1.
Crichton-Vulcan
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Crichton-Vulcan is an abandoned shipyard in Turku, Finland, that once formed the cornerstone of the Finnish shipbuilding industry. The shipyard is best known for World War II coastal defence ships, shipbuilding at the yard gradually ended after 1976, after a new shipyard had been built in the suburb Perno. The old yard was taken over by Turku Repair Yard and used for repair until 2004. The shipyard by the Aura River in Turku then lied abandoned some time and was the target of vandalism, however, the site is currently being turned into an upper-class residential area. Demolition of the old buildings began in June 2011, the first shipyard in Turku was established in 1732 on the eastern bank of the Aura River. The first foundry and metal workshop was established in 1842, after the Crimean War the workshop was acquired by Scotsman William Crichton. Crichton built a new shipyard near the mouth of Aura, soon a joint-stock company, W, m Crichton & C, o Ab was established, merging smaller shipyards. In 1913 W, m Crichton & C, o Ab went bankrupt, Åbo mekaniska verkstads Ab was founded in 1874 and discontinued at the late 1890s. Ab Vulcan was started in 1898 to continue the operations, in 1924 the manager of Vulcan Allan Staffans organised a merger between the two companies creating Crichton-Vulcan Oy. It again was merged with Wärtsilä between 1936 and 1938, Wärtsilä bought the neighbouring boat and engine builder Andros in 1939 and joined it to Crichton-Vulcan. In 1966 the name of the shipyard was changed to Oy Wärtsilä Ab Turun telakka, during World War I, the shipyard served the Imperial Russian Navy. After Finnish independence in 1917, Finland started a program on naval armament, most of the ships were designed by the Dutch company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw and built by Crichton-Vulcan. The shipyard built two coastal ships for the Finnish Navy. The 3, 900-metric-ton Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen were ordered in 1927 and delivered in 1931 and 1932, the shipyard also built the prototypes for the World War II German U-boat fleet. Germany was banned under the Treaty of Versailles from building submarines, three 716-metric-ton submarines were ordered in 1927. The submarines were designed by Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw, the design was based on the World War I German Type UB III submarine, the design work and the supervision of the construction was done by Germans. The submarines would serve as a step in the design of the German Type VIIA submarines, the Vetehinen, the Vesihiisi and the Iku-Turso were commissioned in 1930 and 1931. A smaller sub, the 250-metric-ton Vesikko, was launched in 1933 and it too was designed by Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw, and was the direct prototype of the German Type II submarine
2.
Submarine
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A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability, the term most commonly refers to a large, crewed vessel. It is also used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine. The noun submarine evolved as a form of submarine boat, by naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as boats rather than as ships. Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, Submarines were first widely used during World War I, and now figure in many navies large and small. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection, Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology, most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the sail in American usage, a conning tower was a feature of earlier designs, a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins, smaller, deep-diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout. Submarines use diving planes and also change the amount of water, Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers, modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell. In 1578, the English mathematician William Bourne recorded in his book Inventions or Devises one of the first plans for an underwater navigation vehicle and its unclear whether he ever carried out his idea. The first submersible of whose construction there exists reliable information was designed and built in 1620 by Cornelis Drebbel and it was propelled by means of oars. By the mid-18th century, over a dozen patents for submarines/submersible boats had been granted in England, in 1747, Nathaniel Symons patented and built the first known working example of the use of a ballast tank for submersion. His design used leather bags that could fill with water to submerge the craft, a mechanism was used to twist the water out of the bags and cause the boat to resurface. In 1749, the Gentlemens Magazine reported that a design had initially been proposed by Giovanni Borelli in 1680. By this point of development, further improvement in design stagnated for over a century, until new industrial technologies for propulsion. The first military submarine was the Turtle, a hand-powered acorn-shaped device designed by the American David Bushnell to accommodate a single person and it was the first verified submarine capable of independent underwater operation and movement, and the first to use screws for propulsion
3.
Length overall
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Length overall, often abbreviated as is the maximum length of a vessels hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship and it is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and is also used for calculating the cost of a marina berth. LOA is usually measured on the hull alone, for sailing ships, this may exclude the bowsprit and other fittings added to the hull. This is how some racing boats and tall ships use the term LOA, however, other sources may include bowsprits in LOA. Sparred length, Total length including bowsprit, Mooring length and LOA including bowsprit are other expressions that might indicate the length of a sailing ship. Often used to distinguish between the length of a vessel including projections from the length of the hull itself, the Length on Deck or LOD is often reported and this is especially useful for smaller sailing vessels, as their LOA can be significantly different from their LOD. In ISO8666 for small boats, there is a definition of LOH and this may be shorter than a vessels LOA, because it excludes other parts attached to the hull, such as bowsprits. Another measure of length is LWL which is useful in assessing a vessels performance. In some cases LWL can be shorter than LOA. Overall length in cartridges The National Register of Historic Vessels Length between perpendiculars Hayler, William B, keever, John M. American Merchant Seamans Manual. Turpin, Edward A. McEwen, William A
4.
Submarine hull
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A light hull of a submarine is the outer non-watertight hull which provides a hydrodynamically efficient shape. The pressure hull is the hull of a submarine, this holds the difference between outside and inside pressure. This design, already visible on very early submarines is called a teardrop hull and it significantly reduces the hydrodynamic drag on the sub when submerged, but decreases the sea-keeping capabilities and increases the drag while surfaced. Because of the slow submerged speeds of these submarines, usually well below 10 knots, USS Albacore was a unique research submarine that pioneered the American version of the teardrop hull form of modern submarines. All small modern submarines and submersibles, as well as the oldest ones, have a single hull, however, for large submarines, the approaches have separated. All Soviet heavy submarines are built with a hull structure. The double hull of a submarine is different from a double hull. The external hull, which forms the shape of submarine, is called the outer hull. This term is appropriate for Russian submarine construction, where the light hull is usually made of steel that is only 2 to 4 millimetres thick. The light hull can be used to mount equipment, which if attached directly to the hull could cause unnecessary stress. The double hull approach also saves space inside the hull, as the ring stiffeners. These measures help minimise the size of the hull, which is much heavier than the light hull. Also, in case the submarine is damaged, the light hull takes some of the damage and does not compromise the vessels integrity, inside the outer hull there is a strong hull, or pressure hull, which actually withstands the outside pressure and has normal atmospheric pressure inside. The pressure hull is constructed of thick high-strength steel with a complex structure and high strength reserve. The pressure and light hulls arent separated, and form a structure with increased strength. The interhull space is used for some of the equipment which doesnt require constant pressure to operate, the list significantly differs between submarines, and generally includes different water/air tanks. In case of a submarine, the light hull and the pressure hull are the same except for the bow. The constructions of a pressure hull requires a degree of precision
5.
Diesel engine
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Diesel engines work by compressing only the air. This increases the air temperature inside the cylinder to such a degree that it ignites atomised diesel fuel that is injected into the combustion chamber. This contrasts with spark-ignition engines such as an engine or gas engine. In diesel engines, glow plugs may be used to aid starting in cold weather, or when the engine uses a lower compression-ratio, the original diesel engine operates on the constant pressure cycle of gradual combustion and produces no audible knock. Low-speed diesel engines can have an efficiency that exceeds 50%. Diesel engines may be designed as either two-stroke or four-stroke cycles and they were originally used as a more efficient replacement for stationary steam engines. Since the 1910s they have used in submarines and ships. Use in locomotives, trucks, heavy equipment and electricity generation plants followed later, in the 1930s, they slowly began to be used in a few automobiles. Since the 1970s, the use of engines in larger on-road and off-road vehicles in the US increased. According to the British Society of Motor Manufacturing and Traders, the EU average for diesel cars accounts for 50% of the total sold, including 70% in France and 38% in the UK. The worlds largest diesel engine is currently a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C Common Rail marine diesel, the definition of a Diesel engine to many has become an engine that uses compression ignition. To some it may be an engine that uses heavy fuel oil, to others an engine that does not use spark ignition. However the original cycle proposed by Rudolf Diesel in 1892 was a constant temperature cycle which would require higher compression than what is needed for compression ignition. Diesels idea was to compress the air so tightly that the temperature of the air would exceed that of combustion, to make this more clear, let it be assumed that the subsequent combustion shall take place at a temperature of 700°. Then in that case the pressure must be sixty-four atmospheres, or for 800° centigrade the pressure must be ninety atmospheres. In later years Diesel realized his original cycle would not work, Diesel describes the cycle in his 1895 patent application. Notice that there is no longer a mention of compression temperatures exceeding the temperature of combustion, now all that is mentioned is the compression must be high enough for ignition. In 1806 Claude and Nicéphore Niépce developed the first known internal combustion engine, the Pyréolophore fuel system used a blast of air provided by a bellows to atomize Lycopodium
6.
