You’ll Never Guess the Country That Invented the Molotov Cocktail

The Molotov cocktail is an absolute icon of improvised weaponry. It’s become a symbol synonymous with uprising or unrest, and its flaming bottle, though not nearly as tactically-styled as traditional weaponry, holds a pretty unimpeachable status at the intersection of effectiveness and sheer cool. I mean, there’s a reason that “mollys” are in any FPS game worth its salt. 

For all that fame, though, it feels like surprisingly few people, including me until now, were unfamiliar with its origins, or who exactly this “Molotov” character was — outside of someone who was, presumably, pretty pissed off a lot of the time.

I have to admit that when I found out the country that first cooked them up, it hadn’t even been among my top ten guesses. Thanks to the Molotov cocktail’s reputation, I assumed that it had been invented in one of the countries that hops from coup to coup in record time. I definitely didn’t expect such an ostentatious, flame-riddled improvised explosive to come from Finland. 

Up until now, the main Molotov connection I would have expected out of Finland was its use in Counterstrike by the surprisingly high number of Finn esports pros.

I also would have assumed that the Molotov cocktail, following the usual rules of etymology, would be named for its inventor. It’s not, although a man named Molotov is involved. Back in 1939, during World War II, Finland was being invaded by the Soviet Union, the foreign minister of which was a man named Vyacheslav Molotov. 

So why is a weapon named after an enemy? Well, it was a bit of humorous retribution in response to Molotov’s own incredibly cruel joke.

The Soviets were dropping cluster bombs on the Finns, cluster bombs that Molotov referred to, in true supervillain fashion, as “food parcels.” The comparatively under-armed Finns, putting up a very respectable resistance, instead looked to state distillery Oy Alkoholiliike Ab, which began manufacturing the improvised grenades. Given that Molotov was calling his bombs food parcels, the Finns jokingly dubbed their fiery new innovation “cocktails,” the ultimate accoutrement to Molotov's “meals.”

It should be said that while these were the first “Molotov cocktails,” the idea of bottles filled with explosive contents and set ablaze wasn’t all that new. It was just the Finns who managed to perfect them — as well as cap them off with the perfect name.