Finland is a nation whose history and geography have been defined by the weight of outside influence. Until around twenty-five thousand years ago, Finland was squashed under a vast Eurasian ice cap, a vestige of the last ice age. It is to this glacial system that Finland owes its flat terrain and panoply of scenic lakes. More recently, the nation fell under the ursine foot-pads of the Soviet Union, which in 1939 invaded in what would become known as the Winter War. Although Stalin annexed the resource-rich Finnish province of Karelia, it is a testament to the Finns’ hardiness that Marshal Gustaf Mannerheim held off three-quarters of a million Soviet troops for two months before ceding Finland’s largest nickel deposits. The USSR never got the chance to advance on Helsinki and install a puppet government, as Stalin would have wished. Since, however, Finland has nervously eyed its gigantic Eastern neighbor. The Russians in return periodically dispatch military aircraft to keep the Finns on their toes.
Finland’s spongy terrain has naturally rebounded over the eons as Fennoscandia has recovered from the glaciation. And it is in a similar way that this nation of five million is pushing back against the Russians and Putin’s CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) allies. On April 1st, Finland acceded to NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), garnering a guaranteed defense against foreign aggression under Article 5 of the treaty. Helsinki has pledged to raise defense spending and is assuming an increasingly robust defensive posture along its borders.
This new integration with allied militaries in Europe and North America has, of course, been spurred by the conflict in Ukraine. Finland has long been wary of Russia, but had never pushed for NATO membership in part because of its fears of retaliation from Moscow. In 2014, Putin warned that if NATO should “press the spring [of its border] too hard, it will snap back. You must always remember this.” He seems to have forgotten the lesson himself, and now faces Finnish NATO membership as a consequence of his disastrous Ukraine push. Finland’s new membership doubles the Alliance’s border with Russia – adding 830 miles to the line of contact between NATO and the CSTO.
Just as in 1939, Finland remains a military power of outsized strength. Mandatory conscription places all Finnish men into the military for at least 165 days, and 83 percent of Finns say that they would take up arms in the event of war. Additionally, Finland boasts the largest military training area in Europe, Rovajärvi. And perhaps most importantly, Finland is a major producer of strategic technologies, including 5G cellular technology and icebreaker boats (with 80% market share in the latter field), and has one of the largest artillery collections in Europe.
The more important effect of Finland’s new NATO membership, however, is one of symbolic value – a significant milestone in the histories of Finland, NATO, and a powerful message promoting the broader global pursuit of stability and democracy. In aligning itself with the world’s most prominent and powerful mutual security alliance, Finland affirms its place amongst the principled nations which choose to stand firm against authoritarian antagonists and uphold the shared values of the world’s free and open nations. Where Finland was previously submissive towards an aggressive Russia, it now shall hold as a paragon of NATO’s increasingly powerful and independent posture on the European continent.
The Finns’ NATO membership also highlights to all alliance members – especially reticent ones such as Turkey and Hungary – that the organization remains committed to enhancing its regional security posture and will continue to deliver boons for every nation which subscribes to its treaty. Finland’s NATO membership will also resonate with other countries in the region that are contemplating their own security options in the wake of Putin’s invasion. While currently pending Turkey’s approval, Sweden is expected to join NATO in the coming months, setting an example for continued expansion of NATO, perhaps eventually incorporating Moldova and Georgia.
In breaking with its troubled histories of conflict with Eastern neighbors, Finland has been guaranteed the territorial security that it requires to continue in its pursuit of liberal democratic values – and in so doing, sends a message to tyrants everywhere that reckless and bloodthirsty acts of folly cannot stand.