German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1940): Difference between revisions

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== Negotiations ==
=== German plans and expectations ===
<!-- Hitler's pressing for a German invasion of Poland in 1939 placed tremendous strain on the German war machine, which had been gradually gearing up after the [[Treaty of Versailles]] restrictions for total war in 1942 or 1943.<ref name="ericson63">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=63-4}}</ref> The German navy was critically short of maritime and military assets and did not achieve full mobilization until 1942.<ref name="philbin130">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=130}}</ref> Even Germany's quick victory in Poland strained its 1939 military resources, as Germany possessed only six weeks of munitions supplies and no considerable manpower reserve.<ref name="ericson61">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=67}}</ref> Germany's lack of raw materials meant that it had to seek increased supply from outside.<ref name="ericson63"/> However, the British blockade left Germany increasingly desperate for materials.<ref name="ericson63"/> The only remaining state capable of supplying Germany with the oil, rubber, manganese, grains, food fats and platinum it needed was the Soviet Union.<ref name="ericson63"/>
At September 14 and 15 1939 [[Ribbentrop]] outlined program for his negotiations in Moscow :
 
Germany needed more of an economic alliance for raw materials than the economic partnership that [[German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1939)‎|the August 19, 1939 agreement provided]].<ref name="ericson61">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=61}}</ref> At the same time, the Soviet demands for manufactured goods, such as German machines, was increasing while its ability to import those goods decreased because many countries ceased trading relations after the Soviet entry into the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.<ref name="ericson66">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=66}}</ref> The Soviet Union could offer precious little technology, while Germany possessed the technology the Soviet Union required to build a blue-water fleet.<ref name="philbin82">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=82}}</ref> Accordingly, for the six weeks following the Soviet and German invasions of Poland, Germany pressed hard for an additional agreement.<ref name="ericson61"/><ref name="philbin75">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=75-6}}</ref>
<blockquote>
*1) The Credit and Trade Treaty of August 19 of this year
is not to be tampered with from either side. However, for our benefit, we must
attempt to obtain a more expeditious delivery of raw materials (180 million RM).
 
On September 14 and 15 1939, German foreign minister [[Joachim von Ribbentrop]] outlined a program for his negotiations in Moscow.<ref="Rib914">DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1945 SERIES D (1937-1945) VOLUME VIII THE WAR YEARS September 4, 1939-March 18, 1940 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON * 1954</ref> It included attempting to obtain 180 million additional Reichsmarks in raw material and discovering whether the Soviet Union "could and would compensate for the loss in Imports by sea" following the British blockade.<ref="Rib914"/> Ribbentrop foresaw the negotiation as "a test of whether and how far Stalin is prepared to draw practical conclusions from the new political course."<ref="Rib914"/> Ribbentrop concluded that "The raw materials deliveries requested by us can only be carried out, in view of the unsatisfactory domestic supply situation of Russia, at the expense of their own Russian consumption."<ref="Rib914"/>
*2) My principal task in the negotiations will be to find out whether Russia,
over and above the Treaty of August 19, 1939, could and would compensate for
the loss in Imports by sea, and to what extent this might be done. The military
and civil agencies have handed me a schedule of requirements totaling about 70
million RM of immediate additional supplies. The requests which I shall present in Moscow will go far beyond
this schedule, as the German war needs are several times as great as the proposal of the Departments for the negotiations.. But the relatively modest schedule of departmental requirements
shows how low the actual capacity of Russia for supplying raw materials is
estimated. The reasons are inadequacies of transportation, of organization, of
production methods, etc.
 
=== AfterEvents following the division of Poland ===
*3) The plan to be proposed to the Russians would be as follows :
 
"''Apart from the Treaty of August 19, 1939, the Soviet Union shall supply us X millions worth of raw materials, both such as are produced in Russia and such as Russia buys for us from other neutrals. The German compensatory ''
''deliveries for these raw materials could not follow at once, but would have to take the form of a supply and investment program, to extend over a period of about 5 years. Within this time we would be prepared, in order to meet our''
''obligations arising from Russian deliveries of raw material, to set up plants in Russia in accordance with a large scale program to be agreed upon.''
 
