The Vyborg reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
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Vyborg

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Not to be confused with
Viapori, a Finnish transcription of Sveaborg, better known as Suomenlinna castle

Vyborg (Выборг) is a town with 70,000 inhabitants at Russia's border to Finland, on the Karelian Isthmus, close to Saint Petersburg. The Saimaa canal enters the Gulf of Finland at Vyborg. After 1944, when the Karelian inhabitants were evacuated to the West, the town was resettled by people from different parts of the Soviet Union. In English texts Vyborg may also be referred to as Viipuri (Finnish spelling), Viborg (Swedish) and Wiburg (German).

Historically the city belonged to:

History

In pre-historic times the area where Vyborg is located was a trading center on River Vuoksi's western branch, which has now dried up. The area was inhabited by the Karelians, that was a Finnic tribe who came under the domination of Novgorod and Sweden.

The first castle of Vyborg was founded during the third Swedish crusade in 1293 by the marsk Torkel Knutsson. The castle was fought over for centuries. In the treaty of Nöteborg in 1323 Vyborg was officially made part of the Swedish realm, and soon of Sweden proper. The town's trade privileges were chartered by King Eric of Pomerania in 1403. It remained in Swedish hands until the Great Northern War, when Russia received Vyborg by the Treaty of Nystad. After Finland was conquered by Russia in 1808, Vyborg was incorporated in the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812 and became again the center of administration for the eastern part of the country.

In 1917 Finland declared itself independent. During the Finnish Civil War Vyborg was in the hands of the Reds, until it was captured by the Whites on 29 April 1918.

Vyborg was the second biggest city in Finland, characterized by important minorities of Russians, Germans and Swedes. In 1939 Vyborg had some 80,000 inhabitants.

During the Winter War some 31,000 people were evacuated from Vyborg to western Finland. The Winter War was concluded in the Peace of Moscow according to which most of Ladoga Karelia and all of the Karelian Isthmus, also those parts still in Finnish hands, including Vyborg, was to be ceeded to the Soviet Union. The remaining population had to be evacuated in haste. The evacuees from Finnish Karelia came to be a vociferous political force, and their wish to return to their homes was an important incentive when Finland sought support from Nazi Germany against the Soviet threat; a support that resulted in Finland and Germany ending up on the same side in the Great Patriotic War/ the Continuation War.

Vyborg was recaptured by Finnish troops on 29 August 1941, and lost again on 20 June 1944. About 70% of the evacuees from Finnish Karelia returned after the re-conquest to rebuild their looted homes, but were again evacuated after the Red Army's 1944 Karelian offensive, timed with the Allied recapture of France (the Battle of Normandy). The town fell to the Red Army on 20 June 1944.

After the wars Vyborg was settled by people from all over the Soviet Union.

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