History UsefulNotes / FinnsWithFearsomeForests

However, upon seeing the hopeless situation of Germany and the Axis, Finland asked for peace terms in early 1944, but the Soviets would not accept anything less than unconditional surrender. In the summer, the stationary war ended with a major Soviet offensive operation against Finland, but it was eventually fought to a halt, and the Finns negotiated an armistice with the Soviets. This forced them to return all occupied territory once more to the Soviet Union and to expel the German troops based on their soil. The process was initially bloodless, since the Finns still sympathized with the Germans, and gave them notice and time to retreat to Occupied Norway in good order. The friendly-ish situation ended due to Soviet pressure, leading to a few small skirmishes and the complete razing of buildings and infrastructure in northern Finland by the retreating Germans. The local civilian population had fortunately been evacuated well in advance. This last phase of the war in Finland, called the Lapland War, finally ended in April 1945.

However, upon seeing the hopeless situation of Germany and the Axis by late summer of 1944, the Finns negotiated an armistice with the Soviets. This forced them to return all occupied territory once more to the Soviet Union and to expel the German troops based on their soil. The process was initially bloodless, since the Finns still sympathized with the Germans, and gave them notice and time to retreat to Occupied Norway in good order. The friendly-ish situation ended due to Soviet pressure, leading to a few small skirmishes and the complete razing of buildings and infrastructure in northern Finland by the retreating Germans. The local civilian population had fortunately been evacuated well in advance. This last phase of the war in Finland, called the Lapland War, finally ended in April 1945.

Despite the perhaps distastefully-pragmatic backroom politicking, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is widely considered Finland's greatest moment (except by those who simply consider it [[WarIsHell a tragedy]], or an example of fascist imperialism). It's seen as having unified the Finnish nation, though in truth the Finnish government never mobilized more than half of their reserves as they feared an uprising of Soviet sympathizers. Finland acquired the distinction of being the only participant of the Second World War to fight both UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and UsefulNotes/{{Soviet Russia|UkraineAndSoOn}} /and/ avoid enemy occupation during the entirety of the war.

However, upon seeing the hopeless situation of Germany and the Axis by late summer of 1944, the Finns negotiated an armistice with the Soviets. This forced them to return all occupied territory once more to the Soviet Union and to expel the German troops based on their soil. The process was initially bloodless, since the Finns still sympathized with the Germans, and gave them notice and time to retreat to Occupied Norway in good order. The friendly-ish situation ended due to Soviet pressure, leading to a few small skirmishes and the complete razing of buildings and infrastructure in northern Finland by the retreating Germans. The local civilian population had fortunately been evacuated well in advance. This last phase of the war in Finland, called the Lapland War, finally ended in April 1945. Finland acquired the distinction of being the only participant of the Second World War to fight both UsefulNotes/NaziGermany and UsefulNotes/{{Soviet Russia|UkraineAndSoOn}}, as well as avoid enemy occupation during the entirety of the war.

Despite the perhaps distastefully-pragmatic backroom politicking, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is widely considered Finland's greatest moment (except by those who simply consider it [[WarIsHell a tragedy]], or an example of fascist imperialism). It's seen as having unified the Finnish nation, though in truth the Finnish government never mobilized more than half of their reserves as they feared an uprising of Soviet sympathizers.

* In ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'', Major Sofia Velmer aka Valmet had been with the Finnish Rapid Deployment Force stationed in Africa as part of a UN peacekeeping mission before her unit was wiped out in an attack led by Chen Guoming. Valmet is the SoleSurvivor, lost her right eye in the battle, and was saddled with a humiliating stain on her military service record. This makes her leave the Finnish Army and join [=HCLI=]. Living up to the Finnish Army's reputation, she is very much a KnifeNut late in the series [[DualWielding dual wields]] a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karambit karambit]] and Bowie knife, and also yells "hakkaa päälle", the famous Finnish battle cry ("cut them down!").

As the Soviet Union expanded into the Baltic States and Poland in the end of the 1930s, Finland, under the guise of its policy of neutrality and in international cooperation, made overtures to Weimar and, later, Nazi Germany. Lapuan liike ("Lapua Movement"), a radical-right anti-communist organization was formed, and proceeded to harrass and intimidate members of left-wing parties. As a result of rising political violence, the Finnish government banned the Communist Party and suffered a coup attempt, the Mäntsälä rebellion, in 1932. But the Lapuans themselves went too far by kidnapping ex-President K. J. Ståhlberg. In turn, popular opinion turned against the radical right after the Mäntsälä rebellion, which was seen as a violent coup attempt against the legitimate democratic regime, and Lapuan liike itself was banned.

[[caption-width-right:252:Don't let the Iron Cross fool you -- they took on [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Fritz]] ''and'' [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Ivan]], and survived.]]