Letter: Invasion a reminder of 1939 'Winter War'

Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine has been compared to Sept. 1, 1939, when Hitler had Germany invade Poland. There's no mention of Stalin having Soviet Russia on Nov. 30, 1939, when they, too, did an unprovoked attack on its smaller neighbor Finland. This was known as The Winter War, the Soviet attack on Finland 1939-1940. It, too, was done then by Stalin pretty much for the same reasons Putin is doing with Ukraine now.

Since this attack, I've been shocked that none of the news programs' hosts, or even their reporters, have mentioned the eerie similarities.

And another thing: Both Putin and Stalin underestimated the resolve and fierce determination of the people, their will is never going to be beaten.

I mentioned about the similarities of Russia's attack on Finland to Thom Hartmann, a nationally syndicated American radio personality who's like a "walking encyclopedia." Yet when I brought this up, he said he never knew or heard of this Winter War of 1939, which happened only two and a half months after the start of WWII.

This made me think and question what exactly are the history teachers and professors teaching?

Finland eventually had signed a peace treaty on March 13th, 1940. Russia paid a terrible cost. They sent 1.5 million men to Finland; a million were killed.

It has been thought that the outcome in this first Russo-Finnish War had a lot to do with Hitler's decision to invade Russia in June 1941.

David Kumpula

Hoffman Estates