The War Between Finland And Germany 

Corrections: I drew Risto Ryti as president of Finland, which he was from 1940-44. I mixed the names of Risto and Kyösti when I drew Risto. Also, Risto was replaced by Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim in August 1944. This is the biggest mistake in my video, and the one that I'm kinda embarrassed that I didn't catch. The Soviet union did not come to Germany to propose the Molotov-Ribbentropp pact, it was the other way around. Finland declared war on the USSR, but the Soviets did air raid Finnish cities before the declaration.

Fun fact: Finland was in WW2 at war with USSR, Germany and the UK. Of the capitals of war-waging European countries only London, Moscow and Helsinki were never occupied.

Fun fact: the reason why finnish forces were slow to chase german forces after the battle of Rovaniemi was because they found german’s liquor supplies.

Fun fact: Out of all the countries that were required to pay reparations from World War II, Finland is the only one known to have paid its bill in full when it sent $300 million to the Soviet Union in 1952.

Quite good video, but a small strange detail is noticeable: Kyösti Kallio looks more like his successor, Risto Ryti. If you've seen a picture of Kyösti Kallio, he had a pretty damn fluffy mustache. Also, in addition, Kyösti Kallio died in 1940, so he could no longer be the president of Finland during the Continuation War, which began in 1941.

A note on the Lapland borders, the border adjustment with the annexation of Petsamo wasn't the last change. In 1947, a small wedge near Inari was sold to the USSR. Most people miss this.

Wow, you covered a section of WW2 I have never heard about! So even Finland can consider itself a victim of german occupation, that's very interesting!

We have an outdoor sport field in Rovaniemi called Rommelin kenttä (Sportsbahn Feldmarschall Rommel) wich means Rommels sportfield. It was constructed by the germans during the war and was named after Erwin Rommel. They held sport matches there between the finns and the germans for example in football and ice hockey. The field is still in use, when I was in school almost all of my PE classes were there.

Thank you for not censoring the swatsika, it's important to not censor history. Great vid. I know you'll blow up.

there is this little event during the liberation of Tornio which likely contributed to the failure of the greater operation. The Magic Night of Tornio (tornion taikayö). The Finns found a German booze storage and after securing the town they started, hmm, evacuating the storage by any means possible. Both soldiers and civilians started filling cars, carts, prams, anything with booze. The commander of the 11th infantry regiment described the event with the following quote: "My tired and hungry warriors absorbed firewater like sponges and soon all hell broke loose. People sung and screamed, shot and smashed into pieces everything that they saw. A thirsty finn dismantles a board shed shockingly fast if on the other side there is booze"

Dude your video on Danish colonialism was that first video of yours that I found and your videos are frickin good man. Really impressed

I grew tired of waiting for oversimplified to upload and this is exactly what I want to see, thanks for making this

As a finn I must say, this was a really good video. Probably helps that you are clearly nordic as well. Maybe they actually teach some of this stuff in norwegian schools. But seriously, really good video. You earned a new subscriber. :)

First time watching you, your one of the only historic content creators that got the borders, adjustments, advances etc right. I find it laughable that even big history Chanel’s often mess up borders or flags, good work !

At 1:55: While the mountains are a little unrealistic for Eastern Finland, they're not unrealistic for Northern Finland (AKA Lapland), but there is another point. The Finnish forests are LITTERED with massive boulders that were carved and moved around by the receeding glacier of the ice age. These boulders are more effective than the modern Russian Dragon's Teeth and very much perform the same as a mountain. Since both bolders and mountains are made out of rock and serve the same purpose, I think it's relatively safe to give you a pass for the inclusion of mountains, gets the message accross; Finnish forests are not hospitable for tank maneuvers. This is what forced the Soviets to stick to main roads instead of going Deja Vu over the country side.

I feel like Finland is just a poor Clerk who just wants to finish his monthly target before his boss fire him

5:09 I think it's more that the Soviets re-used the tactic that ultimately won the Winter War: Massive push through the Karelian Isthmus. The Vyborg part. Finns then were forced to retreat in the east without much resistance for the fear of being cut off.

I have heard so many times that finnish people are nazis and i don't get why some people say that. No one said it in this video. Our land is small but people living in that land is strong. That hate of people saying "you were allies with german so you are nazi. Its like saying that every german is nazi and that is far from the truth.

It's always fresh and nice to see videos about "smaller/forgetten" battles/wars. Though few points were little bit too oversimplified, especially the time leading up to winter war including reasonings for Finnish side to not accept Soviet proposals.

This came out of no where, good job mate keep up the videos

Finland also wanted more than their old lands if Germany won WW2. They wanted all of Karelia and made a resource agreement with Germany to get the Kola Peninsula Fantastic video btw. You’re a really good channel! :)

Great video! I'm surprised you don't have more than 10k subscribers.

I seem to recall a detail that you miss here, in that the Russians wouldn't allow the Finns to use any of their established military units to push back the Germans. So the Finns were forced to use new conscripts. Wasn't this war called The War of the Children by the Finns as a result?

