selected
The Soviet Red Army shelled the village of Mainila and then claimed that the fire originated from Finland, giving them a casus belli to launch the Winter War a few days later.
Related Wikipedia articles
Red Army
Soviet army and air force from 1918 to 1946
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars to oppose the military…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Shelling of Mainila
1939 false flag attack by the Soviet Union against Finland, leading to the Winter War
The Shelling of Mainila, or the Mainila incident, was a military incident on 26 November 1939 in which the Soviet Union's Red Army shelled the Soviet border village of Mainila near Beloostrov. The Soviet Union declared that the fire originated from Finland across the nearby…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Casus belli
Act or event that provokes or is used to justify war
A casus belli is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A casus belli involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a casus foederis involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bound by a mutual…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
Winter War
1939–1940 war between the Soviet Union and Finland
The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior…Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)