America vs England. Part of 2. From the Great War to the Great Depression
Liakwad Ahamed in the preface to the Russian edition of his work "The Lords of Finance" explained the emergence of the Great Depression in the United States by saying that the First World War to the verge of bankruptcy Britain could no longer fulfill the role of world economic leader, and the United States did not want to take on such a burden of responsibility. In this part we will see that in reality everything was exactly the opposite. And the Great Depression in America arose precisely due to the fact that Britain could no longer be a full-fledged leader, but at the same time she did not want to pass on the reins of government to the eager economic and political leadership of America.
The Kapp putsch, or the “Royalist Conspiracy,” as the British christened it, lasted exactly one hundred hours - from 13 to 17 in March 1920. Convinced of the lack of support in Germany, monarchists, America took up the creation of a new, nationalist movement. “31 March 1920, one might say, the morning after the Kapp coup, Hitler was officially dismissed from the army and could now devote himself entirely to political activities. He took up the reorganization of the party, which was so impoverished that it did not have further printing, changing its name in the first place. ... By February of next year, he eclipsed all other actors of the movement that had gained strength, becoming its sole leader and unsurpassed propagandist ”(Preparata, GD Hitler, Inc. How Britain and the United States created the Third Reich).
Thanks to the very specific help of England to the white movement in Russia, the Soviet government resisted. In 1920, Soviet Russia concluded peace treaties with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland, and 12 in October 1920, due to the mutual inability after the “miracle on the Vistula” to continue the war, concluded a truce with Poland. At the beginning of 1921, the civil war ended in Russia. By signing agreements on the establishment of friendly relations, the RSFSR recognized Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey and Mongolia. 18 March 1921, one day, Poland signed a peace treaty with the RSFRS, “polished Ukraine and Belarus for eighteen and a half years,” and England entered into a temporary trade agreement. Following England, “the RSFSR entered into a temporary agreement with Germany, and then, within a year, an agreement with Italy, Norway and Austria” (World story. The 10 T. T. 8).
Convinced of the viability of the Soviets in Russia, in May 1921, Germany billed 34 a billion dollars in installments over 37 years. This amount was two and a half times the annual income of Germany for 1913 a year, ten times the amount of indemnity imposed by Germany on France in 1871, and was beyond all limits of solvency of the defeated Germany. In fact, in London, no one was going to get all this money from Germany. Britain was preparing to forgive Germany for all its absurd debt in exchange for the defeat of Soviet Russia.
In response, Germany began secret military cooperation with Soviet Russia. “The Zondergruppa R” (Russia) was created in the military ministry of Germany ..., in Soviet terminology, Vogru, that is, the military group. ... Already in the spring of 1921, O. von Niedermeier, the first authorized representative of the Sondergroup R, appeared in Moscow ... During 1921, intensive, strictly secret negotiations took place alternately in Moscow and Berlin "(Gorlov S.A. Secret: Alliance Moscow - Berlin, 1920-1933.).
In August 1921, the United States entered into a separate treaty with Germany, almost identical to Versailles, but without articles on the League of Nations, and went on the offensive on English positions in the international arena. During the international conference on the limitation of naval armaments and the problems of the Far East and the Pacific Ocean, held from November 12, 1921 to February 6, 1922 in Washington, the United States made two important concessions from England. Firstly, the rejection of the idea of English superiority fleet over the fleets of the two leading maritime powers and recognition of the equality of the English linear fleet to the US linear fleet. Secondly, the annulment of the Anglo-Japanese alliance.
Unlike England, America was categorically against the military clash between Germany and Soviet Russia and intended to collect military debts from its debtors using German-Soviet rapprochement. According to the decision of the Genoa Conference, which took place from April 10 to 19 May 1922, the United Kingdom had to pay the US debt to 4 billion 600 million dollars over 62 years. “At the same time ... the amount of interest became higher than the amount of the debt itself. England had to pay 11 billion. 105 million. Dollars. This is despite the fact that most of the German reparations received France - 54,4%, and England received 23%. Berlin was obliged to pay annually to the winning countries for 650 million dollars, of which 149 million 760 thousand dollars was due to England. Before 1933, London was supposed to transfer to the Americans annually on 138 million dollars. Thus, practically all the reparations of Germany, which were relied upon by England, absorbed the USA ”(Samsonov A. As the United States got rich).
