Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

THE AGE OF GOLD 269was beginning to stir menacingly in the outwardly still mightier giant ofthe East, the Soviet Union.In 1920, Polish armies had advanced as far as Kiev in the Ukraine,were driven back to Warsaw and then advanced again. Pressed by thesame enemies, defeated Germany and torn Russia had approached oneanother and finally concluded their treaty of Rapallo; WladimirMaiakovsky, the poet laureate of the Soviet Union, had dreamed of theday when the German and the Russian proletarian would grasp eachother's hand and Poland 'will be nothing but the little drop of sweat thatremains when strong men shake hands.'In the West the French military still had the German giant firmly bythe throat. As long as Marshal Foch's army, then the first in the world,was deep in Germany, the German might was paralyzed; and thepolitical leadership of Poland as of Czechoslovakia had founded thewelfare of their states upon Germany's paralysis and weakness, upon thestrength and help of France.But was France strong? She herself constantly appealed to England'said; in her fear she had even contented herself with the highlyambiguous promises of Locarno. Could this power, herself needful ofhelp, be expected to help others? The truth which shines through thefragile psychology of all these alliances was this: France by no meanscounted on giving aid, but wanted to receive aid from others; the others,however, made exactly the same calculation, but the other way around.Each wanted help, but none wanted to help — this was fully provedwhen a serious situation arose.This self-deceptive playing with the danger again took the form ofsolemn promises at Locarno. France promised. Again she guaranteedthe security of her allies in the East; and precisely because the import ofthe entire Locarno system was that France should no longer guaranteethe security of the small states in the East. This at least was England'swish. She expressly withheld support from the renewed promises ofFrance. But France, nevertheless, promised aid to Poland as well asCzechoslovakia, if necessary without the agreement of the League ofNations.And Germany? She had recognized her western frontier in theexpression 'the maintenance of the territorial status quo'; but in the