The Simple Elegance of the Molotov Cocktail

Matthew Merighi

Military History,

It's one of the most visible icons of civil resistance in the modern age.

The Molotov cocktail is one of the most visible icons of civil resistance in the modern age. Whether it is on the streets of Kyiv, Athens or the latest site of any G20 meeting, the Molotov cocktail is one of the variables modern media will seize on to determine whether a mass demonstration is a protest or a riot. The image of fires burning and bottles being hurled through the air are eye-catching because they are asymmetric, providing average civilians with potent lethality to challenge even the most heavily-armed riot police. Although the Molotov cocktail is now synonymous with Leftist agitation, this great equalizer actually got its name as a mocking jest to one of the largest names in Communism. The drama all began seventy-six years ago in the forests of Finland.

On November 30, 1939, the Soviet Union sent 600,000 troops across its northern borders into Finland. Following the infamous Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of August 23, 1939 (also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact), the Soviets were given free rein to carve a sphere of influence in Eastern and Northern Europe in areas traditionally part of the former Russian Empire. The Soviets successfully put boots on the ground in the Baltic States in September and, once complete, turned their attention northward. Finland was in a better position than the Baltic States to resist Soviet aggression; it had more people, more weapons and the Mannerheim Line of fortifications along its arboreal borders. But even with the knowledge that war might be coming, Finland could only muster a fifth of the manpower and a fraction of the modern weaponry of the USSR and had little advanced weaponry to defeat Soviet tanks. When the Soviets crossed the border in late November, their military planners anticipated a war would last for only a week or two. It lasted until March in no small part because of the Molotov cocktail.