Fill a breakable bottle with something flammable, such as gasoline. Add some motor oil and put a piece of cotton in the bottle. Close the bottle with a stopper and make sure your cotton wick sticks out. Soak the wick in alcohol, light it, and throw it away. Congratulations, you’ve made a Molotov cocktail. Make sure you take cover quickly, because such a homemade bomb causes a lot of havoc. How did this burning cocktail get its name?
The Molotov cocktail was used during the Spanish Civil War
People have been throwing homemade firebombs for quite some time. In the Spanish Civil War (1936 – 1939), the supporters of General Franco were ordered to pelt Soviet tanks with them. But the bomb only really took off after the Winter War (1939 – 1940). This one raged between Finland and the Soviet Union. The latter wanted to push the borders to the west by invading Finland. That happened.
Poland was also invaded in 1939, but by Nazi Germany. It was no coincidence that the two superpowers attacked their neighboring countries in the same year. They had signed a non-aggression pact with each other: the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Signatories were German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Soviet colleague Vyacheslav Molotov. The treaty allowed the Germans to invade Poland without running the risk of being attacked on two fronts (from the west by France and England and to the east by Russia). After all, the Soviets would leave Germany alone thanks to the deal. World War II had begun.
The Molotov cocktail was a sneer at Vyacheslav Molotov
The Finns, meanwhile, had their own problems. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact paved the way for the Soviets to invade Finland. The Russians made a good dose of propaganda for their ‘good cause’. Molotov, for example, claimed that the Soviet planes did not drop bombs in Finland, but food packages, because the Finns were starving. The Finns sarcastically called the bombs ‘Molotov’s bread baskets’. And because you need a drink with a meal, the Finns made hand bombs to drop on the Russian tanks. They called this the ‘Molotov cocktail’. That name has stuck ever since.
After fighting all winter, the Peace of Moscow was signed on March 12, 1940. Russia got the desired pieces of Finland, but their army was badly beaten by the Finnish soldiers. No one expected them to last 105 days against the Russians. The Winter War was over, but the Molotov cocktail still exists.
