Aragorn1963 wrote:
Okay, so considering the bad situation Germany was in, it was common sense of the Finns to step out, while they had something to bargain with. At the same time the Soviet conditions for a peace treaty were pretty harsh and humiliating, especially for a lot of good and brave officiers of the Finnish army. I was amazed to read how strong the influence of the Finnish communists in Finland became after the war and how many Finns were procecuted or had to fled the country.
It was not only common sense, getting peace was crucial for the survival of Finland.
The relatively short period (1944-48, know in Finland as "the years of danger") of the strong influence of the communists was in a way understandable. The peace felt like a total defeat, despite of the heave casualties and sacrifices. Although Finland was not occupied - thanks to successful defence victories - the country was nevertheless under the mercy of the soviets. The new line of the official policy (demanded by the soviets) dictated, that the actions, decisions and policies of the previous governments were to be seen as wrong and as reasons for the wars.
(Too) many people believed these official lies and thought, that totally different way - communism - must be better. After (only) one parliamentary term many thankfully realized, that communism was still not the answer. Although the communists were the single biggest political party during that period, they luckily never got (even close to) the majority. After that they still stayed as a large party, but election after election their share got smaller and smaller.
The USSR demanded in the peace treaty, that all "war criminals" and "war culprits" were to be sentenced. That's why absurdly many Finnish patriots had to be jailed to fulfill the soviet demands. Very few were really guilty for anything. Very telling is, that most of the sentenced returned to their normal public lives after their prison times.
Aragorn1963 wrote:
But what if the Finns would have seen a stronger Germany, that could put up more of a fight in the east? Wouldn't it have been tempting to wait for the winter to come and see how things turned out? Especially if Germany could deliver more equipment to the Finnish forces? Perhaps Finnish counterattacks could make the position of Finland stronger and force Stalin to soften the conditions for a peace treaty?
Just "stronger" Germany wouldn't have been enough. Germany losing the war was already clear for most Finns with the knowledge by 1943, latest 1944. There should have been something game changing, which would have ensured the Finns that Germany was not going to lose after all and was able to defeat the soviets.
Germany just hanging on longer before the evident loss wouldn't have changed anything for Finland. Just continuing fighting without any hope of gaining anything would have been pointless.
On the other hand Finland was able to make peace after summer 1944 just because Germany was then weak enough. Before it was not possible, because Germany was too strong, after that it might have been too late, since the soviets would have been able to attack Finland also from Estonia. So - if Germany would have been stronger for longer, also Finland might have been forced to continue fighting longer!