Torpedo tube
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A torpedo tube is a cylinder shaped device for launching torpedoes. There are two types of torpedo tube, underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships. Thus a submarine torpedo tube operates on the principle of an airlock, the diagram on the right illustrates the operation of a submarine torpedo tube. The diagram is somewhat simplified but does show the working of a torpedo launch. A torpedo tube has a number of interlocks for safety reasons. For example, an interlock prevents the door and muzzle door from opening at the same time. The submarine torpedo launch sequence is, in simplified form, Open the breech door in the torpedo room, load the torpedo into the tube. Hook up the connection and the torpedo power cable. Shut and lock the breech door, turn on power to the torpedo. A minimum amount of time is required for torpedo warmup, fire control programs are uploaded to the torpedo. This may be manually or automatically, from sea or from tanks. The tube must be vented during this process to allow for complete filling, Open the equalizing valve to equalize pressure in the tube with ambient sea pressure. If the tube is set up for Impulse Mode the slide valve will open with the muzzle door, if Swim Out Mode is selected, the slide valve remains closed. The slide valve allows water from the pump to enter the tube. Modern torpedoes have a safety mechanism that prevents activation of the torpedo unless the torpedo senses the required amount of G-force, the power cable is severed at launch. However, if a wire is used, it remains connected through a drum of wire in the tube. Torpedo propulsion systems vary but electric torpedoes swim out of the tube on their own and are of a smaller diameter,21 weapons with fuel-burning engines usually start outside of the tube. Once outside the tube the torpedo begins its run toward the target as programmed by the control system
7.
Torpedo
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Historically, it was called an automotive, automobile, locomotive or fish torpedo, colloquially called a fish. The term torpedo was originally employed for a variety of devices, from about 1900, torpedo has been used strictly to designate an underwater self-propelled weapon. Todays torpedoes can be divided into lightweight and heavyweight classes, and into straight-running, autonomous homers and they can be launched from a variety of platforms. The word torpedo comes from the name of a genus of rays in the order Torpediniformes. In naval usage, the American Robert Fulton introduced the name to refer to a gunpowder charge used by his French submarine Nautilus to demonstrate that it could sink warships. The concept of a torpedo existed many centuries before it was successfully developed. In 1275, Hasan al-Rammah described. an egg which moves itself, in modern language, a torpedo is an underwater self-propelled explosive, —but historically, the term also applied to primitive naval mines. These were used on an ad hoc basis during the modern period up to the late 19th century. An early submarine, the Turtle, attempted to lay a bomb with a fuse on the hull of HMS Eagle during the American Revolutionary War. In the early 1800s, the American inventor Robert Fulton, while in France and he coined the term torpedo in reference to the explosive charges he outfitted his submarine Nautilus. However, both the French and the Dutch governments were uninterested in the submarine, Fulton then concentrated on developing the torpedo independent of a submarine deployment. However, the British government refused to purchase the invention, stating they did not wish to introduce into naval warfare a system that would give advantage to weaker maritime nations. Fulton carried out a demonstration for the US government on 20 July 1807. Further development languished as Fulton focused on his steam-boat matters, during the War of 1812, torpedoes were employed in attempts to destroy British vessels and protect American harbors. In fact a submarine deployed torpedo was used in an attempt to destroy HMS Ramillies while in New Londons harbor. Hardy to warn the Americans to cease efforts with the use of any boat in this cruel and unheard-of warfare. Torpedoes were used by the Russian Empire during the Crimean War in 1855 against British warships in the Gulf of Finland and they used an early form of chemical detonator. During the American Civil War, the torpedo was used for what is today called a contact mine
8.
Madsen 20 mm cannon
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The 20 mm AA Machine Cannon M/38 was produced by the Danish company Dansk Industri Syndikat - DISA - in Herlev near Copenhagen and was used by the military of Denmark in different types of mounting. This cannon was originally constructed by Colonel V. H. O. Madsen and was widely known as the 20 mm Madsen Cannon. A version with a necked-out 23 mm round was also produced, mobile Anti-Aircraft Mount - Dedicated AA mount. Tri-axial Mount - Light weight mount intended for fortifications and naval use There were also a number of locally designed mounts and this type of machine cannon was a very well functioning weapon, which was exported by DISA to several countries. The 20 mm machine cannons of the Danish Army were responsible for knocking out eleven armoured cars and two Panzer Is during the German invasion before the order to surrender came through
9.
Turku
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Turku is a city on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Southwest Finland. Turku, as a town, was settled during the 13th century and founded most likely at the end of the 13th century and it quickly became the most important city in Finland, a status it retained for hundreds of years. Because of its history, it has been the site of many important events. Along with Tallinn, the city of Estonia, Turku was designated the European Capital of Culture for 2011. In 1996, it was declared the official Christmas City of Finland, due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport with over three million passengers traveling through the Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn. As of 31 December 2016, the population of Turku was 187,564, there were 318,168 inhabitants living in the Turku sub-region, ranking it as the third largest urban area in Finland after the Greater Helsinki area and Tampere sub-region. The city is bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify Swedish as a mother-tongue. The Finnish name Turku originates from an Old East Slavic word, tǔrgǔ, the word turku still means market place in some idioms in Finnish. The Swedish word for market place is torg, and was borrowed from Old East Slavic. The Swedish name Åbo may be a combination of å. As this pattern does not appear in any other Swedish place names in Finland, one theory is that it comes from Aabo, the Finnish rendition of the Russian Avram, which could also be the origin of the name of the river Aura. There is however an old legal term called åborätt, which gave citizens the right to live at land owned by the crown. In Finnish, the genitive of Turku is Turun, meaning of Turku, the Finnish names of organizations and institutes of Turku often begin with this word, as in Turun yliopisto for the University of Turku. Turku has a history as Finlands largest city and occasionally as the administrative center of the country. The citys identity stems from its status as the oldest city in Finland, originally, the word Finland referred only to the area around Turku. Although archaeological findings in the date back to the Stone Age. The Cathedral of Turku was consecrated in 1300, during the Middle Ages, Turku was the seat of the Bishop of Turku, covering the then eastern half of the Kingdom of Sweden until the 17th century. Even if Turku had no official status, both the short-lived institutions of Dukes and Governors-General of Finland usually had their Finnish residences there
10.
Netherlands
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The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
11.
Prototype
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A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. It is a used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics. A prototype is used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one, in some design workflow models, creating a prototype is the step between the formalization and the evaluation of an idea. The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον prototypon, primitive form, neutral of πρωτότυπος prototypos, original, primitive, from πρῶτος protos, first and τύπος typos, a Working Prototype represents all or nearly all of the functionality of the final product. A Visual Prototype represents the size and appearance, but not the functionality, a User Experience Prototype represents enough of the appearance and function of the product that it can be used for user research. A Functional Prototype captures both function and appearance of the design, though it may be created with different techniques. A Paper Prototype is a printed or hand-drawn representation of the interface of a software product. In some cases, the final production materials may still be undergoing development themselves, process - Mass-production processes are often unsuitable for making a small number of parts, so prototypes may be made using different fabrication processes than the final product. Differences in fabrication process may lead to differences in the appearance of the prototype as compared to the final product, verification - The final product may be subject to a number of quality assurance tests to verify conformance with drawings or specifications. These tests may involve custom inspection fixtures, statistical sampling methods, prototypes are generally made with much closer individual inspection and the assumption that some adjustment or rework will be part of the fabrication process. Prototypes may also be exempted from some requirements that apply to the final product. Engineers and prototype specialists will attempt to minimize the impact of these differences on the role for the prototype. Engineers and prototyping specialists seek to understand the limitations of prototypes to exactly simulate the characteristics of their intended design and it is important to realize that by their very definition, prototypes will represent some compromise from the final production design. Due to differences in materials, processes and design fidelity, it is possible that a prototype may fail to perform acceptably whereas the design may have been sound. In general, it can be expected that individual prototype costs will be greater than the final production costs due to inefficiencies in materials. Prototypes are also used to revise the design for the purposes of reducing costs through optimization and it is possible to use prototype testing to reduce the risk that a design may not perform as intended, however prototypes generally cannot eliminate all risk. As an alternative, rapid prototyping or rapid application development techniques are used for the prototypes, which implement part
12.
Winter War
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The Winter War was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939–1940. It began with the Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, the League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the League on 14 December 1939. Finland refused and the USSR invaded the country, the Soviets possessed more than three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks. The Red Army, however, had been crippled by Soviet leader Joseph Stalins Great Purge of 1937. With more than 30,000 of its officers executed or imprisoned, including most of those of the highest ranks, because of these factors, and high morale in the Finnish forces, Finland repelled Soviet attacks for several months, much longer than the Soviets expected. However, after reorganization and adoption of different tactics, the renewed Soviet offensive overcame Finnish defenses at the borders, hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty. Finland ceded territory representing 11% of its area and 13% of its economy to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the international reputation suffered. While the Soviet Union did not conquer all Finland, Soviet gains exceeded their pre-war demands and they gained substantial territory along Lake Ladoga, providing a buffer for Leningrad, and territory in northern Finland. Finland retained its sovereignty and enhanced its international reputation, the end of the war cancelled the Franco-British plan to send troops to Finland through northern Scandinavia. One of the goals of the projected Franco-British operation had been to take control of northern Swedens iron ore. For this reason it was also a factor in the launching of Operation Weserübung, Nazi Germanys invasion of Denmark. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged Hitler to think that an attack on the Soviet Union would be successful, until the beginning of the 19th century, Finland constituted the eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden. In 1809, to protect their capital, Saint Petersburg. While abortive because of Russias internal strife, these attempts ruined Russias relations with the Finns, the new Bolshevik Russian government was weak, and with the threat of civil war looming Soviet Russia recognized the new Finnish government just three weeks after the declaration of independence. Sovereignty was fully achieved in May 1918 after a civil war. Finland joined the League of Nations in 1920, from which it sought security guarantees, nevertheless, the government of Sweden carefully avoided committing itself to Finnish foreign policy. Another Finnish military policy was the top secret military cooperation between Finland and Estonia, the 1920s and early 1930s were a politically unstable time in Finland
13.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
14.