Based on this, America, in the expectation that Germany would sell industrial goods to friendly agrarian Soviet Russia, receiving in exchange for raw materials and a guaranteed sales market, planned to rebuild the German economy. The proceeds from Germany would be transferred to Britain and France on the payment of reparations, and they, in turn, would pay them to the United States for the military debts of the First World War. Thus, it would seem, Soviet Russia that had finally emerged from the world of capitalism would be reintroduced into the world economy, but only in the form of its raw material appendage, and not a great power. In Soviet Russia, this plan, veiled in the theory of permanent revolution, was aggressively promoted by Leon Trotsky.
Apparently, the plan was based on the March 1922 of the year formulated by the influential lawyer from Wall Street Sullivan and Cromwell firm John Foster Dulles (future Secretary of State in President Eisenhower’s office and brother of the future CIA director Allen Dallas) of the representative of the Dresdner Bank »Yalmara Mine. “However, ... Yalmar Horatio Greely Schacht ... was more an American than a German. His father was a US citizen, a major entrepreneur, a partner of Enquitable Life Achsurence. In the USA, Yalmar had two brothers and three uncles, all bankers. And he suddenly found himself next to Hitler, became his financial advisor ”(Shambarov V. Who brought Hitler to power?).
It was John Foster Dulles as the legal adviser to President W. Wilson "made a petty whining at Versailles, thanks to which the burden of spending on military pensions to the allies was dishonestly added to the final sum of the reparations. Being all the time a midwife of the German “awakening”, he was now in Berlin and observed - among other things - the activities of the German banking grid ”(Preparata. Decree. Op.). “Dulles handed over this note to the main trustee of JP Morgan and K º, after which JP P. Morgan recommended Ya. Mine to M. Norman [the head of the Bank of England — S.L.], and the latter to the Weimar rulers ”(Rubtsov, Y. Hitler took credit for world war from America).
16 April 1922 in Rapallo, with the signing of a full-fledged agreement, Soviet-German cooperation was started. At the end of 1922, with the mediation of General Erich Ludendorff, Hitler personally met Allen Dulles, who served as the central figure of Bilderberg club, US State Department spokesman Robert Murphy and German intelligence officer in Germany Trumanen Smith, during the First World War in Bern. .
In November 1922, Smith reported to his Washington authorities that after coming to power, Hitler “would demand to reduce the reparation requirements to a realistic figure, but after that he would pay the agreed amount to the last pfennig, declaring it to be a matter of national honor. To accomplish this task, the dictator must introduce a system of universal service of reparation payments and ensure its support by all the forces of the state. His authority during the period of fulfillment of reparation obligations should not be limited to any kind of legislative or popular assembly ”(Engdal UF The Centenary of War: Anglo-American Petroleum Policy and the New World Order).
Obviously, Washington was completely satisfied with the conditions of Hitler, and “from 1923 onwards, funds from the Royal-Dutch oil trust Royal Dutch Shell are starting to flow to the Hitler party ticket office. Since that time, the leaders of General Motors, Henry Ford, the British press magnate Lord Rothermere, and others have been actively involved in financing the fascists. The American journalist Lochner estimates the amount received by the Nazis in 1923-1929 only from these sources in 10 million. Marks "(Rozanov GL Germany under fascism (1933-1939))." As former German chancellor Bruening wrote in his memoirs, starting with 1923, Hitler received large sums from abroad. From where they were unknown , but acted through the Swiss and Swedish banks (Rubtsov. Op.).
“Through Smith, Ernst Franz Zedgvik Ganfshtengl (Putzi), a graduate of Harvard University [Franklin D. Roosevelt’s classmate and friend F.], was introduced to Hitler’s acquaintance circle. He played an important role in shaping A. Hitler as a politician who had a significant financial support and providing him acquaintance and communication with high-ranking British figures ”(Rubtsov. Decree op.). Ernst Ganfshtengl tirelessly inspired A. Hitler: “America is a country to be reckoned with ... If the Americans are on the side of the enemy, you will lose any future war even before you start it. ...
