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Concept
Hungarian volunteers in the Winter War
Summary
The Hungarian Volunteers in the Winter War travelled to fight for the Finns after the Soviet invasion of Finland in 1939. For a variety of reasons, volunteers from the Kingdom of Hungary fought on the side of Finland during the Winter War (1939–1940) against the Soviet Union.
At the end of the 19th century the Finno-Ugric linguistic affinity became widely accepted after extensive public debate. Some Magyar scientists (e.g. orientalist Ármin Vámbéry) and intellectuals (e.g. Arany János and Jókai Mór) were unable to accept that the Hungarian nation had family relations in Northern Europe. To them, relationships with the Hun or Turkic peoples seemed much more plausible, mainly in the years of the Hungarian millennium around 1896. At this time the Finnish people, living in Tsarist Russia, were receptive to the idea of Finno-Ugric affinity and regarded the proud and freedom-loving Hungarian nation as an ideal.
After the First World War, Finland became independent, but Hungary lost the war and roughly two-thirds of its territory as a result of the Treaty of Trianon. One-third of Hungarians were suddenly left outside Hungary's borders, as it became increasingly isolated. Finland was one of the few European countries that felt sympathy towards Hungary. Hungarians in turn, then regarded newly independent and democratic Finland as an ideal. Because of this, good connections formed between the two countries during the 1920s.
When the Winter War broke out between Finland and the Soviet Union, many Hungarians felt great sympathy towards the Finns and wanted to help them.
The Hungarian government officially did not support Finland, but secretly started searching for ways of helping. In addition, non-governmental organisations began to organize support for Finland. Hungary helped Finland by giving monetary donations, armaments and military volunteers.
The Hungarian-Finnish Association began to organize nationwide collections in the first days of December as “Brother for brother” and “Hungarian Mothers for Finnish Children”.
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