As the Swedish historian Kristian Gerner has argued, centuries of Russian history demonstrate that Moscow has two approaches to neighboring countries: the models of Kazan and Manchu. Under the first model, Russia absorbs, overwhelms or keeps bullying its neighbor as it did in 1552 when Ivan the Terrible conquered the Khanate of Kazan. Under the second model, it recognizes the neighbor as equal or too big to confront as it did in the 1689 Nerchinsk Treaty, Russia’s first border treaty with China. For centuries, there was nothing in between. But Finland proved in the postwar years to be the exception.

It’s not difficult to sort Russia’s present neighbors into Mr. Gerner’s categories. Russia has demonstrated on several occasions in its handling of conflicts in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine that is has no compunction when it comes to attacking weaker neighbors and seizing territory.

Finland survived and prospered after World War II because it was ahead of its time. In an era of near total polarization, it adapted the principles of asymmetric defense to its very difficult geographic situation. Finland was far from a vassal to the Soviet Union. It maintained its democracy, a low-profile military defense and above all its Western orientation. How we were able to do this is the true story of Finlandization.

The strategy worked because Finland remained true to its principles: credible defense and a strong free-market system. After Stalin’s death, Finland’s president, Urho Kekkonen, used two arguments to turn the tables on Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev.

First, he made clear to the Soviets, without explicitly saying so, that Finland would defend its independence, as it had done in repelling two Soviet attacks in 1939 and 1944. Second, he convinced them that Finland’s economy would suffer and that Russia’s own interests would be harmed if the Soviet Union prevented Finland’s integration into postwar West European economic arrangements such as the European Free Trade Association and the European Economic Community. Finland remained the Soviet Union’s largest Western trading partner until the 1970s. Joining the European Union in 1995 was a homecoming.