Finnish Navy
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The Finnish Navy is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. The navy employs 2,300 people and about 4,300 conscripts are trained each year, Finnish Navy vessels are given the ship prefix FNS, short for Finnish Navy ship and it is not used in Finnish language contexts. The Finnish Navy also includes coastal forces and coastal artillery, the current Commander-in-Chief of the navy is Rear Admiral Kari Takanen. The navy is organized into the Navy Command and four Brigade-level units, the navy includes, since 1998 also the Nyland Brigade, where Finnish Marines or Coastal Jaegers are trained. Nyland Brigade is also the only Swedish language unit in the country and it carries on the traditions, many of the Swedish naval bases were located in present-day Finland and many sailors came from Finland. During the Russian rule an entirely Finnish Navy unit, named Suomen Meriekipaasi was defending the Finnish coast, the Meriekipaasi participated in the Crimean War, albeit mostly with on-shore duties. The Meriekipaasi also manned the coastal batteries at the Santahamina Island during the siege of fortress Viapori in Helsinki, the ships the Meriekipaasi operated included the steam frigates Rurik and Kalevala, named after the Finnish national epic. These ships later served in the Russian Pacific Fleet), in addition to the warships, the Russians also left behind numerous other types of vessels. Additionally, the Germans handed over two netlayers to the Finnish Navy, and these two formed the core of the Finnish Navy until the coastal defense ships were commissioned. With the Treaty of Tartu, Finland had to some of the equipment they had operated earlier. This equipment included three S-class torpedo boats, the minesweepers Altair, Mikula, MP7, MP11, Ahvola, T12, fifteen tugs, Finland lost three more ships in supporting the British operations against the Soviets in the Baltic Sea. The three vessels were ordered to stay until the sea froze over, and were damaged beyond repair by the ice, the last remaining C-class torpedo boats was placed in reserve after this incident. Motor torpedo boats were acquired both from Britain, as well as from domestic sources. The training ship Suomen Joutsen was also acquired, the strength of the Finnish Navy at the beginning of World War II was limited. Some of the ships had not yet been constructed and wartime constraints on the economy prolonged ship building times. When the Winter War broke out the Finnish Navy moved to occupy the de-militarized Åland Islands, in the first month of the war, battles between Soviet ships and Finnish coastal batteries were fought at Hanko, Finland, Utö and Koivisto. At Koivisto and Hanko, the batteries forced Soviet battleships to retire with damage, Finnish efforts to use submarines to sink Soviet capital ships failed. In December 1939 the ice became so thick that only the ice-breakers could still move, the two coastal defence ships were moved to the harbour in Turku where they were used to strengthen the air-defences of the city
15.
Vetehinen-class submarine
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The Vetehinen-class submarine was a Finnish 500 tonne submarine class of three vessels that was designed and built in the 1920s and early 1930s. The Vetehinen class served in the Finnish Navy during World War II, the class was designed by Dutch dummy company Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw den Haag and built by the Finnish Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku. The class was based on the German World War I Type UB III and Type UC III submarines, the word vetehinen means a merman. Vetehinen-class submarines were designed as minelaying submarines and were built with mineshafts for 20 mines, Submarines had special inner rails for two torpedo tubes to enable 450 mm torpedoes to be used instead of the 533 mm torpedoes. Vetehinen Vesihiisi Iku-Turso Submarine construction details Dutch Export Submarines - Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw
16.
Finnish submarine Vetehinen
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Vetehinen was a 500-tonne Vetehinen-class submarine that was constructed in the early 1930s, which served in the Finnish Navy during the Second World War. The submarine was the first ship of its class of three submarines, the Finnish Navy was informed that the 8,800 ton Soviet icebreaker Yermak would be arriving in the Baltic Sea from the Atlantic. Vetehinen was sortied to intercept the icebreaker off the port of Liepāja on 4 December, however, the submarine ran aground before reaching open sea and had to be pulled loose by tugs before it was able to start its voyage. Vetehinen arrived at the site on 6 December and started patrolling off the buoy on the port entrance, on 7 December the submarine sighted Yermak but was unable to reach it. While on station, Vetehinen encountered a couple of unknown submarines which were suspected to be of German origin. On 8 December Vetehinen began the voyage home and was attacked by the Soviet Shchuka-class submarine ShCh-324, but the attack failed, on 12 December Vetehinen sortied again to intercept Yermak, this time on its voyage from Liepāja to Tallinn. However once again reaching the open sea Vetehinen ran aground and had to be inspected before continuing on its mission the same day. Upon reaching the area the submarine was unable to sight the icebreaker and was recalled on 14 December, on 22 June 1941 Vetehinen laid 20 mines north of Kunda, and a further 17 mines on 28 June between Gogland and Bolshoy Tyuters. On 3 July 1941 Vetehinen encountered a freighter west of Gogland, on 3 August 1941 Vetehinen sighted a Soviet convoy consisting of pair of large minesweepers and a group of guard ships escorting a group of Soviet submarines. One torpedo was launched at a distance of 1,500 metres to no effect, on 8 August 1941 Vetehinen launched two torpedoes at a 1500-ton freighter, but neither of the torpedoes exploded. The Italian torpedoes proved to be unreliable in service despite functioning during test range firings and it was later discovered that these torpedoes were unreliable when fired from a submerged sub because the increased water pressure caused the seals of the torpedo detonators to fail. For this reason a report that the Finns received from the besieged Hanko that a Soviet freighter had arrived there with two Finnish torpedoes sticking out from its hull became more believable, on 30 November Vetehinen sortied to intercept a convoy but was unable to reach it. On 3 December 1941 Vetehinen sighted a Soviet convoy headed due east from Hanko, the submarine attacked on the surface but the poor quality of the night sight and the activity of the escort prevented torpedoes from being fired with any accuracy. Vetehinen fired both bow tubes and after turning around both aft tubes at the convoy without any effect, at a distance of 2,500 metres. A mere 15 minutes later the submarine sighted another Soviet convoy, this time headed due West, during 1942 Vetehinen was upgraded with new 12-hydrophone listening arrays and equipped with a depth charge rack capable of carrying four depth charges. The submarine was modified by streamlining the tower and moving the 20 mm gun up to the tower. On 5 November 1942, Vetehinen rammed the Soviet submarine ShCh-305 in the Sea of Åland, a contact was found, and after confirmation of an enemy contact Vetehinen launched a torpedo, which missed probably due to being fired at too short distance. Vetehinen then opened fire with its deck guns, a second torpedo also missed, but the deck guns managed to damage the Soviet submarine which by then had started an emergency dive
17.
Finnish submarine Vesihiisi
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Vesihiisi was a Finnish 500-tonne Vetehinen-class submarine that was constructed in the early 1930s. The vessel served in the Finnish Navy during the second World War, while preparing the design of the Finnish submarine Saukko, the Germans also prepared a design for a seagoing submarine for the Finnish Navy. Three submarines were built to design, and like Saukko, they were fitted for mine-laying. Vesihiisi was alerted with Vesikko to Hanko region on 30 November 1939 as several Soviet surface combatants were headed towards the area, the submarines however failed to arrive to the area in time to intercept the Soviet cruiser Kirov and its escorts. Vesihiisi ran aground in early December 1941 and had to be docked for a few days for repairs, on 27 December Vesihiisi laid 16 mines off the Soviet naval station of Paldiski but soon after the ice forced the submarine to stay in port. Vesihiisi started the Continuation War on 22 June by laying 20 mines in Estonian waters and she laid 18 more mines on 24 June at Ruuskeri south southwest from Gogland and further 18 mines on 26 June southeast from Bolshoy Tyuters. After this the mining operation was postponed and Vesihiisi laid the 18 already loaded mines finally on 2 August east of Osmussaar, on 2 July 1941 Vesihiisi while patrolling east of Gogland encountered an escorted freighter heading east. A torpedo attack failed and the submarine suffered light damage from the depth charges. On 5 August 1941 Vesihiisi attacked a convoy transporting supplies to besieged Soviet garrison at Hanko, the convoy consisted of a transport vessel of Molotov class escorted by pair of large minesweepers and group of patrol boats. The submarine penetrated the screen and launched two torpedoes at a range of 700 metres while being between the target and the escorts. Neither of the torpedoes exploded and the escorts forced Vesihiisi to dive to the depth of 75 metres, though the submarine did not suffer severe damage from the depth charges the repairs on the dock lasted for a week. In December 1941 after the Soviets had evacuated Hanko the Finnish submarines were docked for the winter, during the sailing season of 1941 the Italian torpedoes Vesihiisi used proved to be unreliable. During 1942 Vesihiisi was upgraded with new 12-hydrophone listening arrays and equipped with depth charge rack capable of carrying 4 depth charges, the submarine was further modified by streamlining the tower and moving the 20 mm gun up to the tower. On 9 August 1942, Vesihiisi was deployed along with her two sister ships to Mariehamn and their mission was to conduct anti-submarine and escort operations in the Sea of Åland. In the evening of 21 October 1942 she torpedoed and sank the Soviet S-class submarine S-7, the captain and four of the crew of S-7 were then captured. On 4 July 1944 Vesihiisi laid 20 mines between Moshchny Island and Seskar, the boat was attacked with depth charges by two Soviet minesweepers but was able to escape without any damage. The submarine laid further 18 mines north of Moshchny Island on 6 July 1944
18.
