Finland

Finland (Suomi in Finnish) is a country in eastern Scandanavia, known for its largely social democratic economic system. The Finnish conservative party, the National Coalition led by Jyrki Katainen, is its principal conservative organization.

The state capital is Helsinki and the principal exports are machines, electronics (for example mobile phones) and lumber. Finnish is the principal language spoken, a Finno-Urgic language, it is difficult for speakers of English and Romance languages to learn, so many Finns speak English to facilitate communication with other countries. Finland is known as "the land of lakes and poets."

The Finns have in the past resisted communism, first declaring independence after Russian Revolution in 1917, and then defeating the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939-40. Because of many Soviet miscalculations, including using troops from the Caucasus who were not habituated to the cold (it was one of the coldest winters on record, too), and because the Finns were able to adopt tactics centered around fast-moving guerilla units, the Finnish army was able to kill some 120,000 Soviets while only losing 25,000 of their own men. This has been considered by many as a sign that Stalin's purges had weakened the Red Army high command, and that guerilla warfare could be very effective against even modern mechanized forces. The defensive line built to protect Finland was known as the Mannerheim Line, after the General who commanded the Finnish armed forces. Eventually, Finland was made to cede Karelia, but it no longer faced a Soviet threat.