prizes for the monographs he has authored.