Of the coast of Helsinki, on the island of Kuivasaari (“Dry Island”), the Kuivasaari Coastal Artillery Fortress stands. Until not to long ago, Kuivasaari was a working coastal artillery fortress guarding the approaches to the capital city of Finland but the guns have now been removed from active service and … Continue reading
Maximilian Maksolly (actually Feichter, the original spelling of his first name was Maksimilian) was an Estonian painter who is now possibly best remembered for his war art from the time of the Estonian War of Independence. I touch on him in this blog largely because of his series of war … Continue reading
The Kalevala, Finland’s national epic, was compiled by Elias Lönnrot in the 19th century from a huge collection of folk poetry and songs collected over many many years of study. In compiling the Kalevala, Lönnrot purposefully used only a carefully selected fraction of the material in his folk poetry archives to come … Continue reading
The Finnish Trilogy from Miku Games is an epic wargame trilogy about the Finnish struggle to remain a free and independent country during World War II. The game is being produced in three volumes: Volume I – Winter War 1939-1940 campaign; Volume II – Continuation War 1941-1944 campaign and Volume III … Continue reading
Suomalainen sänky (The Finnish Bed), by ethnologist Leena Sammallahti and researcher Marja-Liisa Lehto (SKS 2006), is an illustrated history of Finnish sleeping arrangements, from simple benches along the wall, once common in many farmhouses, to elaborately carved and cushioned laps of luxury from upper-class homes. Sammallahti wanted to place the Finnish bed into … Continue reading
The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland, 1939-1940 by Eloise Engle and Lauri Paananen There are a number of books available on the now little-known Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union, which was fought from December 1939 to March during the Sitzkrieg, and just before the Nazi … Continue reading
