A Drink To Go With The Food: The Molotov Cocktail

The Molotov cocktail is not a drink and the person it's named for didn't invent it. Yet there is perhaps no more iconic symbol of resistance in the world than a flaming bottle being thrown at a technologically superior opponent. Where did the Molotov cocktail come from and why is it called that? We're talking all about it on this week's show.

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Transcript

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If you're like most people, your idea of a cocktail is something like a martini or an old-fashioned. You don't usually think of weapons. But for almost a century, the Molotov cocktail has been one of the most iconic weapons of resistance. A simple, easily made, flaming bottle that underdogs the world over have lobbed at authorities and invading armies. Now, the Molotov cocktail was not invented by Molotov, and it's obviously not something that anyone should drink. So, where did it come from and how did it get that name? That's what we're talking about on today's show. We choose to go to the moon! The Rum Tumtagger is a curious tent hundred billion other galaxies. Right now, don't like me. On September first, nineteen thirty nine, Germany invaded Poland to trigger the start of World War II. But just three months later the Soviet Union started its own war. Not with Germany, that would come later, but with Finland. On november thirtieth, nineteen thirty nine, the Soviets invaded Finland. Finland had once been part of the Russian Empire, but after the nineteen seventeen Russian Revolution, Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks took over. The new Soviet Union granted Finland its independence. But then Joseph Stalin came to power in 1938. He thought Finland posed a threat to the Soviet Union because the city of Leningrad was only twenty miles from the Finnish border. So Stalin decided to take it back. But the Russians didn't just go in guns blazing. That would have been uncivilized. No, they uh you know they asked nicely if Finland would please just give their country to Russia. Finland said no. Ugh, rude. Yeah, I know. So then they went in guns blazing. But before they did that, the Soviets signed a treaty with Germany that placed Finland into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence. The treaty was called a Molotov Ribbentrop Pact. It was named for the foreign ministers of both the Soviet Union and Germany. Molotov was the Soviet foreign minister. When Soviet forces invaded Finland, they had already talked themselves into victory. They had a puppet government all ready to go, and even had the composer Dmitry Shostakovich write a celebratory piece of music to be played by marching bands as the Red Army paraded victorious through Finland's capital of Helsinki. Yeah, that's right, Russia lost. No victorious marching bands, no puppet government. So what happened? Now the war started with an aerial bombing campaign over Helsinki. When the world condemned that, Minister Molotov said that the Air Force was not bombing the Finns, but rather airdropping food supplies to the starving population. The Finns referred to the cluster bombs that were leveling their cities as Molotov bread baskets. They also responded to Molotov by giving him, quote, a drink to go with his food parcels. They called it the Molotov Cocktail. This was a relatively simple, improvised weapon made from a glass bottle filled with flammable liquids and sealed with a wick. Now they didn't invent the idea, but the name stuck, and it really worked. It was the most potent anti-tank weapon they had. In keeping with the cocktail theme, Finland's national brewery, the Alco Corporation, switched from making vodka to mass producing Molotov cocktails, and even supplied matches to light them. They produced over half a million bottles. Officially Finland called Molotov cocktails burn bottles, and there are a few different names depending on where in the world you're throwing them. They've been used in lots of places, but Soviets and Russians have gotten the lion's share thrown in their direction. In Finland, in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring, and now in Ukraine. But anywhere an underdog is taking on a superior fighting force, you can be sure they're serving a drink to go with the food. That's this week's show. Join us next time, and thanks for listening.