The Winter War (
Finnish: Talvisota,
Swedish: Vinterkriget,
Russian: Зимняя война, also known as the Soviet-Finnish War or the Russo-Finnish War) began when the
Soviet Union attacked
Finland on
November 30,
1939, three months after the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union that started
World War II. Because the attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the
League of Nations on
December 14. Soviet leader
Josef Stalin had expected to conquer the whole country by the end of 1939, but Finnish resistance frustrated the Soviet forces, who outnumbered the Finns 4:1 in men, 200:1 in tanks and 30:1 in aircraft. Finland held out until March 1940, when the
Moscow Peace Treaty was signed ceding about 10% of Finland's territory (
excluding its population) and 20% of its industrial capacity to the Soviet Union.
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