List of wars involving Finland

This article is about wars involving independent Finland. For wars during Russian rule (1809–1917), see list of wars involving Russia. For wars during Swedish rule (1249–1809), see list of wars involving Sweden. For wars prior to Swedish rule, see early Finnish wars.

This is a list of wars involving Finland since its declaration of independence on 6 December 1917.

List

Conflict	Party 1	Party 2	Result	Finnish leaders		Finnish losses (dead or missing)
				Head of State	Chief of Defence
Finnish Civil War (1918)	Finnish Whites  German Empire[1] Foreign volunteers: Swedish Brigade Estonian volunteers Polish Legion White Army	Finnish Reds Soviet Russia	Finnish Whites victory Establishment of the Kingdom of Finland German hegemony until November 1918 Division in Finnish society Collapse of the Finnish Reds Dissolution of the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud	C. G. E. Mannerheim	~30,000[2] (Reds and Whites)
Heimosodat (1918–1922)	Finnish White Guard Estonia Uhtua Forest Guerrillas North Ingria  United Kingdom (Estonian War of Independence)	Russian SFSR Finnish Red Guards Commune of Estonia  United Kingdom (Viena expedition and Petsamo expeditions)	Treaty of Tartu Finnish victory in Estonia and annexation of Petsamo Soviet victory in White Karelia, Aunus, Petrograd and East Karelia	K. J. Ståhlberg	Karl Fredrik Wilkama	~550
Winter War (1939–1940) Part of the European theatre of World War II	Finland Foreign volunteers	Soviet Union Finnish Democratic Republic	Moscow Peace Treaty Soviet conquest of Finland fails Cession of the Gulf of Finland islands, Karelian Isthmus, Ladoga Karelia, Salla, Rybachy Peninsula and lease of Hanko to the Soviet Union	Kyösti Kallio	C. G. E. Mannerheim	25,904[3]
Continuation War (1941–1944) Part of the Eastern Front of World War II	Finland  Germany Naval support:  Italy[a]	Soviet Union Air support:  United Kingdom[7]	Defeat [8] Moscow Armistice Start of the Lapland War Petsamo ceded to the USSR Porkkala Peninsula leased to the USSR for 50 years[b] Hanko retaken by Finland	Risto Ryti		63,204[10]
Lapland War (1944–1945) Part of the Second World War	Finland Minor air support: Soviet Union[c]	Germany	Victory German retreat from Finnish territory	C. G. E. Mannerheim		1,036[16]
War in Afghanistan (2009–2021)	Afghanistan ISAF United States  United Kingdom  Australia  Canada  Germany  France  Italy  Czech Republic  Netherlands  Turkey  Romania  Georgia  South Korea  Poland  Denmark  Sweden  Norway  Finland  Singapore  New Zealand  Mongolia  Bulgaria  Hungary  Belgium  Estonia  Latvia  Lithuania  Portugal  Albania  Slovenia	Taliban	Defeat Taliban retakes Afghanistan	Tarja Halonen Sauli Niinistö	Juhani Kaskeala Ari Puheloinen Jarmo Lindberg	2[17]
War in Iraq (2013–2017)	Iraq[18] Iraqi Armed Forces Iraqi Ground Forces Iraqi Air Force CTS-ISOF Popular Mobilization Forces Assyrian Forces (Iraqi command) Federal Police Kurdistan Region[18] Peshmerga CTG Kurdistan Parastin u Zanyari Assyrian Forces (Kurdish command) Allied groups: Sinjar Alliance PKK[19]  Rojava[19] Kurdish National Council[20]  Iraqi Turkmen Front Iraqi Communist Party Various self-defense groups Others:  Iran  Hezbollah Syria[21] CJTF–OIR  United States  United Kingdom  Canada[22][23]  Australia[24]  France  Italy  Netherlands  New Zealand[25]  Finland[26]  Denmark[27]	Islamic State Naqshbandi Army (2013 –15) Anbar Tribal Council (2013 –15) GMCIR (2014) Army of Pride and Dignity[28] Free Iraqi Army (2012–14) Islamic Army in Iraq (2013 –14)	Victory Iraqi and allied victory against ISIL	Sauli Niinistö	Jarmo Lindberg	None

See also

• Military of the Grand Duchy of Finland
• Military history of Finland
• List of Finnish treaties
• Finland Guard Regiment