Finnish submarine Iku-Turso
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Iku-Turso was a 500-tonne Vetehinen-class submarine that served in the Finnish Navy during the Second World War. It was launched in May 1931 and was named after a Finnish sea monster and it was built by the Crichton-Vulcan shipyard in Turku according to a project developed by NV Ingenieurskantoor voor Scheepsbouw, IvS, and was scrapped in 1953. On 7 December Iku-Turso was sortied to intercept the Soviet freighter Ivan Papanin sailing from Stockholm, the submarine was informed of the departure time of the target and the likely route and so Iku-Turso patrolled in the international waters off Sandhamn and Svenska Högarne during the night. Unidentified patrol boats harassed the submarine and forced it to dive, Ivan Papanin had passed the area few hours earlier and likely having been warned of the presence of the Finnish submarine, it had altered its course to evade Iku-Turso. In late December 1941 Iku-Turso patrolled for a couple of days off Liepāja, in January 1941 Iku-Turso patrolled four days off Saaremaa and Hiiumaa but without any luck. On 22 June 1941 Iku-Turso laid 20 mines north of the island of Mohni/Ekholm, a further 20 mines were laid at Ruuskeri SE from Gogland on 24 June and 18 mines to south of Vaindloo on 26 June after which further minelaying operations were postponed. Iku-Turso laid 18 already loaded mines on 11 July of the coast of Estonia east of Mohni, on 30 July Iku-Turso along with Vetehinen were sortied to intercept a Soviet convoy moving to and from the besieged base of Hanko. The submarines saw the convoy but were unable to maneuver to attack position, in December 1941, after the Soviets had evacuated Hanko, Iku-Turso was docked for the winter. Though Iku-Turso had not had much chance of using its torpedoes, during 1942, Iku-Turso was upgraded with new 12-hydrophone listening arrays and equipped with a depth charge rack capable of carrying 4 depth charges. The submarine was modified by streamlining the tower and moving the 20 mm gun up to the tower. After the torpedo impacted, the target disappeared, on the impact site, the Finnish submarine located a large oil spill with even more oil still rising to the surface. On 30 July 1944 Iku-Turso attempted to attack a convoy targeting a tug, on 24 August 1944 Iku-Turso ran into an obstacle — apparently an anti-submarine net - but was able to get loose. A mine which had attached to the obstacle exploded but caused only light damage to the submarine
19.
Finnish submarine Saukko
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Saukko was a small submarine that served in the Finnish Navy during the Second World War. The submarine could be divided into sections and transported by rail. The conning tower could be lifted off entirely, the engines were in the aft section and the batteries in the forward section. The name Saukko means European otter, the construction of Saukko began in 1928 at Sandvikens shipyard in Helsinki. The design was based on German drawings for the submarine Pu110, launched on 2 July 1930, Saukko was declared ready for service on 16 December 1930. At that time it was the worlds smallest submarine, officially weighing only 99 tonnes, saukkos crew consisted of 15 men. The outer hull was designed for icy conditions, original plans called for Saukko to be brought to the town of Lahdenpohja on Lake Ladoga via rail, but this was never implemented. During the Winter War and the Continuation War, the submarine operated in the Gulf of Finland, Saukko, accompanied by several motor torpedo boats, was towed by the gunboat Karjala to Koivisto on 7 December 1939. Since hostilities had started before the Finnish Navy had not had a chance to lay defensive minefields outside their coastal forts, a Leningrad class destroyer and five other Soviet destroyers reached the area on 8 December, and began to shell Finnish positions. The slow Saukko was unable to engage the Soviet destroyer group, after these failures the Finnish boats were withdrawn from the area. On 3 July 1941 Saukko was patrolling off the island of Sommers when she sighted a couple of patrol vessels by the pier, the submarine fired a torpedo but was forced to withdraw, without being able to observe results, by harassing Soviet patrol boats
20.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
21.
European mink
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The European mink, also known as the Russian mink, is a semiaquatic species of mustelid native to Europe. It is similar in colour to the American mink, but is smaller and has a less specialised skull. Despite having a name, build and behaviour, the European mink is not closely related to the American mink, being much closer to the European polecat. The European mink occurs primarily by forest streams unlikely to freeze in winter and it primarily feeds on voles, frogs, fish, crustaceans and insects. European mink numbers began to shrink during the 19th century, with the species becoming extinct in some parts of Central Europe. It likely first arose in the Middle Pleistocene, with fossils in Europe dated to the Late Pleistocene being found in caves. The closeness between the mink and polecat is emphasized because the species can hybridize, as of 2005, seven subspecies are recognised. The European mink is a representative of the genus Mustela. However, compared to its relative, the Siberian weasel. The European mink has a large, broad head with short ears, the limbs are short, with relatively well-developed membranes between the digits, particularly on the hind feet. The minks tail is short, and does not exceed half the body length. The European minks skull is less elongated than the kolonoks, with widely spaced zygomatic arches and has a less massive facial region. In general characteristics, the skull is intermediate in shape between that of the Siberian weasel and the European polecat, overall, the skull is less specialised for carnivory than that of polecats and the American mink. Males measure 373–430 mm in length, while females measure 352–400 mm. Tail length is 153–190 mm in males and 150–180 mm and it is a fast and agile animal, which swims and dives skilfully. It is able to run along stream beds, and stay underwater for one to two minutes, when swimming, it paddles with both its front and back limbs simultaneously. The winter fur of the European mink is very thick and dense, but not long, the underfur is particularly dense compared with that of more land-based members of the genus Mustela. The guard hairs are quite coarse and lustrous, with very wide contour hairs which are flat in the middle, the length of the hairs on the back and belly differ little, a further adaptation to the European minks semiaquatic way of life
22.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
23.
Treaty of Versailles
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The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers and it was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of World War I signed separate treaties, although the armistice, signed on 11 November 1918, ended the actual fighting, it took six months of Allied negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference to conclude the peace treaty. The treaty was registered by the Secretariat of the League of Nations on 21 October 1919 and this article, Article 231, later became known as the War Guilt clause. The treaty forced Germany to disarm, make substantial territorial concessions, in 1921 the total cost of these reparations was assessed at 132 billion marks. On the other hand, prominent figures on the Allied side such as French Marshal Ferdinand Foch criticized the treaty for treating Germany too leniently, although it is often referred to as the Versailles Conference, only the actual signing of the treaty took place at the historic palace. Most of the negotiations were in Paris, with the Big Four meetings taking place generally at the Quai dOrsay, the First World War was fought across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Countries beyond the war zones were also affected by the disruption of trade, finance. In 1917, two revolutions occurred within the Russian Empire, which led to the collapse of the Imperial Government, the American war aim was to detach the war from nationalistic disputes and ambitions after the Bolshevik disclosure of secret treaties between the Allies. The existence of these treaties tended to discredit Allied claims that Germany was the power with aggressive ambitions. On 8 January 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson issued a statement that became known as the Fourteen Points and this speech outlined a policy of free trade, open agreements, democracy and self-determination. After the Central Powers launched Operation Faustschlag on the Eastern Front and this treaty ended the war between Russia and the Central powers and annexed 1,300,000 square miles of territory and 62 million people. During the autumn of 1918, the Central Powers began to collapse, desertion rates within the German army began to increase, and civilian strikes drastically reduced war production. On the Western Front, the Allied forces launched the Hundred Days Offensive, sailors of the Imperial German Navy at Kiel mutinied, which prompted uprisings in Germany, which became known as the German Revolution. The German government tried to obtain a settlement based on the Fourteen Points. Following negotiations, the Allied powers and Germany signed an armistice, the terms of the armistice called for an immediate evacuation of German troops from occupied Belgium, France, and Luxembourg within fifteen days. In addition, it established that Allied forces would occupy the Rhineland, in late 1918, Allied troops entered Germany and began the occupation. Both the German Empire and Great Britain were dependent on imports of food and raw materials, primarily from the Americas, the Blockade of Germany was a naval operation conducted by the Allied Powers to stop the supply of raw materials and foodstuffs reaching the Central Powers
24.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
25.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
26.
Reichsmarine
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The Reichsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Weimar Republic and first two years of Nazi Germany. It was the branch of the Reichswehr, existing from 1919 to 1935. In 1935, it known as the Kriegsmarine, a branch of the Wehrmacht. Many of the administrative and organizational tenets of the Reichsmarine were then carried over into the organization of the Kriegsmarine, the Vorläufige Reichsmarine was formed after the end of World War I from the Imperial German Navy. Replacements for the battleships were restricted to a maximum size of 10,000 tons. The Reichsmarine was considered the naval force of the Reichswehrministerium which was headed by a civilian minister appointed by the government of the Weimar Republic. The senior most naval officer was known until 1920 as the Chef der Admiralität, the naval commander oversaw a headquarters office known as the Marinekommandiertenabteilung which was headquartered in Berlin. The Naval Command also maintained a headquarters office and a naval archives. During the 1920s, the German flagship was the SMS Schleswig-Holstein with two officers serving as fleet commander, Vizeadmiral Hans Zenker and Konrad Mommsen, between 1923 and 1927. The fleet commander position was left vacant, but the flag staff remained. The purpose of fleet command was to oversee the four major type commanders of German naval vessels and these commands were in turn responsible for the administration of various German ship classes to include equipment development, vessel deployments, and personnel assignment. Once at sea, operational control of the vessels switched to the commanders of the two main Naval Sea Stations, the Reichsmarine did not maintain traditional at-sea fleets, but instead assigned two geographical areas which oversaw all vessels operationally deployed in the North and Baltic Seas. Each naval station maintained a staff, general naval inspectorate, training department, artillery arsenal inspector. The naval stations also served as an officer for the commanders of the various German navy ports. The restrictions were intended to prevent the German Navy from becoming a threat to the Allied powers, Germany was only allowed six battleships, six cruisers, twelve destroyers, and twelve torpedo boats. The Reichsmarine tried to meet the arms restrictions with secret armament and technical innovations such as the introduction of the pocket battleship
27.
