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V8 Beast

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Kevin R. Newbie

Kevin R.

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Posted
"typed up" =/= "ctrl + v"

 

edit: and fuck it anyways, I'm doing something on the treaty of rapallo, its easier and shorter.

 

In the 1920's the German army was more than a bit hacked off at having lost WW1, and not exactly chuffed at the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Looking around it saw opportunities such as the Treaty of Rapallo to circumvent the restrictions that were capping the size, ability and components of the German armed forces.

 

I agree with those that say the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo was largely the outcome of the new Soviet Russia being locked out of the international community and finding a bed-fellow in the defeated Germany, then the pariah in the diplomatic community.

 

It would be fair to say that one of the main reasons for the two parties to sign a treaty was simply to cock a snook at the establishment of the day, which was refusing, more in pique than rational argument, to include the Soviets in the diplomatic circuit or to include the Germans in any meaningful way.

 

An international conference on economic questions and reparations could hardly have been considered as practical and prudent if two of the major players of the day were excluded. Little wonder that they went off to play together elsewhere.

 

Certainly military history shows that co-operation took place between the parties, clandestinely and probably of limited value to both parties. It was simply the best on offer to them at the time.

 

I do not think that either side could ever muster enough trust in the other to overcome their individual paranoia to the extent of full co-operation. Okay, so the common "enemy" at the time was Poland, but they were both very aware that they had been at each others throats before, very recently in fact, and could well be again at short notice.

 

Basically the Soviets were, as was in my view their pattern for the whole of their existence, short of the resources and initiatives to create the technologies necessary to efficiently slaughter those one felt due such attentions. "Comrade USpatentoffice" and industrialists such as Ford were not the only sources of the "glories of Soviet Power".

 

The first tangible Soviet-German co-operation was, as far as I know, an agreement on 15 March 1922, which foreshadowed the open political statement of the Treaty of Rapallo. This agreement, to build an aeroplane factory in the Soviet Union, was between Junkers and the Soviet government. Junkers put up the expertise and the Soviet put up the money.

 

In 1922 German troops were sent to train in the Soviet Union, the quid pro quo being the Soviets got the advantage of observing and participating in German military training methods.

 

The parties also co-operated in the manufacture of poison gas and munitions in the Soviet Union, for the Germans to train with and equip their army. I believe that a lot more promises than actual gas or munitions would have been forthcoming if the Soviets followed their usual practices in such circumstances.

 

About 1929 a tank training ground was operational in the Soviet Union in Kazan for German personnel and limited co-operation was established between the army staffs for participating in Soviet war games.

 

With the growth of air power the ability for Germans to train as pilots at Lipetsk in the Soviet Union was also welcomed, a forerunner of the training grounds that the Spanish civil war would provide the same parties, albeit in a somewhat more realistic setting.

 

Apparently factories were also established at Samara which may have produced aircraft, submarines, guns and various munitions.

 

Germans such as General Hans von Seeckt dreamed of an alliance with the Soviets that would at least last long enough to finish off the state of Poland, as a precursor to the rise of a new Germany.

 

Nice simplistic military thinking, devoid of any practical realism; it did however, in my view, all help Hitler to rise to power on the dreams of those who thought they could supplant him in power when he had done the spade work.

 

I think that, given a bit less paranoia in the "West" at the time, the Treaty of Rapallo should have been seen for what it was, simply an arrangement between two outcasts to bolster their own self images and confidence, at a time when their great dreams, illusions and theories were failing around them with no sign of redemption. However, given the blinkered outlook of the Churchill types of the world it caused much more panic than it was worth.

 

Most treaties would be far more useful if printed on soft absorbent paper, Rapallo is no different. Given the advantages each perceived it is likely that the levels of co-operation that did occur would not have been lost for want of the piece of paper.

 

In the event the Treaty of Rapallo was initially conclude for an indefinite period, expanded on November 5, 1922 in Berlin, supplemented by the Treaty and exchange of notes April 24, 1926, prolonged on June 24, 1931 and May 5, 1933, only to be consigned to history by the events of June 22, 1941.

 

The treaty is, in my view, an interesting display of the way in which political pragmatism overcomes the ostensible political differences that seem to important and irreconcilable to so many in the common herd.

 

In the true spirit of capitalism I think most of what happened was simply guided by the desire of various parties in both countries to build their personal power and fortunes.

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