1940

British Newsreel. February 19, 1940.Both countries used different types of frontline propaganda during the Winter War. Although Finland and the Soviet Union had a common border, knowledge of the opponent was quite low on both sides, which resulted in numerous mistakes in both Finnish and Soviet propaganda.The Finnish used leaflets, speeches over loudspeakers and posters at no-man's land. Most of the Finnish leaflets were made by Finnish officers who had studied Russian language in pre-revolution Russia, or in the Russian Imperial Army. Few of them were aware of the fact that the Soviet government reformed the Russian language in 1918, and continued to write in old pre-reform Russian language, which looked strange to the Red Army soldiers and probably only strengthened the messages of Red Army political officers that all leaflets were made by the Russians who fought against the communists in the Russian Civil War.Also, the educational level of the Red Army soldiers was often overestimated by the Finns. Using terms like 'world imperialism' and "opportunistic behavior of military leadership of the Leningrad Military District" they wrote leaflets that were incomprehensible for an average Red Army soldier, who was often a farmer with a primary school education and little knowledge of the complicated terms.Some Finnish leaflets condemned Stalin and encouraged Red Army men to overthrow Stalin's rule; other Finnish leaflets tried to convince Red Army men that Stalin did not want <b>...</b>