Mobilization
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Mobilization, in military terminology, is the act of assembling and readying troops and supplies for war. The word mobilization was first used, in a military context, mobilization theories and techniques have continuously changed since then. The opposite of mobilization is demobilization, mobilization became an issue with the introduction of conscription, and the introduction of the railways in the 19th Century. Mobilization institutionalized the mass levy of forces that was first introduced during the French Revolution, a number of technological and societal changes promoted the move towards a more organized way of assembling armies. The Confederate States of America is estimated to have mobilized about 11% of its population in American Civil War. Kingdom of Prussia mobilized about 6-7% of its population in the years 1760 and 1813. Armies in the seventeenth century possessed an average of 20,000 men, a military force of this size requires around 40,000 pounds of food per day, shelter, as well as all the necessary munitions, transportation, tools, and representative garments. Without efficient transportation, mobilizing these average-sized forces was extremely costly, time-consuming, soldiers could traverse the terrain to get to war fronts, but they had to carry their supplies. Many armies decided to forage for food— however, foraging restricted movement because it is based on the presumption that the land the army moves over possesses significant agricultural production. However, due to new policies, greater populations, and greater nation wealth, for example, in 1812 Bonaparte led an army of 600,000 hyped young drafts to Moscow while feeding off plentiful agricultural products introduced by the turn of the century, such as potatoes. Despite the advantages of mass armies, mobilizing forces of this took much more time than it had in the past. Italian unification illustrated all of the problems in modern army mobilization for Prussia and it was not until Italian Unification that Prussia began to realize the future of mobilizing mass armies when Napoleon III transported 130,000 soldiers to Italy by use of the railroad. French caravans that carried the supplies for the French and Piedmontese armies were incredibly slow and these armies were in luck, however, in that their Austrian adversaries experienced similar problems with sluggish supply caravans. Not only did Prussia take note of the problems in transporting supplies to armies, austria’s army was primarily composed of Slavs but it contained many other ethnicities as well. Austrian military instruction during peacetime utilized nine different languages, accustoming Austrian soldiers to taking orders only in the language they natively know. Conversely, in an effort to augment the efficacy of the new “precision rifle” developed by the monarchy, officers were forced to only speak German when giving orders to their men. Even one Austrian officer commented at Solferino that his troops could not even comprehend the command, in 1914, the United Kingdom was the only European Great Power without conscription. The other Great Powers all relied on military service to supply each of their armies with the millions of men they believed they would need to win a major war
28.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
29.
Commander
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Commander is a common naval and air force officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organisations, Commander is also a generic term for an officer commanding any armed forces unit, for example platoon commander, brigade commander and squadron commander. In the police, terms such as commander and incident commander are used. Commander is a used in navies but is very rarely used as a rank in armies. In practice, these were usually unrated sloops-of-war of no more than 20 guns, the Royal Navy shortened master and commander to commander in 1794, however, the term master and commander remained in common parlance for several years. The equivalent American rank master commandant remained in use changed to commander in 1838. A corresponding rank in some navies is frigate captain, in the 20th and 21st centuries, the rank has been assigned the NATO rank code of OF-4. Various functions of commanding officers were also styled Commandeur, in the navy of the Dutch Republic, anyone who commanded a ship or a fleet without having an appropriate rank to do so, could be called a Commandeur. This included ad hoc fleet Commanders and acting Captains, in the fleet of the Admiralty of Zealand however, commandeur was a formal rank, the equivalent of Schout-bij-nacht in the other Dutch admiralties. The Dutch use of the title as a rank lives on in the Royal Netherlands Navy, in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, however, this rank is known by the English spelling of Commodore which is the Dutch equivalent of the British Air Commodore. The rank of commander in the Royal Australian Navy is identical in description to that of a commander in the British Royal Navy, RAN chaplains who are in Division 1,2 and 3 have the equivalent rank standing of commanders. This means that to officers and NCOs below the rank of commander, or wing commander, the chaplain is a superior. To those officers ranked higher than commander, the chaplain is subordinate, although this equivalency exists, RAN chaplains who are in Division 1,2 and 3 do not actually wear the rank of commander, and they hold no command privilege. In France, the rank of commander exists as capitaine de frégate and it is senior to capitaine de corvette, and junior to capitaine de vaisseau. The rank of commander was used in the Imperial Japanese Navy, though the modern rank is translated as commander in English, its literal translation is captain second rank. The rank is equivalent to that of a commander in the U. S. Navy, Commander is a rank in the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, and is denoted by the post-nominal letters CLJ. The corresponding rank in the Polish Navy is komandor porucznik, in the Russian Navy the equivalent rank to commander is captain of the second rank. The rank was introduced in Russia by Peter the Great in 1722, from the introduction of the Russian Table of Ranks to its abolition in 1917, captain of the second rank was equal to a court councillor, at the sixth level out of 14 ranks
30.
Finnish Defence Forces
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The Finnish Defence Forces are responsible for the defence of Finland. A universal male conscription is in place, under which all men above 18 years of age serve for 165,255 or 347 days, alternative non-military service and volunteer service by women are possible. Finland is the only non-NATO EU country bordering Russia, finlands official policy states that a wartime military strength of 230,000 personnel constitutes a sufficient deterrent. The army consists of a mobile field army backed up by local defence units. Finlands defence budget equals approximately 2.8 billion euros or 1.3 percent of GDP, the voluntary overseas service is highly popular and troops serve around the world in UN, NATO and EU missions. Homeland defence willingness against an enemy is at 76%, one of the highest rates in Europe. Fighting between the White Guards and the Red Guards had already broken out about a week before around Viipuri, after winning the Civil War, the Finnish peacetime army was organized as three divisions and a brigade by professional German officers. It became the structure for the next 20 years. The coast was guarded by former czarist coastal fortifications and ships taken as prizes of war, the Air Force had already been formed in March 1918, but remained a part of the Army and did not become a fully independent fighting force until 1928. The new government instituted conscription after the Civil War and also introduced a mobilization system, when the Soviets invaded in November 1939, the Finns defeated the Red Army on numerous occasions, including at the crucial Battle of Suomussalmi. These successes were in part thanks to the application of motti tactics. While the Finns ultimately lost the war and were forced to agree to the Moscow Peace Treaty, during the war the Finns lost 25,904 men, while Soviet losses were 167,976 dead. Finland fought in the Continuation War alongside Germany from 1941 to 1944, thanks to German aid, the army was now much better equipped, and the period of conscription had been increased to two years, making possible the formation of sixteen infantry divisions. The demobilization and regrouping of the Finnish Defense Forces were carried out in late 1944 under the supervision of the Soviet-dominated Allied Control Commission. Following the Treaty of Paris in 1947, which imposed restrictions on the size and equipment of the forces and required disbandment of the Civic Guard. The reorganization resulted in the adoption of the brigade -in place of the division- as the standard formation, for the first two decades after the Second World War, the Finnish Defence Forces relied largely on obsolete wartime material. Defence spending remained minimal until the early 1960s, during the peak of the Cold War, the Finnish government made a conscious effort to increase defence capability. This resulted in the commissioning of new weapons systems and the strengthening of the defence of Finnish Lapland by the establishment of new garrisons in the area
31.
Council of State (Finland)
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The Council of State is Finlands cabinet, it directs the Government of Finland. However, in translations to English, the distinction is often blurred between cabinet and government in the wider sense. This wider sense includes the Parliament of Finland, the agencies that are directed by the Cabinet. Despite of the blurring by translators, the difference is significant. The Cabinet is directly responsible to the parliament and may be dismissed by a motion of no confidence, the President, according to the 2000 constitution, formally appoints the cabinet, but the daily working is the responsibility of the Prime Minister. In 1918, after Finlands independence, the Cabinet, that in the Grand Duchy of Finland had been called the Senate of Finland, was reorganized and renamed to the Council of State. One of the objectives of that reform was to separate the judiciary from the executive branch. International treaties and declaration of war are within the authority of the parliament, less important matters are decided within the respective ministries. Matters within the authority of the President are decided at plenary meetings of the Cabinet, with the exception of appointments, pardon, after election, the party in plurality has the privilege to appoint a negotiator to form the government. In practice, this person is the leader of the party, since 1972, all cabinets have been formed as coalitions of multiple parties that together constitute a parliamentary majority. In an intense period after elections, the negotiator will attempt to forge a consensus between the parties on the issues to be prosecuted during the tenure of the government. This will then be written down in a government platform, following from President Urho Kekkonens excessive direction over the government formation process, the 2000 constitution limited the Presidents power in government formation. Today, the President only formally appoints the government, but cannot select or remove individual members, the current Council of State, the 72nd since Finlands independence, was inaugurated by President Sauli Niinistö on 29 May 2015. The current Council of State is a Center-right, 14-minister coalition consisting of the Centre Party, the Finns Party, the Chancellor of Justice is not a member of the Council of State but must by law attend its every meeting. Council of State Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister of Justice Minister of Defence Minister of Finance Minister of the Interior The Finnish Government – Official site
32.