The Americans mobilized two and a half million soldiers out of the blue and sent over 150 thousands of people a month to keep the front. If another war happens, it will inevitably be won by the one on which side America will be. They have money, they have created a huge industrial power, and you will ignore it at your own risk. The only right policy for which you must stand is friendship with the United States. This is the only way for our country to maintain peace in Europe and strengthen our own positions. It seemed that he understood everything and muttered: “Yes, yes, you must be right” (E. Ganfshtengl. Lost years. Memories of the Fuhrer's ally. 1927-1944).
At the Paris Reparation Conference at the beginning of 1923, England proposed reducing the size of reparations from 132 to 50 billion gold marks and giving Germany a moratorium (deferred payment) on 4. However, France, endowed with the function of supervising German reparations, and with it the whole German economy, viewed the weakening of Germany as a guarantee of its security and ensuring hegemony in Europe, and for this reason made strong objections, resulting in the conference being torn down. A subsequent attempt by France in January 1923 to independently stabilize the payment of reparations by Germany by the occupation of the Ruhr ended in failure.
In the fall of 1923, the German economy collapsed. "The issue of paper money has gained astronomical proportions." Money was cheaper than the paper on which it was printed. They were worn baskets. The price increase reached 16% per day and “they began to pay wages every day, and sometimes twice a day, so that people would have time to spend money before the new price spike. ... Since the rise in prices significantly overtook printing money, they were constantly lacking. ” The total collapse of the financial sphere provoked left-wing and right-wing radical speeches of the communists led by E. Thälmann in Hamburg and the Nazis led by A. Hitler in Munich. "In December, 1923, Mr. J. Schacht, became the manager of the Reichsbank and played a crucial role in bringing the Anglo-American and German financial circles closer together" (Rubtsov. Decree. Op.).
After the death in January of 1924, the founder of the established 30 of December 1922 of the USSR, V.I. Lenin came to power in England in February 1924, the first MacDonald Labor government recognized the Soviet Union. Following England in 1924, the USSR recognized Italy, Austria, Norway, Sweden, China, Mexico and France, and in January 1925 - Japan. At the same time, “the MacDonald government actively supported the Dawes Plan, as well as the policy of engaging Germany in the anti-Soviet bloc and turning it into weapon aggression against the USSR "(World History. In 24 t. T. 22. Eve of World War II). England’s plan was as simple as it was obvious - to restore the economy of Western countries with the help of Soviet Russia, and then destroy it, thereby strengthening its dominion.
At the beginning of 1924, America collapsed the franc. "January 14, on the day when the Dawes Committee ... began its meetings, the franc exchange rate fell by almost 10% in just one day." “At the end of April, the US ambassador to Berlin, Alencon Houghton, wrote in his diary:“ Britain and America have taken the franc under control and, apparently, can now do whatever they want with it ”(Preparat. Decree. Op.). In exchange for the assignment of its positions in Germany, France agreed to a loan from Morgan & Co. in 100 million dollars for six months on the security of French gold. According to Liaquat Ahamed, the provision of this loan essentially saved the franc. In two weeks, it went up by more than 60% - from 29 to 18 for a dollar.
At the London Conference of 1924, a plan was adopted named after the 1925 Nobel Peace Prize "the chairman of the committee of experts who prepared it, an American banker, the director of one of the banks of the Morgan group" and the senator, and since November 1924, US Vice President Charles Dawes . John Foster Dulles took part in the work of the Dawes Committee on the Settlement of the Reparation Question. “According to Dulles’s sister Eleanor, her brother was the main architect of the Dawes plan and even Jung’s subsequent plan” (http://www.peoples.ru/state/statesmen/john_foster_dalles/).
