Moscow peace treaty
Areas ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union
|
|
| Type | bilateral treaty |
|---|---|
| Signed | 12 March 1940 |
| Location | Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR |
| Original signatories |
USSR Finland |
| Ratifiers | USSR Finland |
The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on 12 March 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on 21 March. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War. The treaty ceded parts of Finland to the Soviet Union. However, it preserved Finland's independence, ending the Soviet attempt to annex the country. The treaty was signed by Vyacheslav Molotov, Andrey Zhdanov and Aleksandr Vasilevsky for Soviet Union, and Risto Ryti, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, Rudolf Walden and Väinö Voionmaa for Finland.
The Finnish government received the first tentative peace conditions from the Soviet Union (through ) on 31 January. Until then, the Red Army had fought to occupy all of Finland. By this point, the regime was prepared to temper its claims. The demands were that Finland cede the Karelian Isthmus, including the city of Viipuri, and Finland's shore of Lake Ladoga. The Hanko Peninsula was to be leased to the Soviet Union for 30 years.
Finland rejected these demands and intensified its pleas to Sweden, France and the United Kingdom for military support by regular troops. Although Finland in the long run had no chance against a country fifty times its size, the reports from the front still held out hope for Finland, anticipating a League of Nations intervention. Positive signals, however inconstant, from France and Britain, and more realistic expectations of troops from Sweden, for which plans and preparations had been made all through the 1930s, were further reasons for Finland not to rush into peace negotiations. (See Winter War § Foreign support for a detailed account.)
In February 1940, Finland's Commander-in-Chief marshal Mannerheim expressed his pessimism about the military situation, prompting the government to start peace negotiations on 29 February, the same day the Red Army commenced an attack against Viipuri (now Vyborg).
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