Why did Stalin reach an agreement with Hitler?
"The Spell of the Released Spirit." 1938 Soviet cartoon by Boris Efimov
A picture of the Munich Agreement
Picture of the Munich Agreement (How the West surrendered Czechoslovakia to Hitler), when Britain and France ceded the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, effectively abandoning the allied Czechs, they clearly and frankly demonstrated to Moscow that the USSR's negotiations with the "collective West" on a collective security system were futile. And that their stagnation was no accident.
It's clear that the rulers of France and London are convinced they've found common ground with Hitler. They're deliberately turning a blind eye to the destruction of the Versailles system and the dramatic increase in the German Reich's military might. Westerners are deliberately pushing Germany eastward, in order to somehow repeat the scenario of World War I. To pit the Germans and Russians against each other in a bloody massacre, and then divide up the skins of the slain bears.
And from the Far East, the threat of the Japanese Empire, which had already tested Soviet Russia's strength on the border, loomed. Meanwhile, the West was gradually losing China, strengthening the Japanese at its expense. Russia was being exposed to attacks from both sides!
Stalin was no fool and a noble knight in politics. He understood the essence of the Great Game perfectly. Also, during the Great Purge in the USSR (The riddle of the "great purge" of 1937 of the year, Part 2) Stalin obtained the testimony of Radek, Rakovsky, Sokolovsky, and other agents of the "global conspiracy," as well as part of Trotsky's archive. Therefore, Joseph Vissarionovich understood well what was happening in the world, how and why the Russian Empire was being destroyed.
In a drawing by British-New Zealand cartoonist David Low, Stalin asks the Munich participants, laughing: "What, no chair for me?"
It was obvious that the Western masters, the "global conspiracy," and financial capital were trying to recreate the scenario of the early 20th century: the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, revolution, and the collapse of the Russian Empire. The colossal plunder of Russia. The Russian people, bled dry and condemned to death. The same "partners"—Britain, France, and the United States—were playing off against each other and setting up the Germans and Russians.
The smart and optimal thing to do was to outmaneuver them. Prevent the Russians from being pitted against the Japanese and Germans. Avoid falling into the trap that Tsar Nicholas II fell into. Do what Imperial Petersburg failed to do: reach an agreement with Germany.
The Munich Agreement (1938). Caricature by Soviet artists Mikhail Kupriyanov, Porfiry Krylov, and Nikolai Sokolov, who wrote under the collective pseudonym Kukryniksy.
General situation in Europe
Therefore, Moscow began to take certain steps. In 1938, Stalin ended the USSR's participation in the Spanish Civil War. It became clear that Russia's involvement in this war was futile and dangerous. This was one of the traps of the so-called "global conspiracy" designed to pit Germany and the USSR against each other. Most of the "revolutionary internationalists" who had drawn our country into this war had by this time found themselves among the enemies of the people.
Soviet military advisers and specialists received orders to return home. Supplies weapons and ammunition supplies were cut off. The Spanish Republicans lost the war. In March 1939, Franco's forces entered Madrid. The country was in ruins. Over a million victims and refugees. Hundreds of towns and villages were destroyed.
General Francisco Franco, however, proved to be quite a cunning man. He managed to avoid involvement in World War II, despite constantly feeding Hitler promises. And the country profited handsomely from the global carnage.
Soviet diplomats and trade representatives in Berlin began to make overtures for improved relations. Germany did not reject these attempts. In March and December 1938, the USSR and Germany concluded trade agreements aimed at restoring trade to the 1934–1935 level. But things did not go further. Hitler continued to maintain his staunch anti-Soviet stance.
At this time, the Führer, still having not yet fully digested Czechoslovakia, began to cling to Poland. Fortunately, there were plenty of pretexts. After all, Poland had profited handsomely from the collapse of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. Many Germans lived in the northern, western, and southwestern regions of Poland, who needed to be returned to the Third Reich. Versailles also created a border that stretched Poland to the Baltic in a long corridor, cutting off the bulk of Germany from East Prussia. And the port of Danzig-Gdansk became a free city.
