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VI. The Political Significance of German-Soviet Trade Negotiations, 1922–5

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. P. Morgan
R. P. Morgan
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Extract

The Treaty of Rapallo, signed on 16 April 1922, cemented a German-Soviet partnership that promised advantages of several different kinds: economically, the reconstruction and development of the Soviet Union by means of German trade and investment seemed good business for both partners; militarily, the secret co-operation between the Red Army and the Reichswehr made possible the introduction of the latest weapons for the one, evasion of the Versailles Treaty for the other, and effective training for both; and politically, German and Soviet policy-makers entertained hopes which ranged, according to the time and the individual concerned, from the modest expectation that the treaty-partner would refrain from joining any hostile coalition to the grandiose ambition of jointly attacking and dismembering the fragile and presumptuous state of Poland.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1963 , pp. 253 - 271
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1963

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References

1 On German-Soviet military relations cf. H. W. Gatzke, ‘Russo-German Military Collaboration During the Weimar Republic’, American Historical Review, LXIII (1958), 565–97; on political relations cf. Zygmunt J. Gasiorowski,‘ The Russian Overture to Germany of December 1924’, Journal of Modern History, xxx (1958), 99–117, and Herbert Helbig, Die Träger der Rapallo-Politik (Göttingen, 1958). The author wishes to thank Professor E. H. Carr for much helpful advice in the writing of this article, and also the staffs of the Politisches Archiv of the Auswärtiges Amt in Bonn, and of the Foreign Office Library and the Public Record Office in London.

2 E. H. Carr, The Bolshevik Revolution, III, 435 n.; S. N. Prokopovicz, Russlands Volks-wirtschaft unter den Soviets (Zürich, 1944), 329; cf. J. D. Yanson, Soviet Foreign Trade (1934).

3 Cf. Carr, op. cit., p. 366, and Malcolm W. Davies: “Soviet Recognition and Trade”, Foreign Affairs, vol. v (1926—7), p. 660.

4 Carr, op. cit. 435; Davies, loc. cit. 660; A. Baykov, Soviet Foreign Trade (1946), appendix, table 7.

5 Davies, loc. cit. 660; Hilger and Meyer, The Incompatible Allies (New York, 1953), 182.

6 Examples are given by Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 172–3, and by A. Anderle in Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, v (1957), 487.

7 Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 186, 240; cf. Hans von Raumer,‘ Dreissig Jahre nach Rapallo’, Deutsche Rundschau, LXXVIII (1952), 330, and, for the view that the Soviet market was important E. H. Carr, German-Soviet Relations between the Two World Wars (1952), 55, and G. Freund, Unholy Alliance (1957), 246.

8 For a recent account cf. Rosenfeld, G., Sowjetrussland und Deutschland, 1917–1922 (Berlin, 1960), especially 323–5, 346–54.Google Scholar

9 Text in Helbig, H., Die Träger der Rapallo-Politik (Göttingen, 1958), 79–81.Google Scholar

10 Cf. Kobljakow, I. K., Von Brest bis Rapallo. Geschichtlicher Abriss der Sowjetisch-deutschen Beziehungen von 1918 bis 1922 (Trans, from the Russian, Berlin, 1956), 276–7.Google Scholar

11 On the Berlin discussions conducted by Dr Wallroth, a senior official of the Auswärtiges Amt, cf. W. von Blücher, Deutschlands Weg nach Rapallo (Wiesbaden, 1951), 166; and Auswärtiges Amt, Handakten Koerner, K618/165594—602. Each file from the archives of the Auswärtiges Amt (henceforth ‘AA’) will here be cited originally by its title, and also by the serial number allocated to each file or series of files, and the frame number stamped on each page, at the time of their filming after 1945. A full explanation of this system is given by F. G. Stambrook in Journal of Central European Affairs, xxi (1961–2), 16 n.

12 Cf. von Koerner's report to German interdepartmental committee, 19 February 1923; AA, K6I8/165594—602, and his letter to Brockdorff-Rantzau, 22 February 1923, ibid. 165960–8. The setting-up of a committee to prepare for the negotiations was announced by Isvestiya on 17 August 1922: quoted in AA, Geheimakten Abt. IVA Russland: Wirtschaftlicher Wiederaufbau Russlands mit Hilfe der Fremden Mächte, 6700/118773–5; cf. J. Degras, Calendar of Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy (1948), 63.

13 Hilger, op. cit. 184; Slusser, R. M. and Triska, J. F., A Calendar of Soviet Treaties 1917–1957 (Stanford, 1959), 416; E. H. Carr, The Interregnum, 26 n. 3.Google Scholar

14 AA, Handakten Wallroth, 5265/317020–2.

15 E.g. Isvestiya, 14 January 1923, quoted in Degras (ed.), Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, 1 (1951), 368; cf. also E. H. Carr, The Interregnum, 155 ff.

