Summary of William R. Trotter's A Frozen Hell

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Karelian Isthmus is a land bridge between Russia and Scandinavia, and has been a highway for tribal migrations, a conduit for trade, and a springboard for conquest. The Isthmus has been a battleground between Russia and Sweden, and has suffered as a result.

#2 Finland was a Swedish province from 1721 to 1809, when it was ceded to Russia as a function of the general reshuffling of European boundaries that accompanied the Napoleonic Wars. The Swedish yoke was both loose and benign, and Finnish citizens enjoyed religious tolerance, freedom from censorship, and as many political rights as the citizens of most European states.

#3 Finland’s relationship with Russia was unique, as it was the only country to openly secede from a larger empire and gain independence. The Finns were wary of Bolshevism, and the Soviets were uncomfortable with a neighbor that had opted for a thoroughly bourgeois system of government.

#4 When Finland was created, Lenin’s government was extremely upset about having to give up such a compliant country. But at the time, it was done to protect Lenin from other threats. When Stalin came to power, he viewed the demilitarization of the Baltic islands with a skeptical eye.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822543171

IRB Media

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Insights on William R. Trotter's A Frozen Hell

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Karelian Isthmus is a land bridge between Russia and Scandinavia, and has been a highway for tribal migrations, a conduit for trade, and a springboard for conquest. The Isthmus has been a battleground between Russia and Sweden, and has suffered as a result.

#2

Finland was a Swedish province from 1721 to 1809, when it was ceded to Russia as a function of the general reshuffling of European boundaries that accompanied the Napoleonic Wars. The Swedish yoke was both loose and benign, and Finnish citizens enjoyed religious tolerance, freedom from censorship, and as many political rights as the citizens of most European states.

#3

Finland’s relationship with Russia was unique, as it was the only country to openly secede from a larger empire and gain independence. The Finns were wary of Bolshevism, and the Soviets were uncomfortable with a neighbor that had opted for a thoroughly bourgeois system of government.

#4

When Finland was created, Lenin’s government was extremely upset about having to give up such a compliant country. But at the time, it was done to protect Lenin from other threats. When Stalin came to power, he viewed the demilitarization of the Baltic islands with a skeptical eye.

#5

The Russians were constantly overestimating the influence of Finnish politics on the extremes. The Finns realized that everything they did and said was subject to Soviet misinterpretation. The Finns launched a policy of pan-Scandinavian neutrality in an effort to redress this attitude.

#6

The kidnapping of President K. J. Stahlberg was the work of some right-wing thugs led by an ex-White general named Kurt Wallenius, and its victim was the elderly and widely loved first president of Finland. The Lapuans’ demands were not met, and the whole thing degenerated into a nasty little farce.

#7

Stalin was unrealistically influenced by the antics of the Lapuans, the grotesque fantasies of the Karelian irredentists, and the exaggerated reports of agents who were eager to tell the Kremlin what they thought the Kremlin wanted to hear.

#8

In 1938, the first sign of Russia’s waning interest in the status quo came when an MVD agent approached the Finnish foreign minister and suggested that Finland should discuss secret negotiations with the Soviets to improve relations. If Finland were to cede some unimportant islands in the Gulf of Finland, Russia would demonstrate good faith by giving Finland a large portion of the disputed Karelian borderland.

#9

In the spring of 1939, the Finnish Army did not have any operational antitank guns. The Russian Army was feeling pressured by German movements closer to the Soviet Union, and so they decided to go it alone.

#10

In August 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and on September 17, Russia attacked Poland from the east, absorbing enough territory to give Stalin a buffer zone on their frontier. The foreign minister of Estonia was invited to Moscow on