The Road to Barbarossa: Soviet-German Relations, 1917–1941 by Norman Ridley

Author:Norman Ridley
Format: epub

Chapter 8

THE RISE OF NAZISM

The years 1930–3 were confused ones of constant change with countries and their relations in flux. Talks between Poland and the Soviet Union which had been going on since 1926 to prepare the ground for a non-aggression pact that recognised the terms of the 1921 Treaty of Riga were stalled. Similar talks between Poland and Germany were planned at the same time but never got off the ground. The Soviets had been minded to discuss terms with Poland primarily because they had been unnerved by French moves in the Far East to reach an understanding with Japan, who were looking to the West for capital to invest in Manchuria which they had occupied. The Soviets feared that any Sino-French agreement might include Poland, France’s great ally in Eastern Europe, but the terms the Poles demanded included a requirement for the Soviets to conclude a similar pact with Romania and Romania refused to sign anything until the Soviet Union renounced its claims to Bessarabia. This proved to be an insurmountable stumbling block, which illustrated just how complex negotiations were in that part of the world. Meanwhile, the German government refused to renew the 1926 Treaty of Berlin with the Soviet Union for an extra five years, stipulating instead that only a two-year deal was acceptable after which it should be allowed to lapse. This left the door open for a closer understanding between Germany and Poland, but Piłsudski was not in favour of a short-term fix and was adamant that any agreement between the two countries should stand for a ten-year period.

Stalin cannot have been pleased to agree to renewal of the Treaty of Berlin. Neither was he thrilled to have to repay $500 million to Germany which had been advanced in medium-term credits for goods delivered to the Soviet Union by German industrialists, under a guarantee by the German government. Timely repayment of these credits was essential, however, to maintain the services of German industry for repairs and replacements in many industries contributing to armaments production. Even in subsequent years he supplied Germany with oil, minerals and other raw materials in order to guarantee supply of the machinery and instruments necessary to maintain his own armaments production in accordance with the third Five-Year Plan.

While Stalin and Hitler were openly scrapping with each other using propaganda in all parts of the world, each using the other as a bogeyman with which to win over or consolidate public opinion, their armies continued to maintain the friendly relations that had been established in 1924. Stalin had his own policy of making treaties with countries and observing them fairly correctly while simultaneously trying to stir up civil war in them. Nazis strategy followed a similar trajectory and between them the Bolsheviks and the Nazis succeeded in bringing just about every country near them into active or latent civil war. Hitler and Stalin, while careful not to appear to collaborate, even operated a common front from time to time in certain circumstances for purely tactical reasons.

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