As we all know, the Soviet Union has a total of 15 republics, namely Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Some people have said that the Soviet Union actually has 16 republics, and the 16th is Mongolia, which is deeply influenced by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union did have the 16th official republic, but it was not Mongolia, but Karelia.
Where is Karelia? Let's open the map of Russia first. There is a Murmansk Oblast in the northwest of Russia, and there is a long area between the Murmansk Oblast and the old capital of Russia, St. Petersburg, between the Nordic countries of Finland and the White Sea, which is Karelia. Karelia is now a Republic of Russia, but during the Soviet period, Karelia and the Russian Republic were on the same level, one of the republics of the Soviet Union.
Karelia covers an area of about 172,400 square kilometers and is capitalized in Petrozavodsk. Karelia's terrain is dominated by plains, with many lakes, more than 6,000. The largest lake in Europe is Lake Ladoga, which covers an area of about 18,000 square kilometers, and half of the waters of Lake Ladoga are located in Karelia. There is also a large lake in Eastern Europe, lake Onega, east of Lake Ladoga, with an area of about 9,700 square kilometers, and most of the water is in Karelia. In addition to the two major lakes in Karelia, there are also a lot of "Zero Lakes" such as Lake Shegozero, Lake Vigozero, Lake Chamozero, and Lake Piaozero.
You may think of Finland, which is connected to Karelia, known as the country of a thousand lakes, there are too many lakes to count, is there a relationship between Karelia and Finland? It's so relational! If you mention Karelia in front of the Finns, you are mentioning Cornisberg (present-day Kaliningrad, an enclave of Russia) in front of the Germans and the Golan Heights in front of the Syrians.
We all know that St. Petersburg was built in 1703 by Peter the Great of Tsarist Russia and is located at the easternmost tip of the Gulf of Finland. When Tsarist Russia built St. Petersburg, there was a heart disease that could not be eliminated, that is, St. Petersburg was too close to the border with Finland, only a few tens of kilometers. Once the enemy was approaching St. Petersburg from the direction of Finland, St. Petersburg did not even have a defensive buffer zone.
What to do? The method of Tsarist Russia (Soviet Union) is very simple: take your territory and I will not have a strategic buffer zone? Based on this, Tsarist Russia fought with sweden, the Nordic power at that time, and in 1808, Tsarist Russia defeated Sweden and took control of Finland. At this time, Finland was not yet an official territory of Tsarist Russia, but a relatively free principality within Tsarist Russia. Finland did not want to stay in Tsarist Russia as a free little brother, and the opportunity finally came. In 1917, the Tsarist Russia changed, and Finland took the opportunity to break away from the Tsarist Russia.
At that time, there were two great powers in eastern Europe, namely Germany and the Soviet Union, and Finland was right in the middle of the two big powers. However, Finland was far from the core of Germany, too close to the core of the Soviet Union (Leningrad, that is, St. Petersburg), and the Soviet Union had to fight Finland again in order to ensure the security of Leningrad. In 1932, the Soviet Union and Finland signed the Soviet-Finnish Non-Aggression Pact, but both sides knew that in the face of absolute power, the agreement was nothing more than a piece of waste paper, especially for the powerful Soviet Union. The Soviet Union never trusted Finland, which was closer to the West. When the Soviet Union made a strategic deal with Germany, one of the conditions put forward by the Soviet Union was that Germany must acquiesce to the Soviet occupation of Finland.
The Soviet Union wanted Finland to cede territory on its own initiative, such as the Rybach Peninsula to the Soviet Union, and at the same time allowed the Soviet Union to lease the Hanko Peninsula for 30 years, on the condition that the Soviet Union give Finland parts north of Lake Onega. Finland eventually rejected the Soviet proposal, believing it had lost too much and, more importantly, the Hanko Peninsula was the western outlet to the Gulf of Finland, an important gateway to the sea in Helsinki, the Finnish capital. The Soviet Union, of course, was not pleased and launched the famous Soviet-Finnish War on November 30, 1939, and the Soviet Union won a crushing victory at a considerable cost. In any case, the Soviet Union was the victor, occupying areas such as Karelia, which was originally Finland. In March 1940, the Soviet Union established the Karelia-Finnish Republic of Russia on the same level as the Russian Republic.
The Soviet Union established the Karelian-Finnish Republic as a springboard to eventually annex Finland and expand the strategic depth of the Soviet Union to the northwest. Later, the Soviet Union did not annex Finland and began to digest the Karelian-Finnish Republic internally. On 26 July 1956, the Karelian-Finnish Republic was demoted to become the Autonomous Republic of Karelia within the Russian Republic.
Figure - Finns
Karelia now has no relationship with Finland, which is a pity for Finland. If Finland still owns Karelia, Finland could be bordered by the White Sea, a subsidiary of the Arctic Ocean.