History lessons

Having spent the last week cycling, skiing, skating and generally being out and about in temperatures down to -22, it has lead me to contemplate just what sort of a race inhabits a country like this. Finns have a reputation for being tough, stubborn, independent and resourceful, and one would presume that genetics plays a part too. If you forget your jacket in the more temperate Western European states, you're likely to mostly get rather wet and a bit cold. Up here, it's just a little different. A toughness and resourcefulness of a rather different kind, an example of Finnish 'Sisu', also comes to mind. We had an idyllic stay last summer in a traditional wooden farmhouse, complete with no mod cons eg. electricity (just about), shower (no) central heating (no), but sauna and a very large lake at the bottom of the garden (A big yes). It was in the area of Kuhmo, in Northern central Finland, and only a few kilometres from the Russian border. The building looked old so I enquired what age it was. The owner said that it was built in the 50's, as the previous building had burnt down during the winter war (1939- 1940). When I asked whether the invading Russian troops had burnt it down, the reply came back: 'No, my grandfather burnt it himself.' As part of the tactical resistance against a numerously superior and better equipped Russian army, the Finns withdraw from the Border regions, and burnt every last bit of shelter, House, Shed and Church, so that the Russian troops would be forced to survive in the open, against troops prepared for the conditions. Snow depth was between 30 and 60 Cms (ie. Deep) and the air temp frequently dropped to the low -30s. This, among other things, is why Finland is still Finland. Brings a new meaning to 'We shall fight them on the beaches...'. Some extremely detailed info regarding this war can be found at:
winter war in pictures , winterwar.com and lessons of the winter war among other excellent pages.