I have no idea why only 6% of the people who have watched the video actually liked. This guy def deserves a lot more attention.

Heyy, probably the first video on RU-vid I have found on Lapland war. Even in Finland its kinda forgotten, compared to Winter and Continuation War

Real good video I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. I’ve heard about this part of the war, especially from the movie, Sisu and the channel Eastory but only briefly

This is really good man! Keep up the good work!

Actually finland didnt declare war, they wanted to declare war later but the soviets already started bombing them

Vyborg-Petrozavodsk offensive was not represented so well in here: Even tho Soviets were able to capture Vyborg, there were many important battles after that (battles of Tali-Ihantala, Vuosalmi, Vyborg bay and Nietjärvi). Those defensive battles made sure that Soviets lost their interest to march all over to the Helsinki and started to move troops to the fronts in Germany.

15 minutes? It felt like 5! Really good video and keep this up it's beautiful!

I'm entertained! Keep up the amazing work.

Some great animation and story telling and its also funny 😂. You are so underrated, I hope you get the recognition someday.

How do you not have more subscribers? This video is amazing!

Never thought i'd see a video about the "Childrens Crusade" on youtube. It was a nice presentation, all though the reason for the war was more akin to "if you don't attack the Germans, we will move forces to Finland to attack them for you", instead of the Soviets asking Finland politely. The premise of the continuation war and Finland constantly switching sides isn't all that confusing in reality tho. It starts with the Winter War, at which point Finland was still a Neutral nation that was making military deals with the Allies, but when the Soviets invaded, the allies ultimately refused to support Finland, as the Brits were predicting that at some point there would be a war between the Soviets and the Germans, which in turn would side the Soviets with the Allies (and to their credit, they were right). So they decided to leave Finland on its own, in order to maintain good relations with the Soviets, cause Finland didn't have anything valuable to provide them nor were they keen on fighting the Germans. After the Winter war, Finland assumed that another war with the Soviets was inevitable and they began a process of rearming themselves, however the Allies still refused to trade military equipment to Finland for the same reason as before. So Finland went to Germany and since they were already full scale preparing for the upcoming invasion, the Germans promised Finland a massive amount of military equipment and the other supplies for the low low price of allowing the Germans to move through Finland, in the event of a war with the Soviets. Both sides knew full well, that the Soviets would declare war on Finland instantaneously if this was to happen, if the Soviets weren't in war with Finland already by the time that the Germans attacked. This is exactly what happens, Germany attacks and moves troops through Finland, Soviets tell Finland to attack them, Finland says no = Continuation war begins. During the Continuation War, Finland's high command refused to go past it's old 1939 borders, despite German pleads and some Finnish politicians desires, as the high command didn't want to go to war with the rest of the allied nations. After the Soviets won the war on the eastern front and signed a peace treaty with Finland, so that it could focus on the main front with Germany, it was relatively easy for the Allies to rewrite the whole Finland narrative as Finland being "strong armed" to work with the Germans. This narrative would serve an important purpose for the Allies in the post war Europe during the Cold War, as Finland was now seen as a key buffer state between Soviets and Norway. So they did some "historical revisionism" to the history of Finland in the narrative sense, to sell the idea that Finland had always sided with the "west" (which is true to a large extent) and presented them as an "allied" nation during the final stages of the war. Ironically the Soviets saw the neutral Finland as a key buffer state between them and the west, as long as the west couldn't use Finland to launch an attack, so they revisioned the historical narrative to Finland leaning towards the "east" after 1944. This lead to an interesting period in Finnish history, where Finland was trying to strengthen its ties with the west while assuring the Soviets that all western "invasions" would be met with force. Essentially both sides of the Cold War saw it in their best interest not to present Finland as an ally to the Germans, which is why Finland is presented as a nation going from Allies --> Axis --> Allies, with the changes being tied to political leadership at the time, while in reality it was more like Neutral (leaning towards allies, except soviets, don't want to fight Germany) --> Allied with Germany in the East (not Axis) --> Neutral (under Soviet occupation). The way that this is period is presented in Finnish history books made in 60-80's in particular, is confusing as all hell, as it feels like the narrative changes every 2 years or so. P.S: Sorry for the wall of text.

This is the first video of yours which I watched and it was very entertative as it kept me interested. Your videos remind of me Oversimplified and John D. Ruddy, I know you are quite new when compared from others but I hope that your channel grows well. And you continue to make such entertative videos.

You make the best videos dude keep going ❤

This video is incredible dude. Proud of you.

Great vid bro

Great video! I think your channel will grow big!

nice video dude! i love the similarities to oversimplfied whilst also being original in your art style, its nice. kind of remind me of wojack XD

Nice video man

Hey brother I really liked this video!! Real Good quality 👍👍 just one thing though, I can see that you heavily inspired by oversimplified and that’s okey but sometimes it can maybe get a bit to much similar with the music and jokes, so just a tip! try to create you own way of making videos and more people will enjoy them!

