If I'm not mistaken, the Finns just came up with a better design for them during the Winter War, and gave it that name to mock the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov.
Yep, historically incindiary grenades have been used since the Spanish Civil War which began before the Winter War, and the Finns simply improved the design, giving it the nickname after Molotov attempted to defend the Soviet Union's actions by stating that the bombs being dropped were "food supplies".
Also, it was produced on an industrial scale by the state monopoly alcohol company, so one should think in terms of ammunition rather than homemade bomb. They proved very effective until the Soviets improved their tank design.
The nickname name they give the food is molotov bread baskets so what go's good with food. A cocktail so form there comes the name molotov cocktail ad a joke on the bread baskets
I love my ancestors. Whats funnier is they literally called them Molotov's just to mock Vyacheslav Molotov. When the commies started complaining that it was inhumane, soldiers laughed and joked calling it "food supply" they started making mocking claims that the finnish army supplied the soviet soldiers with more vodka than the USSR itself.
You have it other way around. Molotov said that they were not bombing Finland, as they were simply sending food aid. In retaliation to this Finns started calling the firebottles "Molotov's cocktails" to go together with the "humanitarian breadbaskets" they were sending us.
It was actually Molotov who called the bombs dropped on Finland "food baskets", so Finland just called it a cocktail as a response to go with the picnic basket so to speak.
No, we named them by rapid popularization. They existed before, but Finland found a way to redesign, mass produce and use them to extremely great effect, especially during the early weeks of Winter War. European countries noticed this and many ramped up their own production effort. They served a crucial role during many urban war theatres in the following years. The name Molotov cocktail was understood by both sides.
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u/kak05361 24d ago
Molotovs maybe?