League of Nations
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The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organisation founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first international organisation whose mission was to maintain world peace. Its primary goals, as stated in its Covenant, included preventing wars through collective security and disarmament, at its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members. The diplomatic philosophy behind the League represented a shift from the preceding hundred years. The League lacked its own armed force and depended on the Great Powers to enforce its resolutions, keep to its economic sanctions, however, the Great Powers were often reluctant to do so. Sanctions could hurt League members, so they were reluctant to comply with them, after a number of notable successes and some early failures in the 1920s, the League ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the Axis powers in the 1930s. Germany withdrew from the League, as did Japan, Italy, Spain, the onset of the Second World War showed that the League had failed its primary purpose, which was to prevent any future world war. The League lasted for 26 years, the United Nations replaced it after the end of the Second World War on 20 April 1946 and inherited a number of agencies and organisations founded by the League. As historians William H. Harbaugh and Ronald E. Powaski point out, the organisation was international in scope, with a third of the members of parliaments serving as members of the IPU by 1914. Its aims were to encourage governments to solve disputes by peaceful means. Annual conferences were held to help refine the process of international arbitration. Its structure consisted of a council headed by a president, which would later be reflected in the structure of the League, at the start of the 20th century, two power blocs emerged from alliances between the European Great Powers. It was these alliances that, at the start of the First World War in 1914 and this was the first major war in Europe between industrialised countries, and the first time in Western Europe that the results of industrialisation had been dedicated to war. By the time the fighting ended in November 1918, the war had had an impact, affecting the social, political and economic systems of Europe. Anti-war sentiment rose across the world, the First World War was described as the war to end all wars, the causes identified included arms races, alliances, militaristic nationalism, secret diplomacy, and the freedom of sovereign states to enter into war for their own benefit. Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson, a British political scientist, coined the term League of Nations in 1914, together with Lord Bryce, he played a leading role in the founding of the group of internationalist pacifists known as the Bryce Group, later the League of Nations Union. The group became more influential among the public and as a pressure group within the then governing Liberal Party. In Dickinsons 1915 pamphlet After the War he wrote of his League of Peace as being essentially an organisation for arbitration and conciliation
33.
Archipelago Sea
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The Archipelago Sea is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters. By some definitions it contains the largest archipelago in the world by the number of islands, although many of the islands are very small, the larger islands are inhabited and connected by ferries and bridges. The Åland Islands, including the largest islands of the region, the rest of the islands are part of the Southwest Finland region. The Archipelago Sea is a significant tourist destination, the Archipelago Sea covers a roughly triangular area with the cities of Mariehamn, Uusikaupunki, and Hanko, at the corners. The archipelago can be divided into inner and outer archipelagos, with the outer archipelago consisting mainly of smaller, the total surface area is 8,300 square kilometres, of which 2,000 square kilometres is land. The archipelago has a large number of islands. The number of the islands of over 1 km2 within the Archipelago Sea is 257. If the number of smallest uninhabitable rocks and skerries is accounted,50,000 is probably a good estimate, in comparison, the number of islands in Canadian Arctic Archipelago is 36,563. Indonesia has 17,508 islands, according to the Indonesian Naval Hydro-Oceanographic Office, the islands began emerging from the sea shortly after the last ice age. Due to the rebound the process is still going on, with new skerries and islands being slowly created. The current rate of rebound is between 4 and 10 millimetres a year, because the islands are made of mainly granite and gneiss, two very hard types of rock, erosion is significantly slower than rebound. However, due to its location, the effect of postglacial rebound is smaller than for example than in Kvarken further north. The sea area is shallow, with a depth of 23 m. Most of the channels are not navigable for large ships, there are three crater-like formations in the archipelago. One of them, Lumparn in Åland, is an impact crater. The two other formations are intrusions, the more prominent of these is the Åva Intrusion in the municipality of Brändö, which is easily notable in satellite photos and high-resolution maps. The other similar formation is in Fjälskär, between the islands of Houtskär and Iniö. The islands are divided between the region of Southwest Finland and the region of Åland
34.
German Type II submarine
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It was too small to undertake sustained operations far away from the home support facilities. Its primary role was found to be in the training schools, Germany was stripped of her U-boats by the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I, but in the late 1920s and early 1930s began to rebuild her armed forces. The pace of rearmament accelerated under Adolf Hitler, and the first Type II U-boat was laid down on 11 February 1935 and this agreement was signed on 18 June 1935, and U-1 was commissioned 11 days later. The defining characteristic of the Type II was its tiny size, known as the Einbaum, it had the advantages over larger boats of the ability to work in shallow water, diving more quickly, and being more difficult to spot due to the low conning tower. However, it had a maximum depth, short range, and cramped living conditions. The boat had a hull, with no watertight compartments. There were three torpedo tubes forward, with space for another two torpedoes inside the hull for reloads. A single 20 mm anti-aircraft gun was provided, but no gun was mounted. Four bunks were also provided aft of the engines for the engine room crew, cooking and sanitary facilities were basic, and in this environment long patrols were very arduous. Most Type IIs only saw service during the early years of the war. Six were stripped down to just a hull, transported by river and truck to Linz, in contrast to other German submarine types, few Type IIs were lost. This, of course, reflects their use as training boats and these boats were a first step towards re-armament, intended to provide Germany with experience in submarine construction and operation and lay the foundation for larger boats to build upon. Only one of these submarines survives to day, the prototype CV-707. On 3 February 2008, The Telegraph reported that U-20 had been discovered by Selçuk Kolay, the paper also reported that Kolay knows where U-23 and U-19 are, scuttled in deeper water near U-20. The Type IIA was a hull, all welded boat with internal ballast tanks. Compared to the variants, it had a smaller bridge and could carry the German G7a. There were 2 periscopes in the tower, aerial periscope at the front of the tower. There were serrated net cutters in the bow, the net cutters were adopted from World War 1 boats but were quickly discontinued during World War 2
35.
Deutsche Werke
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Deutsche Werke was a German shipbuilding company founded in 1925 when Kaiserliche Werft Kiel and other shipyards were merged. It came as a result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I that forced the German defence industry to shrink, the company was owned by the government of the Weimar Republic and its headquarters was in Berlin. Deutsche Werke started building merchant ships but when the Nazi Party gained power in 1933 the production was changed to naval ships, besides shipbuilding Deutsche Werke also produced firearms. Especially known are the so-called Ortgies pistols which were popular in the United States. The pistols were developed by Heinrich Ortgies, see link for details, http, //www. ortgies. net/ortgies0015. htm During World War II the company expanded to Gdynia, establishing Deutsche Werke Gotenhafen. Deutsche Werke facilities and infrastructure were destroyed during World War II by bombing raids, parts of the works were reorganised as Maschinenbau Kiel. In 1955 the shipyard areas were bought by Howaldtswerke
36.
Kiel
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Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 240,832. Kiel lies approximately 90 kilometres north of Hamburg, for instance, the city is known for a variety of international sailing events, including the annual Kiel Week, which is the biggest sailing event in the world. The Olympic sailing competitions of the 1936 and the 1972 Summer Olympics were held in Kiel, Kiel has also been one of the traditional homes of the German Navys Baltic fleet, and continues to be a major high-tech shipbuilding centre. Located in Kiel is the GEOMAR - Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel at the University of Kiel, Kiel is an important sea transport hub, thanks to its location on the Kiel Fjord and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, Kiel Canal. A number of ferries to Sweden, Norway, Russia. Moreover, today Kiel harbour is an important port of call for cruise ships touring the Baltic Sea, Kiel was one of the founding cities of original European Green Capital Award in 2006. In 2005 Kiels GDP per capita was €35,618, which is well above Germanys national average, within Germany and parts of Europe, the city is known for its leading handball team, THW Kiel. The city is home to the University of Kiel, Kiel Fjord was probably first settled by Normans or Vikings who wanted to colonize the land which they had raided, and for many years they settled in German villages. This is evidenced by the geography and architecture of the fjord, the city of Kiel was founded in 1233 as Holstenstadt tom Kyle by Count Adolf IV of Holstein, and granted Lübeck city rights in 1242 by Adolfs eldest son, John I of Schauenburg. Being a part of Holstein, Kiel belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and was situated only a few south of the Danish border. Kiel, the capital of the county of Holstein, was a member of the Hanseatic League from 1284 until it was expelled in 1518 for harbouring pirates, the University of Kiel was founded on 29 September 1665, by Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. A number of important scholars, including Theodor Mommsen, Felix Jacoby, Hans Geiger and Max Planck, from 1773 to 1864, the town belonged to the King of Denmark. However, because the king ruled Holstein as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire only through a personal union, thus Kiel belonged to Germany, but it was ruled by the Danish king. Even though the Empire was abolished in 1806, the Danish king continued to rule Kiel only through his position as Duke of Holstein, when Schleswig and Holstein rebelled against Denmark in 1848, Kiel became the capital of Schleswig-Holstein until the Danish victory in 1850. On 24 March 1865 King William I based Prussias Baltic Sea fleet in Kiel instead of Danzig, the Imperial shipyard Kiel was established in 1867 in the town. When William I of Prussia became Emperor William I of the German Empire in 1871, he designated Kiel, the prestigious Kiel Yacht Club was established in 1887 with Prince Henry of Prussia as its patron. Emperor Wilhelm II became its commodore in 1891, because of its new role as Germanys main naval base, Kiel very quickly increased in size in the following years, from 18,770 in 1864 to about 200,000 in 1910. Much of the old centre and other surroundings were levelled and redeveloped to provide for the growing city
37.
