The road to Winter War was paved with a number of things. Finns illegalized the Communist Party of Finland in 1931 but even earlier, the relations between Finland and Soviet Union had already been strained despite the fact, the Treaty of Tartu, which declared the Finnish-Soviet borderline and the 1932 non-aggression pact (which was reaffirmed for a period of 10 years in 1934) were signed by both countries.
In 1938, the Finnish government was approached by an agent of the NKVD, the Soviet Intelligence, stating that the Soviets did not trust the Germans and Finland replied, it was neutral and had plans to remain so. Soviets proceeded to ask for a lease agreement on some islands in the Gulf of Finland, which Finland refused. In 1939, the Nazi Germany and Soviet Union signed an non-aggression pact, the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty, which had secret subclauses of how the Eastern Europe would be divided. The treaty gave Finland to the Soviets. As Germany attacked Poland, the Soviets made their way in to the Baltic nations, they had forced to allow Soviet military bases on their soil, as well as East Poland.
As the war in Europe spread, Finns became very cautious and begun a gradual mobilization under the guise of additional refresher training for the reserves. This was where my maternal grandfather went to, missing the birth of my mother and got back home on a leave two weeks after her birth, eventually heading back in to the service and in to the war, in which he died when my mother only two and half months old.
The Soviets on the other side of the border had already massed troops there, but the main assault force was arriving late and the invasion plans from September were set for the invasion to start in November.
In October, the Finnish government was requested to send a delegation to Moscow to discuss relinquishing several islands and part of the Karelian Isthmus to the Soviets as well as the destruction of all Finnish fortifications on the Karelian Isthmus. The Finns would have had to lease the Hanko peninsula to the Soviets for the next 30 years and practically dismantle all their defenses against the Soviets on in Finnish Karelia.
On 26th of November, artillery shells fell on the Soviet side of the border in the village of Mainila. With four dead and injuries to nine border guards the Soviets cried deception and withdrew from the non-aggression pact. It has been later concluded by both Finns and Russians, the shelling was the doing of NKVD to provide the Soviet Union a casus belli.
On 30th of November, the Soviets invaded Finland with about 450,000 men, divided in to 21 divisions. The Soviets planned to implement the Blitzkrieg-tactics the Germans had successfully used in both Poland and France, but despite the manpower ratio over 3:1 when compared to Finnish Army, the Finns were far more experienced in the winter warfare and more accustomed to the cold weather.
The Soviets had also superiority in supplies as most Finnish artillery pieces were near obsolete and had little ammunition, making it rarely capable of neither saturation nor counter-battery fire. Not all the men had even uniforms - some were only given cockade, belt and rank insignia along with the rifle.
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