I dont think that Soviets objectives were to showcase their strength, not to begin with at least. So although it is a bad victory it is still a victory, occupying enemy territories is a victory. Finland lost something and got nothing, Soviets lost something and got something.
But i am sure we can agree to disagree.
I was just speaking of the Winter War. In the end, the Soviet territorial gain was miniscule in importance as Finland re-conquered those areas in a matter of weeks. So USSR's worst fears were realized anyway. Where they lucked out, is that U.S diplomatic pressure as well as Mannerheim's allegiance to the Russian population, made it so that the Finns would not assist in conquering Leningrad, Murmansk among other nearby Russian cities, which were left exposed from the flank.
When it comes to Hitler i dont think he had the wrong impression about Soviet capability. Just look at Barbarossa, total disaster and if i am not mistaking that is when soviets had most of their casualties. Hitler`s assumption was logical, but that is why he overlooked the human factor. German mind is the mind of an engineer so it was natural for then to view war through a scientific/deterministic lens, and that is where they fucked up when they invaded SU.
True enough, but I think Barbarossa was partly a disaster because the men fighting did not feel like they were fighting for their homelands. Not to mention old drunkards like Budyonny in charge. Once the main Russian cities were threatened, the morale was boosted infinitely. The same thing happened in Russia's 1944 push towards Finland. The Finns initially retreated, but once they reached the Finnish border, they fought back fiercely.
That's a part of the reason why I believe that borders aren't merely "lines drawn on the map". They meant something, obviously, to these men. When a man goes from retreating like a dog, to suddenly fighting back like an animal, there certainly seems to be great power in these "borders". I suppose we are, in the end, territorial animals, and once the territory that we have grown emotionally attached to is invaded, we make our last stand.
Regarding 1944 one should take into consideration that Finland was a sideshow on Eastern Front and had help from Germany. With that said i dont deny that Finland did good in both wars. One should also not overlook the smart political decisions made by Fins that made Finland secure for the future, because if not for political moves Soviets would have taken over Finland eventually, and even if not after Continuation War, it would have probably been another war somewhere down the line. But that is just hypotheticals of course. Historically Russia is never really out, there is always a 2nd and 3rd and 4th round... Examples are wars against Sweden, France, Germany, Japan and Chechnya.
There were only a few thousand Germans involved in the battles though, so they didn't really make much of an impact on a battlefield involving hundreds of thousands of troops. By 1944, the Germans could no longer afford giving up any resources to Finland either.
Historically speaking Finland vs Russia was not the first time that Finns and Russians met on the battlefield. The wars of Sweden vs Russia were objectively-speaking Finland vs Russia, as the troops involved, including many commanders, were largely Finns. Tavastian Finns and Karelian Finns had also fought battles for centuries against the Novgorodians.
In fact, when the Swedes surrendered to Russia and allowed Finland to be annexed, this was seen as a great disgrace as the Finnish forces were still perfectly capable of fighting, and the morale was still relatively high. But the Swedes had had enough, spending the entire war retreating and avoiding conflict, and this was indeed the last battle they would ever fight in over 200 years (to this date).
It was that last war against the Russians which made the Finns realize that they were, in the end, a separate people from the Swedes, considering how anemically the Swedes had fought to keep Finland a part of the Empire. This gave room to a national sentiment that had not previously existed, enhanced by the Czar giving Finland autonomy, until the later Czars who largely turned out to be hacks incapable of properly governing the Russian Empire.
Your grandfather remind me of one of my friends who fought in Chechnya, he also started to respect and even like Chechens after the war. It is a strange fenomen but some people do indeed start to like/respect their enemies after the war, i wonder if it is legit, or just some psychological condition. Maybe it got something to do with guilt.
I don't think it is guilt as much as it is simply respect. Compared to Nazis vs Soviets, the Soviet vs Finn battles had relatively few atrocities and most of the "kills" involved, were between man-to-man on the battlefields. Russians also often preferred dying to surrendering, which won the respect of many Finnish veterans. The most famous book about the war (of which many movies have been made), "The Unknown Soldier", written by a WW2 vet, often depicts the Russian sympathetically, and as strong and determined fighters.
The Finn army was pretty old school and had not adopted the "total war" tactics that shaped much of WW2 warfare. Mannerheim spent his life serving the Czar, against Germany, and had won many battles for Russia. Finns also didn't buy the war-time propaganda and often had a hostile relationship with authority, which made them quite different from the Nazis. Strict obedience was never truly a strong suit for Finns, they were just good individual fighters because almost every Finn at that time was a hunter and well acclimated to war-time conditions.
As for Fins view of Russians my personal real life experience with Fins was very shitty. I visited Vaasa and Helsinki as a tourist. One can also just look at internet comments.
But i know many russians in Finland are very content, especially doctors. Also many Russians say that Fins treat Russians better than other Russians, i can believe that.
My personal experience in Helsinki is shitty as well. I prefer the "in-land" Finland to coastal Finland. Too much Swedish/globalist influence on the coast, I'm afraid.