In June 1941, Germany reneged on the nonaggression pact and invaded Russia. As many as 270,000 Russian troops are believed to have been killed. “We soon realized we had bitten off more than we could chew,” Khrushchev recalled. Cloaked in white, the Finns skied silently through snow-covered forests, tossing Molotov cocktails into Soviet tanks, and sniping from hideouts in the frozen whiteness. In the event - a 105-day conflict that became known as the Winter War - the Finns fought furiously and courageously against ill-equipped and poorly prepared Soviet troops. If that didn’t work, we could fire one shot and the Finns would put up their hands and surrender. Former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his memoirs: “All we had to do was raise our voice a little bit and the Finns would obey. Stalin thought conquering his neighbor would be a cakewalk. 30 of that year, Soviet forces invaded Finland. In August 1939, Russia and Nazi Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, pledging not to attack each other and secretly dividing up the lands between them.

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