Bra video. Mye bra informasjon, of bra bilder/animasjon 👍🇳🇴👍

Ur video is super well made and made me super interested into the topic! Keep it up! I know ur gonna get big

These videos are awesome. Most of us dont care if the quality is "bad", the serbian province with autonomy video was perfectly fine. (Im not even gonna attempt to spell it)

I am always happy when i sub to new RU-vidrs like you

bro is back 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

Simo Hayha, also known as the white death, is the deadliest sniper in human history fighting for Finland in the winter war during WW2. The winter war was fought between the Soviet Union and Finland. It would span 1939 (shortly after the fall of Poland)-1940. (Shortly before Norway fell). Though Finland lost the war overall, they won in the numbers having far fewer tanks and soldiers lost due to the war. In the middle of the winter war Simo Hayha would get shot in the face and have to have surgery to stay alive. Due to this, he was unable to fight for the remaining months of the war. Simo Hayha had over 500 confirmed kills and died in 2002.

That was a great video!

Keep it up man ❤

Thank you a lot! I am a passionate of ww2 and i didn't know that,also this is an amazing video!

Great Video! Subscribed!

denne videoen var veldig nyttig!! det gjorde samtalene mine fed middagsbordet litt mer interessante. ville se igjen. 👍👍

Really nice video, subbed!

Ngl you're so underrated, good job. 👍

Great content

You should do more videos, they are Amazing!

Adjust your borders is the best line in this episode

A formality basically xD, good video!

Good video, I’m glad people are talking about Finland in ww2!

good video didnt know about this

The Germans began hostilities first with Operation Tanne Ost on 15 September 1944. Granted, it was largely independent of events in Lapland, though it is seen as the start of the Lapland War.

Great video love your work bro

nice vid, subscribed

Great work

Very interesting, didn't know about that thanks 😁

What’s up thanks for the vid

Im from Finland,and live in a small city.Theres a big school that i attend, called "Juho Oksan Koulu", and i found out propably like a year or two ago,that it was used as a hospital in the war. and now some idiot made a legend of "The ghost Of juho oksan koulu" and that there were dead soldier bodies in the basement.

You're the first youtuber probably ever mentioning this war, people always forget that this existed too. Kiitos

AFTER NEARLY 11 MONTHS, HE"S BACK!!!!! GUUUUUUUUUD job

I liked this video and I personally have never before seen a video about the Lapland war. Howerver there is a small detail the bothers me. During the Contuniation War we see a figure labeld Kyösti Kallio. He was the president of Finland from 1937 to 1940 when he resigned due to seriois helth issues which led to his death later on that year(1940) so he wasn't aleive during the contuniation war.

i already knew finland and germany went to war in late-ww2, but i didnt know why or what happened during that bit of the war, tysm for the information :D

The animation is perfect everything is perfect

You're back

remember me when ur famous bro, this is awesome

I am subscribing this reminds me of oversimplified

nice vid keep going!

Dude I had the battle of mosquito, while watching this.

Kyösti kallio wans not he presisdent during the continuation war. He died in 1940. Also the stick figure looks more like Risto Ryti the president after Kallio

jeg har aldri hørt om disse delene av krigen, flott video :D

”and that, was lappland” *proceeds to show Norrbotten with the Västerbotten emblem ”vildmannen”*

good stuff

i like the idea of the video its literally oversimplified but you upload more common W vid

This is like a mixture of oversimplified and sam o' nella academy. Very good video 😊

i love how well you told the history of my country

I think it would've been worth mentioning that Finland technically did not start the continuation war. After Germany started Barbarossa, the USSR bombed some finnish cities, which then caused Finland to declare war.

valiant effort

I'm surprised that you don't have more subscribers because your videos are really good

Very good video reminicist of a hybrid between sam o nella and over simplified keep up the good work

Video was funny but educational. I like it quite a bit. The somewhat "lazy" style was still good.

I accidentally clicked on your video but now I’m watching it entirely lmao

realy nice video

good video keep it up

Your underrated channel

Love this content, like oversimplified but with stickmen, continue please!!

How do you make your borders in the map?? Great video

4:16 YOU DROPPED SOME BARS!!

Thank you for bringing a different part of ww2

My grandfather's brother was one of the soldiers chasing the Germans out of Lapland. While skiing his group found a badly camouflaged improvised mine (or maybe a shoe mine? He wasn't very specific in his retelling) that was left on the tracks of the previous skier. Other members of the group skied past without issue, but a young (18-19) old soldier went a poked it with his skiing pole despite the warnings. He was blown to bits soon after. My grandfather's brother remembered that sight till the day he died (aged 96 in 2023). He was too young to see much war, but that single event stayed with him for the rest of his life and saw it as a great waste of life.

In the war h1tler actually had very good relasitions whit finnland ane made a good amount od visits there (sorry of i wrote something wrong i speak finnish not english)