Entered into force on 30 on August 1924, the plan called for the restoration of the German military economy and "cleared the way for a wider influx of foreign, mainly American, capital to Germany." “By August, the 1924 had replaced the old German mark with a new one, Germany’s financial situation had stabilized, and the Weimar Republic was prepared for“ the most picturesque economic aid in the entire history, followed by the bitter harvest in world history ”-“ the flow of American loans poured into Germany . Exports of US Capital to Germany in 1924 - 1929 amounted to 70% of all its foreign loans and was carried out in the form of direct buying up of German firms' shares by Americans. With the beginning of the implementation of the “Dawes Plan”, the German government decided to put Germany into the League of Nations as soon as possible ”(Gorlov. Dec. Cit. Preparat. Dec. Cit. Rubtsov. Dec. Cit.).
“Over the 6 years, from 1923 to 1929, Germany has received mainly from the USA and England more than 21 billion gold marks in the form of long-term and short-term loans, which contributed to a huge increase in its military-industrial potential.” Meanwhile, “the country was in a state of strong financial dependence, there was a clear bias towards the sectors producing means of production. The consumer goods market remained unsaturated. ”(Engdal. Decree. Cit.)
"The total amount of foreign investment in the German industry for 1924-1929. amounted to almost 63 billion gold marks (30 billion accounted for loans), and the payment of reparations - 10 billion marks. 70% of financial income was provided by US bankers, most of the banks JP Morgana As a result, already in 1929, the German industry came in second place in the world, but to a large extent it was in the hands of leading American financial and industrial groups ”(Rubtsov. Decree. Cit.).
In April, 1924, A. Hitler, was sentenced to four years in prison for a Munich coup. Subsequently, the term of imprisonment of Hitler was reduced. During the “months spent in Landsberg Fortress, he managed to finish in general“ Mein Kampf ”- a treatise that expounded its political philosophy” and did not leave Britain the slightest chance to remain a world political leader. England was asked to surrender the position to the United States of America either in an amicable way, having lost some of its power, or in an innocent way, having lost everything.
In the first case, A. Hitler offered Britain an alliance to defeat the Soviet Union on the condition of Italy’s participation in it and the destruction of France, which allowed Germany together with Italy to control England, leveled its importance and allowed the United States to take the first positions in the political sphere. In the second case, A. Hitler threatened England with an alliance of Germany with the Soviet Union for the sake of its complete destruction.
The conservative government led by S. Baldwin, which replaced Labor in October 1924, took an "extremely tough position" against the USSR. In December 1924 of the year A. Hitler was amnestied. “He was in prison from November 12 1923 of the year — that is, he spent only thirteen months in prison” (Drug. Decree. Cit.). In July, the last units of the French-Belgian forces were withdrawn from the Ruhr 1925. After the adoption of the Dawes Plan, England’s policy of setting Germany against the Soviet Union resumed.
In October, the Locarno 1925 of the year, with the adoption of the Rhine guarantee pact, the guarantees of the borders of Germany’s western neighbors were strengthened. At the same time, the guarantors of this agreement, England and Italy, despite all the efforts of France, "refused to undertake an obligation to oppose Germany if they violated the borders of their eastern neighbors," which again enabled England to use Germany to march to the East. According to V.F. Falina, “the decisions of the Locarno Conference“ only exacerbated the vices of the Versailles design, which promised security in the West and space for a military-political blitz in the East ”(Falin VM To the prehistory of the non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany // World War II score. Who and when did the war start?).
“October 12 1925 in Moscow an agreement was signed between the USSR and Germany: ... In terms of volume, this agreement was one of the most extensive in international practice. He created all the necessary prerequisites for the successful development of Soviet-German trade on the basis of the most-favored-nation principle ”(Gorlov. Decree. Cit.). However, the Locarno conference clearly showed the Soviet leadership that the dependence on the West was unstable. Industrial abundance at any moment threatened to turn into the intervention of industrialized countries, with which agrarian Soviet Russia could not cope. The paradox was that the USSR itself would have raised itself to its feet and revived the might of its murderers and gravediggers.
