The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic (Karelo-Finnish SSR), also called Karelo-Finland, Finno-Karelia and Soviet Karelia or simply known as Karelia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 31 March 1940 until it was made part of the Russian SFSR on 16 July 1956 as the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The latter became the Republic of Karelia, a federal subject of Russia, on 13 November 1991.
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⭐ Core Definition: Karelo-Finnish SSR
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👉 Karelo-Finnish SSR in the context of Finnish Democratic Republic
The Finnish Democratic Republic (Finnish: Suomen kansanvaltainen tasavalta or Suomen kansantasavalta, Swedish: Demokratiska Republiken Finland, Russian: Финляндская Демократическая Республика), also known as the Terijoki Government (Finnish: Terijoen hallitus), was a short-lived puppet government of the Soviet Union in occupied Finnish territory from December 1939 to March 1940.
The Finnish Democratic Republic was established by Joseph Stalin upon the outbreak of the Winter War and headed by Otto Wille Kuusinen to govern Finland after Soviet conquest. The Finnish Democratic Republic was only recognised by the Soviet Union and nominally operated in Soviet-occupied areas of Finnish Karelia from the de facto capital of Terijoki. The Finnish Democratic Republic was portrayed by the Soviet Union as the official socialist government of Finland capable of restoring peace, but lost favor as the Soviets sought rapprochement with the Finnish Government. The Finnish Democratic Republic was dissolved and merged into the Karelo-Finnish SSR upon the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.
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Karelo-Finnish SSR in the context of Karelian Isthmus
The Karelian Isthmus (Russian: Карельский перешеек, romanized: Karelsky peresheyek; Finnish: Karjalankannas; Swedish: Karelska näset) is the approximately 45–110-kilometre-wide (30–70 mi) stretch of land situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia, to the north of the River Neva. Its northwestern boundary is a line from the Bay of Vyborg to the westernmost point of Lake Ladoga, Pekonlahti. If the Karelian Isthmus is defined as the entire territory of present-day Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast to the north of the Neva and also a tiny part of the Republic of Karelia, the area of the isthmus is about 15,000 km (5,800 sq mi).
The smaller part of the isthmus to the southeast of the old Russia-Finland border is considered historically as Northern Ingria, rather than part of the Karelian Isthmus itself. The rest of the isthmus was historically a part of Finnish Karelia. This was conquered by the Russian Empire during the Great Northern War in 1712 and included within the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland (1809–1917) of the Russian Empire. When Finland became independent in 1917, the isthmus (except for the territory roughly corresponding to present-day Vsevolozhsky District and some districts of Saint Petersburg) remained Finnish. Finnish Karelia was partly ceded to the Soviet Union by Finland following the Winter War (1939–1940) and Continuation War (1941–1944). In 1940–1941, during the Interim Peace, most of the ceded territories in the isthmus were included within the Karelo-Finnish SSR. However, since World War II the entire isthmus has been divided between the city of Saint Petersburg (mostly Kurortny District), as well as Priozersky District, Vsevolozhsky District and Vyborgsky District of Leningrad Oblast.
Karelo-Finnish SSR in the context of Soviet occupation
During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries allocated to it in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three different SSRs), as well as Latvia (became Latvian SSR), Estonia (became Estonian SSR), Lithuania (became Lithuanian SSR), part of eastern Finland (became Karelo-Finnish SSR) and eastern Romania (became the Moldavian SSR and part of Ukrainian SSR). Apart from the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and post-war division of Germany, the Soviets also occupied and annexed Carpathian Ruthenia from Czechoslovakia in 1945 (became part of Ukrainian SSR). These occupations lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991.
Below is a list of various forms of military occupations by the Soviet Union resulting from both the Soviet pact with Nazi Germany (ahead of World War II), and the ensuing Cold War in the aftermath of Allied victory over Germany.