Stalin and the Soviet-Finnish War, 1939-1940

On 14-17 April 1940, a secret meeting was held in the Kremlin to examine and analyse the performance of the Red Army in the Soviet-Finnish Campaign, 1939-40. The participants included the leading army commanders who had taken part in the campaign, and some members of the Politburo, notably Stalin, Molotov and Voroshilov. This is the first English translation of a unique record, held in the Russian State Socio-Political History Archives in Moscow. It is the sole verbatim report of a meeting that addressed the fundamental issues of military policy and the state of the armed forces, and discussed a programme for further military construction. The materials from this meeting are a valuable source of information for all those interested in the history and politics of the Soviet Union and international relations at the onset of the Second World War.