Hello. Does anyone have any advice as to where I could find some interesting statistics/facts about Finland? thanks-

Dry statistics can be found at the CIA World Factbook:<BR><BR>www.CIA.gov<BR><BR>Also, this is a good source for travel information and background about the Baltics:<BR><BR>www.InYourPocket.com<BR>

http://virtual.finland.fi/ - by the Finnish Foreign Ministry<BR><BR>http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/index_en.html - the English service of Statistics Finland<BR><BR>http://www.valtioneuvosto.fi/vn/liston/base.lsp?k=en - the Finnish Governments official homepage in English. Lots of information and links.<BR><BR><BR>

thank you, lovely people. I appreciate it greatly.

Any book on the Russo-Finnish War of 1939-1945 would be a good start. Finland was at her most heroic when she held out against the Soviet army in an unprovoked attack in the winter of 1939-1940. The Battle of Suomosalmi( bear with the spelling) was Finland's most glorious military victory. A battalion of Finns on skis wiped out a couple of Russian divisions if I recall my history right.

Well done, mr. Pirate, Suomussalmi is quite an exotic word to spell. And thank you for the kind words about our stormy history. If you are interested in the Winter War, you can read an article about it - and listen to some original tapes - in the webpage I mentioned: virtual.finland.fi (choose finfo directory/history)

Hi<BR><BR>I don't think we should be too hasty in condemning Finland for joining the AXIS powers in WW2. Given their borders, their choice was be conquered by Russia or join the Germans.<BR><BR>From 1945 to 1989, Finland was an almost unheard voice in the world. Quasi independent from Russia, but very near !<BR><BR>It's good they are now truly independent and a strong voice in the EU<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms.com<BR>

Peter,<BR><BR>you understand the WW2 and present situation very well, but I do not quite agree with you about the post war decades.<BR><BR>I would say "Independent from Russia, but very close to it!" Sorry about this as I don´t think we are supposed to discuss politics here.<BR><BR>I most certainly know the difficulties our politicians had in dealing with Russia, and there were less heroic moments as Finland didn´t vote against the Soviet Union in the UN etc. (I just don´t think that´s very special in the history of UN.) <BR><BR>I also know that it didn´t affect the everyday life in Finland. We did live in an independent country. Year 1989 was business as usual for most of us even if it started a new era in the Finnish politics. <BR><BR>I would think the people in the former Warsaw pact countries have very different memories of that year. <BR><BR>If you choose to make very strict rules about what true independence is, you might find few small countries that are able to stick to them. I wonder if the big ones always do.<BR><BR>

One of my history papers in college was on the Winter War of 1939-40. I have had a healthy respect for Finns ever since. As for what is sometimes called the Continuation War, Finland did not cooperate to much of an extent with Germany and only really to recover the land Stalin and the Soviets stole from Finland in 1940. For instance, the Finns never really helped the Germans during the German army's long siege of Leningrad (aka. St. Petersburg). It is noteworthy that Stalin gobbled up eastern Europe and installed his henchmen yet he decided against doing that to the Finns.

How has this sidetracked like this? But here is my 2 cents to Roger: It is true that Finland had nothing to do with any of the German war efforts. Finnish army fought only for Finland. Neither did Finland ever give the Finnish Jews to Germany, although Hitler asked for them. Jews were fighting in the army just like all the other Finns. But German troops helped Finland to defend Lapland. Without them the Red Army could have entered the country through north. Finland just did not have enough men, and Germany was the only country that was possible to ally with, since all the others were either neutral or fighting on the same side with USSR.

Absolutely right, EP. A sideshow of the war was that the Finnish army had to battle the German troops toward the end of the war.

I know. And they b****y burned every single house in Lapland while retreating, and left 300 000 field mines to the ground.