8/23. Still a month and a half for the British and French to hem and haw about their own agreement with Stalin.
thanks man. its freaky reading this stuff knowing how close they are standing to the edge of total chaos . none of them see it coming, especially stalin and hitler.
its instructive that when you try and do diplomacy by “smart” you cant be smart enough, and that your best bet always is principle and character.
witness our present day travails with key international decisions.
The Pact was signed and revealed to the world on 8/23, but the deal was basically cut 8/14 or 8/15. It came out of economic talks between Ribbentrop and Molotov/Stalin. The talks with France and Britain were a farce from the get-go and Stalin wearied of it very early. Hitler didn’t know that; he was very concerned about fighting a two-front war over Poland. But he didn’t back down and Stalin wound up giving him a way out.
The article shows that the western powers are still in denial about Hitler even at this late date. It should be obvious that Hitler is intent on war, yet the press still talks as though Hitler wanted to set up Poland for another Munich. If there was one thing Hitler, Daladier & Chamberlain agreed upon, it was that there would not be another Munich.
It should have been quite obvious to anyone of reasonable intelligence that this was only going to end in war.