The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

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not expect strong resistance and hoped for a quick success. They attacked in three directions: 1. in the North - aiming at Petsamo in order to cut supplies from the allies 34 - this was the only operation of the three that was successful to a certain extent; 2. In the South - aiming at Helsinki and other large cities; 3. in North Karelia. 35 The Soviet Union had 26 divisions, one motorized army corps, five armoured brigades, and they were equipped with heavy artillery, 1000 airplanes, 100 submarines and 2000 tanks. The Soviet army that attacked Finland consisted of approximately half a million men. On the other hand, the Finns had only 9 divisions and 75 airplanes 36 and approximately 120 000 men. The Finnish army had no anti-tank artillery, and they had virtually no antiaircraft defense, either. Their few tanks – made in the 1920s and at the beginning of the 1930s – were out of date; likewise, both their fleet and air force were unsatisfactory. 37 Despite all that, the Finish army held on for three months. The reason was simple: the Soviet troops had no winter military training and winter attires. The Finns used skis and white clothes, their morale was excellent, while the Soviets had brown and thin clothes for the freezing snowy weather and they had only 1 to 3 weeks training. Jacobson refers to the winter of 1939/1940 as the coldest in the century. 38 After losing too many soldiers, the Soviets tried to substitute the troops with ski-champions, most of whom died an inglorious death in the fields of Finland. 39 The Finnish tactic was simple, but effective, they let the Soviets get closer, cut the supply-lines back and rushed the convoy. The Finnish-front turned into a Soviet cemetery: approximately 300 000 Soviets died (officially 127 000). 40 While the war raged over the border of the USSR and Finland, the Soviet leaders planned to install a puppet-government led by Finnish Communists, such as Otto W. Kuusinen. During the attack in December they created the People’s Democratic Government. 41 Kuusinen was a member of the Finnish Red Guard during the Finnish civil war. To install a puppet- government was a habitual (and temporal) measure by the Soviets: The Bolsheviks did it during the Russian civil war with Ukraine and other fugitive states. 34 An English consession was in Petsamo, to trade with rare materials, like Nikkel. 35 JACOBSON, Max: Finland in the new Europe. The center for strategic and international studies, Washington, 1998. 32. 36 Ibid. 37 MANNERHEIM, Carl Gustav von: Emlékiratok. A téli háború. (Memoir. The winter war). Püski, Budapest, 1997. 19. 38 JACOBSON, Max: Finnország: mítosz és valóság. (Finland: myth and reality). Minerva, Budapest, 1990. 30. 39 HELLER, Michail, NEKRICH, Alexandr: Orosz történelem (Russian history) vols II. Osiris, Budapest, 2003. 318. 40 Ibid. 319-320. 41 JACOBSON, Max: Finnország: mítosz és valóság. (Finland: myth and reality). Minerva, Budapest, 1990. 30. 72
Stalin hoped to gain the support of the Finnish working class, but as mentioned above, the unity was too solid in Finland for Kuusinen and the internationalist ideas to be seductive. The Soviets advocated the merger of Finland and the Karelian Republic (already part of the Soviet Union) in order to make up one SSR, The Finnish-Karelian Republic, which would have been a part of the Soviet Union. The Finns succeeded in stopping the Soviets, after that the western allies took anti-Soviet movements. Paris closed the Soviet trade mission in France, and Italy recalled its ambassador from Moscow. 42 Several countries – including Sweden, Norway, Hungary, and Britain sent volunteers to aid Finland. France and Britain offered an expeditionary arm of 50 000. Franklin Roosevelt spoke about the „rape of Finland” and Churchill said this war was a crime against a noble people. The League of Nations excluded the USSR. Mannerheim realized that the help of the allies would be too late and inadequate, and Finland did not want such devastation by great powers on its territory as it had happened in the case of Spain during the civil war. Therefore, Finland refused the proposal. Stalin wanted to avoid a conflict with Britain and France, and decided to launch quickly a final attack to enforce a peace agreement. 43 To end the war without getting territories would have been unacceptable for the Soviet Union and for Stalin. 44 After changing generals, the Red Army’s leadership succeeded in the breakthrough. Territorial changes Finland had to disclaim South-East Karelia, including the cities of Viipuri and Sortavala, 45 and the Karelian Isthmus with its defense lines. It is important to note that this territory is larger than the former claims of the Soviets. Finland lost the islands of the Gulf of Finland, and the Soviets managed to build an army base and pier in Hanko. However, it became useless after the Germans invaded Estonia, and the personnel had to be evacuated. These territorial losses were the reason for Finland to join the axis side in 1941, when the Third Reich attacked the USSR. Finland reoccupied its territories for a while, but before long, in 1944, the Finnish government had to disclaim these and Petsamo region, too. The importance of this conflict and its consequences for the Soviets was not only these territorial changes, but that the war's result could help the Germans to make the decision to invade the USSR. 42 JACOBSON, Max: Finland in the new Europe. The center for strategic and international studies, Washington, 1998. 29.; Jacobson 1990, p. 28. 43 JACOBSON, Max: Finnország: mítosz és valóság. (Finland: myth and reality). Minerva, Budapest, 1990. 31. 44 Ibid. 32. 45 Most important for its railroad junction. 73