16 Telegram of 26 April 1923: AA, Büro des Staatsekretärs, 4562/154853; cf. Helbig, op. cit. 145, also Brockdorff–Rantzau's telegrams of 7, 10, 15 June 1923: AA, Büro des Reichsministers, Russland, 2860/553066–7, –073, –080, and S. R. Schram, ‘Christian Rakovsky et le premier rapprochement franco-sovietique’, Cahiers du Monde Russe et Soviétique, 1 (1960), 207–9.

17 Rosenberg to Brockdorff-Rantzau, 18 April 1923: AA, K618/165926–34.

18 Brockdorff-Rantzau to Auswärtiges Amt, 7 May 1925; K618/165920—5 (first despatch) and 4562/154859–61 (second despatch); cf. Hilger, op. cit. 165–6, 179.

19 Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 180; Koerner's report of 16 July 1923: AA, 2860/553119–26; on the agenda for the economic negotiations cf. ibid. 555930 ff.

20 Koerner's report to Stresemann of 19 September 1924: AA, 5265/316061–80.

21 Cf. E. H. Carr, The Interregnum, chs. v, vII and Ix.

22 Ibid. 225.

23 Wallroth to Brockdorff-Rantzau, 27 December 1923 (‘ Ganz Geheim’), AA, 5265/318063–6. (AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 10); Helbig, op. cit. 160–1. On Mussolini's statement of 30 November on Italo-Soviet relations, and the favourable response of the Soviet press, cf. I Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Settima Serie 1922–35, n (Rome, 1955), no. 497: Paterno (Moscow) to Mussolini, 4 December 1923.

24 G. F. Kennan, Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin (1961), 230; E. H. Carr, The Interregnum, 249, where further details are also given of Italo-Soviet relations; S. Schram, loc. cit. 212–13.

25 Carl Bergmann, Der Weg der Raparation (Frankfurt a.M., 1926), 273—5.

26 Koerner's report of 19 September 1924: AA, 5265/316068.

27 AA, 5625/316071.

28 Quoted in L. Zimmermann, Deutsche Aussenpolitik in der Ära der Weimarer Republik (Gottingen, 1958), 271. On 3 December 1924, the German Cabinet reaffirmed its decision of 24 April that negotiations on the extradition treaty should continue (AA, 2860/554602–4), but the Soviet side let the matter drop: AA, 4484/096180.

29 Cf. Chicherin's rather cool interview marking the anniversary of Rapallo, in Isvestiya, 16 April 1924: Degras, Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy, 1, 447–9.

30 Cf. Freund, op. cit. 192 ff. and Helbig, op. cit. 134.

31 Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 180; Max von Stockhausen, Sechs Jahre Reichskanzlei (Bonn, 1954). 117.

32 Kochan, L., Russia and the Weimar Republic (Cambridge, 1954), 95.Google Scholar

33 Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 181–2; Freund, op. cit. 198.

34 Gebhart, Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, iv (Stuttgart, 1960), 345; Helbig, op. cit. 135.

35 The roles of Brockdorff-Rantzau and of Hilger in this episode are greatly exaggerated by the former's biographer (Helbig, op. cit. 135–6, 163), and in the latter's memoirs (The Incompatible Allies, 181).

36 Degras, J., Documents on Soviet Foreign Policy, 1, 453—7.Google Scholar

37 Maltzan to Radowitz (Moscow), 19 September 1924: AA 618/165809–13; Brockdorff-Rantzau (Moscow) to Koerner (Berlin), 4 November 1924: ibid. 165442.

38 Memorandum by Wallroth, 11 September 1924: AA, K618/165820–4.

39 Brockdorff-Rantzau to Auswärtiges Amt, 4 November 1924: AA, K618/165440–1. Cf. S. Schram, loc. cit. 218.

40 Brockdorff-Rantzau to Auswärtiges Amt, 1 December 1924: AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 10, 5265/317849–51. On Chicherin's conceptions in general, cf. Schram, loc. cit. 222.

41 Memo. by Hauschild, 8 November 1924: AA, 5265/317853–60.

42 Helbig, op. cit. 134, 136. On the demands made in Krassin's speech (AA, 2860/ 554540–2, 555932–5), and later, cf. Fischer, L., The Soviets in World Affairs (1930), 11, 583–90.Google Scholar

43 Wallroth to Koerner, 4 December 1924: AA, 5265/316047–8; von Koerner to Aus-wärtiges Amt, 17 December 1924: ibid. 315942–7, and 2860/554643.

44 Memo, of 5 December 1924: AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 10, 5265/317834–44.

45 Entwurf, 11 December 1924: ibid. 317816–33.

46 AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 3, 5265/316827–9, 316821–4.

47 Cf. Gasiorowski, Z. in Journal of Modern History, xxx (1958), esp. 100, 108.Google Scholar

48 Stresemann's remarks to Krestinsky in mid-April, quoted ibid. 113–14.

49 Wallroth's record of conversation of 16 February 1925: AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 3, 5265/316817–20.

50 Koerner's report of 19 March 1925 (ibid. 316810–6).

51 Details in AA, Handakten Wallroth, 5265, especially vols. 3, 4 and 5, and also in Büro Staatssekretär, Deutsch-russische Wirtschaftsverhandlungen, 4484, vol. 1, and Büro Reichs-minister, Russland, 2860, vol. 10.