Parliament of Finland
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The Eduskunta is the parliament of Finland. The unicameral parliament has 200 members and normally meets in the Parliament House in Helsinki, however, during the 2015–2017 renovation of the Parliament House, the parliament temporary meets in the nearby Sibelius Academy. The latest election to the parliament took place on April 19,2015, under the Constitution of Finland, the 200-member unicameral parliament exercises supreme decision-making authority in Finland. Sovereignty belongs to the people and that power is vested in the parliament and it passes legislation, decides on the state budget, approves international treaties, and supervises the activities of the government. It may alter the constitution, bring about the resignation of the Council of State, legislation may be initiated by the Council of State, or one of the members of the Eduskunta. To make changes to the Constitution, amendments must be approved twice by the Eduskunta, the Eduskuntas 200 representatives are elected directly by secret ballot on the basis of proportional representation. The electoral period is four years, Elections previously took two days but as early voting became popular they are now conducted on one day, since 2011 the third Sunday in April. Every citizen who is at least 18 years of age by the date is entitled to vote in general elections. All registered parties are entitled to nominate candidates, individual citizens, in parliamentary elections, Finland is divided into 13 electoral districts. The number of representatives returned by each district depends on the population, Åland is an exception in that it always elects one representative. The provincial state offices appoint a board in each electoral district to prepare lists of candidates. The Ministry of Justice is ultimately responsible for elections, prior to the new constitution the President had the power to do this independently. The President has called an early election eight times in Finnish history, however, there is no hard and fast election threshold to get a seat in Parliament. In large part due to this, it is impossible for one party to win an outright majority. Since the first election in 1907, only one party has won a majority—in the election of 1916. Since Finland gained independence in 1917, no party has won the 101 seats necessary for a majority and it is also very difficult for the socialist and non-socialist blocs to form a government on their own. Most Finnish governments in recent history have been coalitions between three or more parties, and many of them have been coalitions between socialist and non-socialist parties. The seats for each district are assigned according to the dHondt method
38.
Naval warfare in the Winter War
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The Naval warfare in the Winter War was the naval part of the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940. Overall, the level of activity was low. However, Finland had coastal artillery batteries took part of battles along its coast. Naval activity during the Winter War was low, the Baltic Sea began to freeze over by the end of December, which made the movement of warships very difficult, by mid-winter, only ice-breakers and submarines could still move. The other reason for low naval activity was the nature of Soviet Navy forces in the area, the Baltic Fleet was a provincial coastal defence force which did not have the training, logistical structure, or landing craft to undertake large-scale operations. Furthermore, the Soviet Navy was technologically inferior to the British Royal Navy, still, the Baltic Fleet was strong, it had two battleships, one heavy cruiser, almost 20 destroyers,50 motor torpedo boats,52 submarines and other vessels. The Soviets used naval bases in Paldiski, Tallinn and Liepāja in Estonia and Latvia for their attacks, the Finnish Navy was a coast defense force with two coastal defence ships, five submarines, four gunboats, seven motor torpedo boats, one minelayer and six minesweepers. The two coastal ships, Ilmarinen and Väinämöinen, were moved to the harbour in Turku where they were used to stiffen the air-defences. Their anti-aircraft guns knocked down one or two planes over the city, and ships remained there for the rest of the war. Beside the coastal defense, the Finnish Navy also protected Åland islands, furthermore, the Soviet aircraft bombed Finnish vessels, harbours and dropped mines to seaways. Still, the Finnish merchant ship losses were low as only 5 ships had been lost to Soviet action, in addition to its navy, Finland had its coastal artillery batteries defending important harbours and naval bases along its coast. The first naval battle took place near the island of Russarö, on 1 December 1939, there were fair weather conditions and visibility was excellent. The Finns spotted the Soviet cruiser Kirov and two destroyers, after the convoy was at a range of 24 km, the Finns opened fire with 234 mm coastal guns. After five short minutes firing by four guns, the cruiser was damaged by near misses. The destroyers remained undamaged and Kirov was repaired in the naval base, the Soviets knew the locations of the Finnish coastal batteries, but it became surprise that a fire range was much longer than expected. The coastal artillery was old-fashioned, but the Finns managed to modernize, Soviet destroyers attacked Finnish lighthouse and fort at Utö on 14 December. Finnish coastal artillery opened fire and after short fight Soviet destroyers withdrew with the help of smoke screen. Poor visibility and seen thick smoke initially convinced the Finns that one of the destroyers would have sunk by the coastal artillery fire
39.
Soviet cruiser Kirov
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Kirov was a Project 26 Kirov-class cruiser of the Soviet Navy that served during the Winter War, World War II and into the Cold War. She attempted to bombard Finnish coast defense guns during action in the Winter War and she led the Evacuation of Tallinn at the end of August 1941, before being blockaded in Leningrad where she could only provide gunfire support during the Siege of Leningrad. She bombarded Finnish positions during the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive in mid-1944, Kirov was reclassified as a training cruiser on 2 August 1961 and sold for scrap on 22 February 1974. Kirov was 191.3 metres long, had a beam of 17.66 metres and had a draft between 5.75 to 6.15 metres and she displaced 7,890 tonnes at standard load and 9,436 tonnes at full load. Her steam turbines produced a total of 113,500 shaft horsepower, Kirov carried nine 180-millimeter 57-caliber B-1-P guns in three electrically powered MK-3-180 triple turrets. Her secondary armament consisted of six single 100-millimeter 56-caliber B-34 anti-aircraft guns fitted on each side of the rear funnel and her light AA guns consisted of six semi-automatic 45-millimeter 21-K AA guns and four DK12. 7-millimeter machine guns. Six 533-millimeter 39-Yu torpedo tubes were fitted in two triple mountings, Kirov lacked any radar when war broke out in 1941, but by 1944 was equipped with British Lend-Lease models. One Type 291 was used for air search, one Type 284 and two Type 285 radars were for main battery fire control, while anti-aircraft fire control was provided by two Type 282 radars. Kirov was completely overhauled from 1949 to 1953, All of her light AA guns were replaced with nine twin gun water-cooled 37 mm V-11 mounts. All of her radars were replaced with Soviet systems, Rif surface search, Gyuys air search, Zalp surface gunnery, All anti-submarine weapons, torpedo launchers, aircraft equipment and boat cranes were removed. While expensive, about half the cost of a new Project 68bis Sverdlov-class cruiser, it was deemed a success, Kirov was laid down at the Ordzhonikidze Yard, Leningrad on 22 October 1935. She was launched on 30 November 1936 and was completed on 26 September 1938 and she was commissioned into the Baltic Fleet in the autumn of 1938, but was still being worked on into early 1939. Kirov sailed to Riga on 22 October when the Soviet Union began to occupy Latvia, during the Winter War, Kirov, escorted by the destroyers Smetlivyi and Stremitelnyi, attempted to bombard Finnish coast defense guns at Russarö,5 kilometres south of Hanko on 30 November. She only fired 35 rounds before she was damaged by a number of misses and had to return to the Soviet naval base at Liepāja for repairs. She remained there for the rest of the Winter War and afterwards was under repair at Kronstadt from October 1940 to 21 May 1941. Based near Riga at the time of the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941 and she supported minelaying sorties by Soviet destroyers in the western half of the Irben Strait on the evenings of 24–25 and 26–27 June. Off-loading her fuel and ammunition to reduce her draft, she passed through the shallow Moon Sound Channel with great difficulty, Kirov provided gunfire support during the defense of Tallinn and served as the flagship of the evacuation fleet from Tallinn to Leningrad at the end of August 1941. For most of the rest of the war she was blockaded in Leningrad and Kronstadt by Axis minefields, repairs took two months during which her catapult was removed, a lighter pole mainmast was fitted and her anti-aircraft armament increased
40.
Battleship
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A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the battleship was the most powerful type of warship, the word battleship was coined around 1794 and is a contraction of the phrase line-of-battle ship, the dominant wooden warship during the Age of Sail. The term came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ironclad warship. In 1906, the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought heralded a revolution in battleship design, subsequent battleship designs, influenced by HMS Dreadnought, were referred to as dreadnoughts. Battleships were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, the launch of Dreadnought in 1906 commenced a new naval arms race. Jutland was the largest naval battle and the only full-scale clash of battleships in the war, the Naval Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s limited the number of battleships, though technical innovation in battleship design continued. The value of the battleship has been questioned, even during their heyday, there were few of the decisive fleet battles that battleship proponents expected, and used to justify the vast resources spent on building battlefleets. Battleships were retained by the United States Navy into the Cold War for fire support purposes before being stricken from the U. S. Naval Vessel Register in the 2000s. A ship of the line was a large, unarmored wooden sailing ship which mounted a battery of up to 120 smoothbore guns, from 1794, the alternative term line of battle ship was contracted to battle ship or battleship. The sheer number of guns fired broadside meant a sail battleship could wreck any wooden enemy, holing her hull, knocking down masts, wrecking her rigging, and killing her crew. However, the range of the guns was as little as a few hundred yards. The first major change to the ship of the concept was the introduction of steam power as an auxiliary propulsion system. Steam power was introduced to the navy in the first half of the 19th century, initially for small craft. The French Navy introduced steam to the line of battle with the 90-gun Napoléon in 1850—the first true steam battleship, Napoléon was armed as a conventional ship-of-the-line, but her steam engines could give her a speed of 12 knots, regardless of the wind condition. This was a decisive advantage in a naval engagement. The introduction of steam accelerated the growth in size of battleships, the adoption of steam power was only one of a number of technological advances which revolutionized warship design in the 19th century. The ship of the line was overtaken by the ironclad, powered by steam, protected by metal armor, and armed with guns firing high-explosive shells. In the Crimean War, six ships and two frigates of the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyed seven Turkish frigates and three corvettes with explosive shells at the Battle of Sinop in 1853
41.
