War and social policy in Finland

Finland became independent 1917 and the first decades of the new nation turned out to be dramatic including a series of wars: the civil war (1918), the Winter war against Russia (1939-1941) and the Continuence War (1941-1944). Also after 1945 Finland due to its geostrategical location colse to the Soviet Union was strongly affected by the Cold War. This paper will discuss the impact of these wars for the development of the Finnish welfare state and discuss the possible historiacl links between war and social policy developement.