52 Koerner's statement of the situation on 13 June, AA, 2860/555272–5; cf. ibid. 555936–47.

53 Cf. Lamar, Cecil, ‘The Kindermann-Wolscht Incident: an Impasse in Russo-German Relations 1924–1926, Journal of Central European Affairs, xxi (July 1961), 188–99.Google Scholar

54 Archives of the Reichs Ministry of the Interior quoted by A. Anderle, ‘Die deutschrussische Vertrage von 1925–1926’, Zeitschrift für Geschichtszvissenschaft, v (1957), 471Google Scholar. The contemporary Soviet debate on the foreign trade monopoly is described by Carr, E. H., Socialism in One Country,1 (1958), 445–54.Google Scholar

55 Quoted by Anderle, loc. cit. 473.

56 Schubert to Schlesinger, summarizing the latter's views, 25 June 1925: AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 3, 5265/316601—2; cf. ibid. 316613—39, and correspondence in AA, Handakten Schlesinger, 4829.

57 Kopp in Isvestiya, 27 March 1925, quoted in AA, 2860/554993.

58 Cf. Gasiorowski, loc. cit. 113; Helbig, op. cit. 136–7, 171, 173.

59 Stresemann, Nachlass, 7129/147855–65; another copy in AA, 2860/555257–67.

60 Stresemann to Koerner, 20 June 1925: AA, 4484/096271–4; Koerner's wish to leave Moscow is mentioned by H. von Dirksen, Moscow, Tokio, London (1951), 65.

61 AA, 4484/096296–9.

62 As Stresemann told Brockdorff-Rantzau on 22 August 1925, the German preamble-suggestion ‘is indeed dressed up externally as a preamble, but in its contents represents an answer to the December proposals’—i.e. the Soviet proposals for a binding commitment directed against Poland: AA, 4562/155825. Stresemann had mentioned the preamble to the Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty as early as 25 April 1925, in an attempt to answer pressure from Krestinski for a political agreement: AA, 2860/555130–6.

63 Theodor Schieder, Die Probleme des Rapallo-Vertrags (Cologne, 1956), 62–3: text of the preamble, ibid. 91.

64 Dirksen quoted by Gasiorowski, loc. cit. 115; cf. Schieder, op. cit. 62.

65 Schieder, op. cit. 62, where however (as also by Gatzke in Vierteljahrshefte fur Zeitgeschichte, iv (1956), 14) Dirksen is mistakenly described as ‘Leiter der Ostabteilung des Auswärtigen Amtes’: he only succeeded Wallroth in this capacity in March 1928, a few months before replacing Brockdorff-Rantzau as Ambassador in Moscow.

66 Brockdorff-Rantzau to Stresemann, 20 July 1925 (AA, 4562/155609– 12), quoted by Gasiorowski, loc. cit. 116.

67 Dirksen to Schubert, 17 July 1925: AA, 4562/155643–6.

68 Notice of motion, 13 July 1925: AA, 4484/096320, accompanied (ibid. 096321–7) by the memorandum mentioned by Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 183.

69 AA, 4484/096333–5, 096349–51, 096340–4; AA, 5625/316917.

70 Cf. Cecil, L. in Journal of Central European Affairs, xxi (1961), 195–6.Google Scholar

71 Brockdorff-Rantzau's report on his conversation of 27 August with Litvinov: AA, 4562/155833–8; cf. ibid. 155839.

72 Stresemann's interview with Litvinov and Krestinsky, 8 August 1925: AA, 4562/ 155723–7; Brockdorff-Rantzau telegram of 20 September: AA, 4484/096168–9.

73 Dirksen to Brockdorff-Rantzau, September 10, 1925; AA, 2860/555807.

74 Brockdorff–Rantzau's report of 19 September: AA, 4484/096463–4.

75 Stresemann's record of his talk with Chicherin on the night of 30 September 1925: AA, 4562/155901–13.

76 Except that the Soviet negotiators were dissatisfied with the credit of 100 million Reichsmarks—which was in fact increased to 300 million by an agreement of February 1926: cf. Hilger and Meyer, op. cit. 184–6, and B. Hahn, ‘Die Deutsche Ausfällburgschaft für Lieferungen nach Russland (Der 300–Millionen-Kredit)’ in Osteuropa (Berlin, 1925–6), 551–9.

77 Stresemann to Brockdorff-Rantzau, 19 September 1925: AA, 2860/555847.

78 AA, 4484/096476–562.

79 AA, 2860/555889–97.

80 AA, 4562/155901–13.

81 Max von Stockhausen, Sechs Jahre Reichskanzlei (Bonn, 1954), 176.

82 AA, 4484/096580–1.

83 Quoted in Degras, Soviet Documents on Foreign Policy, 11, 58.

84 Pravda, 13 October 1925, quoted by Anderle, loc. cit. 475.

85 Wallroth to Brockdorff-Rantzau, 16 October 1925: AA, Handakten Wallroth, vol. 11, 5265/318212–7.

86 Two drafts of statement of 30 September: AA, 4484/096565–6.