It is not surprising that the XIVUMX XIV Congress, which took place in December of the year, justified the course towards socialist industrialization, the transformation of the country from an agrarian into an industrial one. The congress instructed the Central Committee: “To conduct economic construction from such an angle that the USSR from the country importing machinery and equipment should be turned into a country that produces machinery and equipment, so that the USSR could not turn into an economic appendage of the capitalist world economy in a capitalist environment , and was an independent economic unit, building in a socialist way "(World History. T. 1925).
“18 December 1925 The treaty was ratified by the USSR Central Executive Committee, and 6 January 1926 - by the German Reichstag. 14 February 1926 the exchange of instruments of ratification took place ”(Gorlov. Decree. Cit.). 24 April 1926 was signed in Berlin by the Soviet-German political treaty. “By signing the Berlin Treaty after Locarno, the continuity of the Rapall Treaty was confirmed. The Berlin Treaty was a single whole with the Moscow Treaty of 12 in October 1925 and created further prerequisites for expanding bilateral cooperation ”(Gorlov. Decree. Op.).
At the same time, the industrialization of the Soviet Union broke the American scheme of the Dawes Plan. Industrialized Soviet Union did not complement industrially developed Germany, as it was intended, but opposed itself to it. Not surprisingly, “1926, and more broadly, the 1925-1927 band. became a watershed in the Soviet-German relations, which were themselves in 1920 - 1926. rather close military-political community ”(Gorlov. Decree. Op.).
Over 1925-1927, the Soviet Union concluded non-aggression and neutrality pacts with a number of countries: in the 1925 year - with Turkey, in 1926 - with Germany, Afghanistan and Lithuania. In 1926, the USSR proposed Poland to conclude a non-aggression treaty, but this Soviet proposal under false pretexts was repeatedly rejected by Warsaw. ” After the establishment of Pilsudski in May 1926, in the country of a personal dictatorship, who knew responsibility only "before God and history", the "head" of Poland entered almost every corner. He demanded that Poland be granted the status of a “Great Power” possessing veto power under France and England, at least in Eastern Europe, and even better in the Central European range ”(Falin. Decree. Op.).
In 1927, England made a desperate attempt to destroy the Soviet Union before its industrialization. 23 February 1927 of Britain “in an unprecedentedly rude tone, unprecedented in diplomatic practice” demanded that the USSR stop “anti-British propaganda” and military support for the revolutionary Kuomintang government in China. 26 February 1927 The Soviet government responded to the provocateurs that “in its treatment of the Soviet Union, the British government deliberately departed from generally accepted international norms and customs and even elementary propriety” and that, “rejecting the usual diplomatic ways of conflict resolution, allows itself to talk to the Soviet government in a tone of threats and ultimatums. ”
The Soviet government declared that “threats against the USSR cannot intimidate anyone else in the Soviet Union,” while at the same time confirming their desire for peaceful and normal relations with all countries, including and with England ”(Diplomatic Dictionary). In April 1927, the IV All-Union Congress of Soviets "ordered the government to work out a five-year plan for the development of the country's national economy as soon as possible." “The refusal of the USSR to fulfill the conditions of the“ Chamberlain note ”... led to a sharp deterioration in relations between Britain and the USSR” (http://www.hrono.ru/sobyt/1900war/1927sssr.php). In May, 1927 was the year England broke off diplomatic relations with the USSR, which in the Soviet Union was perceived as "an undoubted sign of the inevitably approaching British aggression."
The ratio of the armed forces of the USSR and its probable opponents was at that time clearly not in favor of the USSR. In the case of a general mobilization, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania on the western border, Turkey, Persia and Afghanistan in the Middle East, Japan and Manchuria in the Far East together exhibited 229 rifle divisions and 101 cavalry brigade or regiment against Soviet 92 divisions and 74 cavalry regiments. "The headquarters of the Red Army took into account that these are the first-tier armed forces, followed by, sooner or later, by the armed forces of France and Great Britain" (N. Simonov. The Soviet military-industrial complex in 1920-1950-s: economic growth, structure, organization of production and management).
“An anti-Soviet campaign has begun in France, Poland and in a number of other countries. ... Yet no other capitalist country has followed the example of England and has not broken off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. ” “Everything that happened in the Soviet Union caused a mood called“ military alarm 1927 of the year ”and marked the beginning of the construction of long-term fortifications in the USSR, which later received the unofficial name“ Stalin's line ”(Lopukhovsky L.N. 1941. Programmed defeat).
