I wouldn't describe the defense as successful. The Soviets won the war. Finland would have lost less territory had they agreed to the initial Soviet demands than by trying to fight it out. The efforts of Finnish soldiers were heroic, but ultimately futile.
More recent historiography suggests that the Soviets were planning to press home additional demands and turn Finland into a puppet state. When the Finns refused Stalin wanted to “punish them” with a quick military victory only for it to turn into a humiliating debacle.
Unlike other countries, Finland was able to preserve its independence even after the continuation war.
They didn’t get the land back, but that alone would make it clear the war wasn’t “futile”
If the Soviets had really wanted Finland as a puppet state that badly, they could have pressed home their attack when they broke Finnish defences. Instead they settled for territory. I'm not saying it wasn't a goal of the invasion, had Finnish resistance collapsed immediately. But the fact remains, the Finnish army was not capable of preserving the territorial integrity of Finland. So choosing to fight it out was pointless.
Today in 1939 the Winter War began.
Winter War - Wikipedia
Finland successfully defended itself from a Soviet invasion and limited their gains as much as possible.
If the Soviets had really wanted Finland as a puppet state that badly, they could have pressed home their attack when they broke Finnish defences. Instead they settled for territory. I'm not saying it wasn't a goal of the invasion, had Finnish resistance collapsed immediately. But the fact remains, the Finnish army was not capable of preserving the territorial integrity of Finland. So choosing to fight it out was pointless.
Simo "Simuna" Häyhä was a Finnish sniper who earned the ominous nickname, "The White Death". He's credited as one of the most accurate snipers of all time with a reported 500+ kills under his belt while enlisted. Today we're learning more about the man behind the rifle.
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