It's also worth considering the stupid and brazen policies of the new Polish lords. They were confident in their own strength and security—"The West will help us!"—while Warsaw sought to profit at the expense of virtually all its neighbors, especially Russia. The Poles hoped to become Germany's allies in a new war with the Russians. However, with its position on the Danzig Corridor (from a position of strength), Warsaw destroyed a potential alliance between Germany and Poland against the USSR. Therefore, Hitler decided to swallow Poland, too. And to do this, he needed to come to an agreement with Moscow.
In March 1939, Germany demanded that Poland hand over the Free City of Danzig and allow the construction of extraterritorial roads through the "Polish Corridor." Poland refused.
Austria and Czechoslovakia have already been thrown into Hitler's "Germany First" sack, while Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and others are meekly awaiting their turn. — "The Franco-British Family." Artist David Lowe
In March 1939, Hitler liquidated the remaining Czechoslovakia. Bohemia and Moravia came under Nazi control as a protectorate. Slovakia formally became independent, but de facto remained completely subordinate to Berlin.
The Munich Agreement effectively destroyed the previous treaty system and security in Europe. In October 1938, Poland occupied and annexed the disputed Cieszyn region, which belonged to the Czechs.
Hungary begins militarization. Hitler and Mussolini, at the First Vienna Award in November 1938, resolved the "Hungarian question" in Czechoslovakia in Hungary's favor. The southern part of Carpathian Ruthenia and parts of southern Slovakia were separated from Czechoslovakia and transferred to Hungary.
The Horthy regime was pleased, and the Hungarians wanted the party to continue. Budapest leaned toward Italy and Germany, seeking to join the Anti-Comintern Pact in order to create a "Greater Hungary" through further conquests in Czechoslovakia and the return of Transylvania, which had been taken from the Hungarians after World War I and given to Romania. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the Hungarians received their share—parts of Transcarpathia and Slovakia.
Mussolini, who cherished plans to create a New Roman Empire (Mussolini's Greater Italy), envied Hitler's successes. While the Duce spoke of the rebirth of Rome, the Führer conquered one country after another. In April 1939, the Italians captured Albania, which was already under Italian protectorate.
Meanwhile, France and England were still waiting for Hitler to march east. They believed the Führer had been given generous advances and it was time to earn them. France and England, meanwhile, would grow rich, playing the role of arbiters. They would receive the ultimate prize. But Hitler was clearly slipping out of their control; he had his own plan. He didn't want a repeat of the 1914 scenario—a war on two fronts.
On March 31, 1939, England, and then France, offered guarantees of military aid to Poland, Romania, and Greece if they were attacked. The Soviet Union hadn't threatened these countries, so it was assumed they were being threatened by Germany. The West had signaled the possibility of an attack on the USSR. But Hitler wasn't impressed by this diplomatic move. He realized the game was moving to a new level. He also knew the Westerners wouldn't do anything. So Germany began preparing for the Polish campaign.
At the same time, Hitler was confident that the Wehrmacht would not clash with the Red Army during the operation.
Adolf Hitler and German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop. August 24, 1939. Photo: Reproduction by Valery Khristoforov / Ogonyok magazine archive
On the way to the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact
Europe's rapid slide toward a major war, along with the stance of France and England, which were destroying the Versailles system and steering Germany eastward, forced Moscow to make a choice. Furthermore, the situation in the Far East worsened. In May 1939, fighting broke out at Khalkin Gol in Mongolia. The threat of a full-scale war with the Japanese Empire loomed.
In April 1939, Soviet diplomacy took two simultaneous steps. In Moscow, People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Litvinov conveyed to the British another proposal for the creation of a unified security system with England and France. But the Russian side emphasized: enough talk; a real military alliance was needed. States threatened by aggression must receive guarantees of military assistance not only from Western countries but also from the Soviet Union. In other words, the Red Army would be granted the right to conduct military operations on the territory of Poland or Romania.
At the same time, in Berlin, the Soviet chargé d'affaires Astakhov made the following statement:
Soviet Russia has not taken advantage of the current tensions between Western democracies and Germany to the detriment of the latter, and it has no desire to do so. There is no reason why Russia cannot maintain normal relations with Germany. And normal relationships can get better and better.
