Ladoga Karelia in the context of "Runic song"

The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from its organization.

The Soviets made several demands, including that Finland cede substantial border territories in exchange for land elsewhere, claiming security reasons — primarily the protection of Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the Finnish border. When Finland refused, the Soviets invaded. Most sources conclude that the Soviet Union had intended to conquer all of Finland, and cite the establishment of the puppet Finnish Communist government and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact's secret protocols as evidence of this, while other sources argue against the idea of a full Soviet conquest. Finland repelled Soviet attacks for more than two months and inflicted substantial losses on the invaders in temperatures as low as −43 °C (−45 °F). The battles focused mainly on Taipale along the Karelian Isthmus, on Kollaa in Ladoga Karelia and on Raate Road in Kainuu, but there were also battles in Lapland and North Karelia.

The Battle of Kollaa was fought from 7 December 1939 to 13 March 1940 in Ladoga Karelia, Finland, as a part of the Soviet-Finnish Winter War.

Karelia (Finnish: Karjala: Swedish: Karelen) is a historical province of Finland, consisting of the modern-day Finnish regions of South Karelia and North Karelia plus the historical regions of Ladoga Karelia and the Karelian Isthmus, which are now in Russia. Historical Karelia also extends to the regions of Kymenlaakso (east of the River Kymi), North Savo (Kaavi, Rautavaara and Säyneinen) and South Savo (Mäntyharju).

Karelia may also refer to the region as a whole, including the portion of Karelia within Russia. The term "Finnish Karelia" refers specifically to the historical Finnish province, while East Karelia or "Russian Karelia" refers to the portion of Karelia within Russia. Finland ceded a portion of Finnish Karelia to the Soviet Union after the Winter War of 1939–40. More than 400,000 evacuees from the ceded territories re-settled in various parts of Finland. Finnish Karelians include the present-day inhabitants of South Karelia and North Karelia, as well as the still-surviving evacuees from the ceded territories.

Olonets Karelia (Finnish: Aunuksen Karjala, shortened. Aunus; Karelian: Anuksen Karjala, shortened. Anus; Russian: Олонецкая Карелия, romanized: Olonetskaja Karelija) is a historical and cultural region and the southern portion of East Karelia, which is currently part of Russia. Olonets Karelia is located between the other historical regions of Ladoga Karelia, to its west, White Karelia, to its north, the River Svir, to its south and Lake Onega on its eastern side. Olonets Karelia is home to its own dialect of the Karelian language, which is known as Livvi Karelian or sometimes as 'Olonets Karelian'.

The largest city in the Olonets Karelia region is Petrozavodsk, followed by Kondopoga, Segezha and Medvezhyegorsk.