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ISBN 978-963-284-164-9
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Unknown Clauses: The Background Dea
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CONTENTS Foreword (István MAJOROS,
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Foreword The world remembers in 200
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The Historical Judgement of the Mol
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went often on emotional instead of
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What is much more interesting is th
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such an international agreement as
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Text of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggress
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Done in duplicate, in the German an
Page 25 and 26: Lachaise, Bernard Historiography of
Page 27 and 28: Relations) are the focus of special
Page 29 and 30: Russian agreement (…) would allow
Page 31 and 32: Europe and on the French communists
Page 33 and 34: adopted a stance of denying the fac
Page 35 and 36: Ortolan, Guillaume The 70 th annive
Page 37 and 38: government (more than twenty) came,
Page 39 and 40: War. On the contrary, it shows that
Page 41 and 42: this anniversary and more widely of
Page 43: interesting: „Illusions. In summe
Page 47 and 48: Kretschmann, Vasco The ideological
Page 49 and 50: One of the most influential associa
Page 51 and 52: Germanness in the provinces of West
Page 53 and 54: Prętkiewicz, Przemysław The syste
Page 55 and 56: interwar period and the treaty was
Page 57 and 58: situation of rising danger accepted
Page 59 and 60: Manchukuo and broke relations with
Page 61: I would like to finish my article w
Page 64 and 65: party itself but for the whole Slov
Page 66 and 67: In summary, the group of the „Mod
Page 68 and 69: make proposals or suggestions. 6 In
Page 70 and 71: (Aland), Hanko and the islands of t
Page 72 and 73: have had a less serious effect on t
Page 77 and 78: Winkler, Paul Adolf Eichmann’s Vi
Page 79 and 80: individual offenders, 10 who used h
Page 81 and 82: esearch. But how could the suppress
Page 83 and 84: expert of this matter 29 and had as
Page 85 and 86: Arendt on the contrary is in the op
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Page 89 and 90: adoption of the model it became cle
Page 91 and 92: of Eichmann. For that Heydrich deli
Page 93: esistance […] but of logistics. N
Page 96 and 97: British government refused to give
Page 98 and 99: ole in the defence of Madrid in Nov
Page 100 and 101: public doubt the democratic idea of
Page 102 and 103: Republicans. In the refugee camps i
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Page 106 and 107: iron? Where can one find more nicke
Page 108 and 109: According to his diaries, the main
Page 110 and 111: announced: „We have no active all
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Page 114 and 115: negative, an analysis of the disapp
Page 116 and 117: can let think of an imminent war po
Page 118 and 119: de la guerre [il] ne fait que l'agg
Page 120 and 121: Party), the enemy of the inside. Of
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Before the Pact M. Coulondre, the F
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Lets us skip a few decades and list
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argain with. Hitler had an offer th
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secret protocol clarified that the
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to reach out for Russia through the
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of a war interesting rather on civi
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At the same moment, we can note an
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Faure 2 , remains hostile to war. I
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war can still be avoided in June 19
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acked by a „belligerent” coalit
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142
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agreement” sound anachronistic. E
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1939 between Germany and the Soviet
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Two ideas emerge from the press: on
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soviets didn’t have motive. Blum
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Moscow's line, with the national an
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154
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2.000 German speaking inhabitants).
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The Eastern Polish border was not r
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Army. The mayor of Lviv did not wan
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162
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Budapest, and for Warsaw. The two c
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could not destroy the Polish Air Fo
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independence, Romania was forced to
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importance for the events considere
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possible future opposition to the S
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ate of communists within the Jews o
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the initial positive feeling toward
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wanted to take revenge for the NKVD
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German Reactions A last point that
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