“In December 1927 was held in Moscow the XV Congress of the CPSU (b), which approved the work of the Politburo of the CPSU (B) of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) to prepare the country for defense. Although the congress did not adopt a detailed resolution on this issue, in the speech of the People's Commissar for Military and Naval Affairs K.Ye. Voroshilov ... installation on the comprehensive militarization of the economy of the USSR, in connection with the approach of war, was stated quite clearly. In the summary of his speech, Voroshilov singled out the following priority tasks of the party in this direction:
“1. The five-year national economy plan must proceed from the inevitability of an armed attack on the USSR and, consequently, from the need for the measure of the material resources of organizing such a defense of the Soviet Union, which would ensure a victorious rebuff to the combined forces of our probable opponents. 2. The industrialization of the country predetermines the defense capability of the USSR. But this is precisely why military considerations must make their adjustments to specific plans for industrial construction. ... Along with the five-year plan, it is necessary to immediately begin a detailed study of the questions of planning the entire national economy during a war ”(Simonov. Decree. Cit.).
The 20 June, June 1927, the Geneva Conference of the United States, Britain and Japan, or, as Calvin Coolidge’s cruising conference was called in the press, demonstrated irreconcilable Anglo-American contradictions. “The main objective of the British disarmament program was to further strengthen English supremacy over the seas. Limiting the tonnage of battleships, the caliber of their large guns and extending the life of ships of this class, in addition to considerations of economy dictated by the specific features of the marine policy of England.
On the contrary, the most important item of the program of the United States was the desire for full parity with the British Empire in all types of naval armaments. By limiting the total tonnage of the cruising fleet to a certain number, the United States sought, on the one hand, to rein in the further construction of ships of this class by Great Britain, and on the other, to ensure that it could catch up with and overtake the latter in the future. … The sharp contradictions of England and America and the uncompromising struggle of the Anglo-Saxon countries were the most important reasons for the failure of the Geneva Conference ”(Bekzatova B. B. Anglo-American Relations and the Geneva Conference 1927 of the Year).
The Americans' plan finally collapsed after the fall of 1927, Trotsky suffered an unconditional defeat in the struggle for power in the Soviet Union. 12 November 1927 of the year he was expelled from the party, and 18 January 1928 of the year was sent by force to Alma-Ata.
The British remain adherents of their unanimous and unshakable leadership. We are ready to sacrifice the USSR for the sake of preserving our leadership. In turn, the Soviet Union categorically resists this and is pursuing industrialization. The restoration of Germany is in vain. In this situation in America, it is decided to bring Hitler to power in Germany no longer to collect military debts, but to overthrow England from its leading positions. Since all this can be done only under extremely adverse economic circumstances, the destruction of the American economy begins. Following the locomotive, the German trailer will inevitably go downhill.
Thus, convinced of the viability of Soviet Russia, the Allies declared Germany its reparations. At the same time, Britain hoped to incite Germany against Soviet Russia, while America hoped to use German-Soviet rapprochement to obtain military debts from Britain and France. In Genoa, the payment of the war debts of England and France to America was synchronized with the payment of German reparations, which allowed the use of the Soviet-German rapprochement to shift the burden of reparation payments from Germany to Soviet Russia. For this, France was completely ousted by England and America from Germany.
After the adoption of the Dawes Plan, the recovery of the German economy began. However, soon in Locarno, British hopes for a military defeat of the USSR acquired visible outlines. In response, the Soviet Union announced the industrialization of its economy, after which a divide of relations began in relation to Germany and the Soviet Union.
After the military alarm of 1927, England’s reluctance to make further concessions to America on the issue of naval armaments and the preparations of the USSR to repel military intervention, America decided to bring Hitler to power in Germany with the aim of removing England from the political Olympus. Since the coming of Hitler to power in stable Germany was impossible, it was decided to destabilize the American economy, which inevitably pulled the German economy subordinate to her and dependent on it into chaos.
Information