Early on 30 November 1939, the USSR launched a massive attack against Finland, the start of the 105-day Winter War.
The war was preceded by an incident known as the shelling of Mainila. The Soviet Union claimed that Finnish artillery had fired on the village of Mainila in the Karelian Isthmus. In reality, the Soviets themselves were behind the shelling but attempted to shift the blame for the outbreak of the war onto Finland.
On the day the conflict started, 85 years ago, Finland had approximately 300,000 men under arms to defend the whole country. It was woefully short of supplies, with only enough cartridges, shells, and fuel to last about two months.
Finland had a mere 32 tanks, only 10 of which were fit for combat when the war started, and 114 mostly obsolescent combat aircraft that could enter the fight. The Soviets had secretly built roads leading to the border, allowing them to deploy their 2,514 tanks and 718 armoured cars.
Even so, what Soviet military planners thought would be a swift advance on the first day made little headway in the face of fierce resistance at the border.
The war lasted for 105 days. Finland and the Soviet Union signed the Moscow Peace Treaty on 12 March, 1940, and the war ended the following day, on March 13.