"molotov cocktail"

[James A. Landau]

The earliest plausible date for "Molotov cocktail" is December 1939.  Vyacheslav Molotov did not become Foreign Minister of the USSR until 1939 and until then was not well known enough outside the Russian-speaking world to have a weapon named after him.

However, during the Russo-Finnish War (30 Nov 1939 to 13 March 1940), Molotov was considered by the Finns to be the worst of the Soviets and the man largely responsible for the attack on Finland.  Hence one can imagine the Finns naming a home-made weapon for use against the Soviet Army after the man they considered the chief invader.

    - Jim Landau