The Finnish war gave us the term “Molotov cocktail.” When the Russians began bombing Helsinki they claimed that the bombers were dropping food to the Finnish people. The Finns made a joke that bombs were Molotov’s bread baskets, or picnic baskets, etc. Molotov was the Soviet Foreign Minister.

When the Finns started using glass bottles with gasoline and a burning rag as anti tank weapons, they made the joke that these were Molotov cocktails to go with the Molotov bread baskets.

It’s strange how Soviet propaganda (“we’re dropping food!”) lives on in English by way of a Finnish joke from 80 years ago.