* 4) Within the framework of purely economic negotiations, the difficulties actually existing in Russia cannot be overcome, especially as we demand of the
Russians performance in advance, A positive achievement can really only be expected, if an appropriate directive is issued by the highest Russian authorities,
in the spirit of the political attitude toward us. In that respect these negotiations will be a test of whether and how far Stalin is prepared to draw practical
conclusions from the new political course. The raw materials deliveries requested by us can only be carried out, in view of the unsatisfactory domestic
supply situation of Russia, at the expense of their own Russian consumption.
 
*5) Depending on the result of my conversations, it will be necessary that the raw materials program be taken up again from the strictly political point of view by a qualified personage.
 
*6) In the Moscow negotiations it should furthermore be ascertained to what extent our imports heretofore made from Iran, Afghanistan, Manchukuo, and Japan can be transmitted via Russia <ref>DOCUMENTS ON GERMAN FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1945 SERIES D (1937-1945) VOLUME VIII THE WAR YEARS September 4, 1939-March 18, 1940 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON * 1954</ref>
</blockquote>
 
<!-- Hitler's pressing for a German invasion of Poland in 1939 placed tremendous strain on the German war machine, which had been gradually gearing up after the [[Treaty of Versailles]] restrictions for total war in 1942 or 1943.<ref name="ericson63">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=63-4}}</ref> The German navy was critically short of maritime and military assets and did not achieve full mobilization until 1942.<ref name="philbin130">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=130}}</ref> Even Germany's quick victory in Poland strained its 1939 military resources, as Germany possessed only six weeks of munitions supplies and no considerable manpower reserve.<ref name="ericson61">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=67}}</ref> Germany's lack of raw materials meant that it had to seek increased supply from outside.<ref name="ericson63"/> However, the British blockade left Germany increasingly desperate for materials.<ref name="ericson63"/> The only remaining state capable of supplying Germany with the oil, rubber, manganese, grains, food fats and platinum it needed was the Soviet Union.<ref name="ericson63"/>
 
Germany needed more of an economic alliance for raw materials than the economic partnership that [[German–Soviet Commercial Agreement (1939)‎|the August 19, 1939 agreement provided]].<ref name="ericson61">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=61}}</ref> At the same time, the Soviet demands for manufactured goods, such as German machines, was increasing while its ability to import those goods decreased because many countries ceased trading relations after the Soviet entry into the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.<ref name="ericson66">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=66}}</ref> The Soviet Union could offer precious little technology, while Germany possessed the technology the Soviet Union required to build a blue-water fleet.<ref name="philbin82">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=82}}</ref> Accordingly, for the six weeks following the Soviet and German invasions of Poland, Germany pressed hard for an additional agreement.<ref name="ericson61"/><ref name="philbin75">{{Harvnb|Philbin III|1994|p=75-6}}</ref>
=== After the division of Poland ===
 
[[Image:Ribbentrop-Molotov.svg|right|thumb|Planned and actual territorial changes in Central Europe 1939–1940]]
Line 131 ⟶ 100:
However, following the conclusions of the successful Polish invasions by both countries, German planners estimated that, as feared, they lacked the oil and rubber stockpiles necessary for a western offensive.<ref name="ericson71"/> It had imported 140.8 million Reichsmarks in Polish goods in 1938, and half of that territory was now held by the Soviet Union.<ref name="hehn212">{{Harvnb|Hehn|2005|p=212}}</ref> This included fields amounting to seventy per cent of Poland's oil production.<ref name="ericson71"/> Stalin at the time agreed in vague terms to supply Germany with additional oil equal to that produced by now Soviet-occupied Polish oil fields at [[Drohobych]] and [[Boryslav]] in exchange for hard coal and steel tubing.<ref name="ericson71">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=71}}</ref>
 
Within one month, the countries began a regular exchange of goods by rail lines through Poland.<ref name="ericson80">{{Harvnb|Ericson|1999|p=80}}</ref> At the same time, it was already clear that Germany could not meet the 1940 self-sufficiency targets that it had set forth in Hitler's 1936 [[Four Year Plan]].<ref name="wegner99">{{Harvnb|Wegner|1997|p=99-100}}</ref> strange text -->
 
=== 28th of September 1939 agreement ===