The Western powers did everything they could to reject the alliance with Moscow. At first, London and Paris ignored Russia's offer. But they informed the Poles and Romanians of it. They, in turn, began to raise a fuss, declaring that they would not accept any help from Moscow because the communists wanted to occupy them. Warsaw even declared that the Germans were better for the country than the Russians.
Hitler showed that he was interested in an agreement with Moscow. On April 28, 1939, the Fuhrer gave a long speech in the Reichstag, demonstratively terminating the naval agreement with England from 1935 (according to which Germany received permission to restore the Navy to 35% of the size of the British one). fleet) and the German-Polish non-aggression treaty (the Hitler-Pilsudski Pact of 1934 for 10 years).
From that time on, the German press dramatically changed its propaganda. Attacks on "Russian Bolsheviks" ceased, but they began to sharply criticize Western plutocracies. Plutocracy (from the Greek πλοῦτος — wealth and κράτος — power) is a form of government in which real political power is concentrated in the hands of a small group of financial oligarchy, and government decisions are made in the interests of big capital.
Party ideologists began to explain that the Reich's "living space" ended at the USSR's border. The Germans had absolutely no reason to quarrel with the Russians.
Moscow appreciated this. People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Litvinov, who had promoted a system of collective security in Europe, was dismissed. Vyacheslav Molotov, who led the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, led a major purge of the agency. "from unsuitable, dubious and hostile elements"Hitler immediately responded to this; the USSR and Germany began negotiations on favorable trade and financial relations.
The fall of the pro-Western Litvinov pushed England and France into negotiations. However, no real progress was made. A third-rate delegation was sent to Moscow, which had no authority to conclude a full-fledged military alliance. The question of Soviet guarantees to the Eastern European countries was not raised. In these countries themselves, Russians were openly considered enemies. There was genuine anti-Soviet hysteria in the press and parliaments! Latvia and Estonia even preferred to sign non-aggression pacts with Germany.
Stalin, understanding the Westerners' hypocrisy, continued negotiations with them to secure a more favorable position for the USSR. The British were stalling for time, still wanting to pit Russia and Germany against each other. They themselves were conducting secret negotiations with the Nazis. On the British side, these were led by Horatio Wilson, Prime Minister Chamberlain's closest advisor and "grey eminence." The British offered the Germans a demarcation of spheres of influence, handing them all of Eastern and Southeastern Europe. "Go ahead and fight the Russians, and we'll support you," they said. The American ambassador in London, Kennedy, supported this line.
At the same time, the British signed a treaty with Japan in Tokyo, recognizing its conquests in China. Thus, preparations were underway for the Russian bear hunt. Germany and Japan were to hunt it down.
Soviet intelligence in England and Japan was not eating their bread in vain. Stalin knew about these behind-the-scenes negotiations. Meanwhile, the Germans were friendly; economic and political cooperation with Germany was extremely beneficial for the Union. The choice was obvious.
On August 3, 1939, work began on a friendly treaty. It was conducted simultaneously in Berlin and Moscow.
On August 19, a trade and credit agreement between the USSR and Germany was signed in Berlin. Germany provided the USSR with a credit of 200 million marks for the purchase of German goods over two years. During the same period, the Union supplied the Germans with goods worth 180 million marks. This agreement was beneficial for Russia, as we received machine tools, equipment, machinery, and advanced weapons, while supplying the Germans with raw materials.
On August 23, a non-aggression pact was signed, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the Third Reich's Foreign Minister) or the Stalin-Hitler Pact. Secret agreements were drawn up. The Union was granted control of the former Russian Empire's possessions: Western Ukraine and Belarus, the Baltic states, and Bessarabia. The Russians could take them. The western part of Poland was transferred to the German sphere of influence.
This agreement allowed Russia to regain its historical lands, delaying the outbreak of war with Germany. Japan also decided to advance south first, and only then north. The Union avoided a two-front war with Japan and Germany.
V. M. Molotov signs the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Standing (left to right): Joachim von Ribbentrop, I. V. Stalin, V. N. Pavlov, F. Gaus. August 23, 1939.
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