Russian battleship Gangut (1911)
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Gangut was both the lead ship of the Gangut-class dreadnoughts of the Imperial Russian Navy built before World War I and the last of her class to be completed. She was named after the Russian victory over the Swedish Navy in the Battle of Gangut in 1714 and she was completed during the winter of 1914–15, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans and her crew joined the general mutiny of the Baltic Fleet after the February Revolution and joined the Bolsheviks in 1918. She was laid up in 1918 for lack of manpower and not recommissioned until 1925 and she was reconstructed between 1931 and 1934 with new boilers, fire-control systems and greatly enlarged superstructures. During the Winter War she bombarded Finnish coastal artillery positions one time and her anti-aircraft armament was greatly reinforced in early 1941, just before Operation Barbarossa. She provided gunfire support against the Germans during the Siege of Leningrad despite being bombed three times and under repair for a year, retained on active duty after the war she became a training ship in 1954 before being struck off the Navy List in 1956 and slowly scrapped. Gangut was 180 meters long at the waterline and 181.2 meters long overall and she had a beam of 26.9 meters and a draft of 8.99 meters,49 centimeters more than designed. Her displacement was 24,800 tonnes at load, over 1,500 t more than her designed displacement of 23,288 t, ganguts machinery was built by the Franco-Russian Works. Ten Parsons-type steam turbines drove the four propellers, the engine rooms were located between turrets three and four in three transverse compartments. The outer compartments each had a high-pressure ahead and reverse turbine for each wing propeller shaft, the central engine room had two each low-pressure ahead and astern turbines as well as two cruising turbines driving the two center shafts. The engines had a designed output of 42,000 shaft horsepower. Twenty-five Yarrow Admiralty-type small-tube boilers provided steam to the engines at a working pressure of 17.5 standard atmospheres. Each boiler was fitted with Thornycroft oil sprayers for mixed oil/coal burning and they were arranged in two groups. The forward group consisted of two rooms in front of the second turret, the foremost of which had three boilers while the second one had six. The rear group was between the second and third turrets and comprised two compartments, each with eight boilers. At full load she carried 1,847.5 long tons of coal and 700 long tons of fuel oil and her main armament consisted of a dozen Obukhovskii 12-inch Pattern 1907 52-caliber guns mounted in four triple turrets distributed the length of the ship. They also believed that distributing the turrets, and their associated magazines, sixteen 4. 7-inch 50-caliber Pattern 1905 guns were mounted in casemates as the secondary battery intended to defend the ship against torpedo boats. She completed with only a single 3-inch 30-caliber Lender anti-aircraft gun mounted on the quarterdeck, other AA guns were probably added during the course of World War I, but details are lacking
42.
Beryozovye Islands
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Beryozovye Islands, alternatively spelled Berezovye Islands, is an island group in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. The islands are situated at the head of the Gulf of Finland, there are 15 islands in the group, the largest is Bolshoy Beryozovy. Other islands include Zapadny Beryozovy and Severny Beryozovy, the total area of the group, stretching along the coast for 200 km, is 92 km². They are protected by the state as a sanctuary and one of the Ramsar sites in Russia. Before the third Swedish crusade, the paid tax to Novgorod. In 1721 they became part of Russia, and in 1812 they were restored to the Grand Duchy of Finland with the province of Vyborg, in independent Finland they belonged to the parish then called Koivisto. The main settlement on the islands was then called Saarenpää, after World War II, they were ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union. The whole historical Finnish population was expelled and replaced by a population of Soviet origin from September 1944 onwards, place names were russified after 1947 concurrently with the rest of the formerly Finnish Karelian Isthmus occupied in 1944. The islands gave their name to the Treaty of Björkö
43.
Russian battleship Petropavlovsk (1911)
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The Russian battleship Petropavlovsk was the third of the four Gangut-class dreadnoughts built before World War I for the Imperial Russian Navy, the first Russian class of dreadnoughts. She was named after the Russian victory over the British and the French in the Siege of Petropavlovsk in 1854, the ship was completed during the winter of 1914–15, but was not ready for combat until mid-1915. Her role was to defend the mouth of the Gulf of Finland against the Germans and she bombarded the mutinous garrison of Fort Krasnaya Gorka and supported Bolshevik light forces operating against British ships supporting the White Russians in the Gulf of Finland in 1918–19. Later, her crew joined the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921 and she was renamed Marat after the rebellion was crushed, Marat was reconstructed from 1928 to 1931 and represented the Soviet Union at the Coronation Naval Review at Spithead in 1937. Two years later, she bombarded a Finnish coastal artillery position during the Winter War once before the Gulf of Finland iced up, shortly afterwards, her anti-aircraft armament was upgraded. When the Germans invaded on 22 June 1941 she was in Kronstadt, later that month she had her bow blown off and sank in shallow water after two hits by 1, 000-kilogram bombs that detonated her forward magazine. She was refloated several months later and became a stationary battery, plans were made to reconstruct her after the war, using the bow of her sister Frunze, but they were not accepted and were formally cancelled in 1948. She was renamed Volkhov, after the river, in 1950 and served as a stationary training ship until stricken in 1953. Petropavlovsk was 180 meters long at the waterline and 181.2 meters long overall and she had a beam of 26.9 meters and a draft of 8.99 meters,49 centimeters more than designed. Her displacement was 24,800 tonnes at load, over 1,500 t more than her designed displacement of 23,288 t, petropavlovsks machinery was built by the Baltic Works. Four Parsons-type steam turbine drove the four propellers. The engine rooms were located between three and four in three compartments. The outer compartments each had a high-pressure ahead and reverse turbine for each wing propeller shaft, the central engine room had two low-pressure ahead and astern turbines as well as two cruising turbines driving each of the two center shafts. The engines had a designed output of 42,000 shaft horsepower. Twenty-five Yarrow Admiralty-type small-tube boilers provided steam to the engines at a working pressure of 17.5 standard atmospheres. Each boiler was fitted with Thornycroft oil sprayers for mixed oil/coal burning and they were arranged in two groups. The forward group consisted of two rooms in front of the second turret, the foremost of which had three boilers while the second one had six. The rear group was between the second and third turrets and comprised two compartments, each with eight boilers
44.
Continuation War
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The Continuation War consisted of hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. The Continuation War began shortly after the end of the Winter War, in the Soviet Union, the war was considered part of the Great Patriotic War. Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its war efforts on the Eastern Front. Acts of war between the Soviet Union and Finland recommenced on 22 June 1941, the day Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union, open warfare began with a Soviet air offensive on 25 June. Subsequent Finnish operations undid its post-Winter War concessions to the Soviet Union on the Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia, on the Karelian Isthmus, the Finns halted their offensive 30 km from Leningrad, at the pre-World War II border between the Soviet Union and Finland. Finnish forces did not participate in the siege of Leningrad directly, in 1944, Soviet air forces conducted air raids on Helsinki and other major Finnish cities. A ceasefire ended hostilities on 5 September and was followed by the Moscow Armistice on 19 September, the 1947 Paris peace treaty concluded the war formally. Finland ceded Pechengsky District to the Soviets, leased Porkkala peninsula to them, shortly afterward, Germany invaded Poland and as a result the United Kingdom and France declared war against Germany. The Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland on 17 September, next, Moscow demanded that the Baltic states allow the establishment of Soviet military bases and the stationing of troops on their soil. The Baltic governments accepted these ultimatums, signing corresponding agreements in September and October 1939, the Finnish government refused, and the Red Army attacked Finland on 30 November 1939. Condemnation of the Soviets by the League of Nations and by all over the world had no effect on Soviet policy. International help for Finland was planned, but very little actual help materialized, the Moscow Peace Treaty, which was signed on 12 March 1940, ended the Winter War. By the terms of the treaty, Finland lost one eleventh of its national territory, however, Finland had avoided having the Soviet Union annex the whole country. Finlands foreign policy had been based on multilateral guarantees for support from the League of Nations, Finnish public opinion favored the reconquest of Finnish Karelia. Finlands government declared the countrys defense to be its first priority, Finland purchased and received donations of war material during and immediately after the Winter War. On Finlands southern frontier the Soviet Union had acquired a base in Hanko near the capital Helsinki. Finland also had to resettle some 420,000 evacuees from the lost territories, to ensure the supply of food, it was necessary to clear new land for the evacuees to cultivate. This was facilitated by the Rapid Settlement Act, the Finnish leadership wanted to preserve the spirit of unanimity that was commonly felt throughout the country during the Winter War
Finland
