Between the Rapallo treaty was signed. Treaty of Rapallo between the RSFSR and Germany. Significance of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany

Lit .: Gorlov S. Top Secret: Alliance Moscow - Berlin, 1920-1933gg. ( Military-political relations USSR - Germany). M., 2001; The same [Electronic resource]. URL : http:// militera. lib. ru/ research/ gorlov1/ index. html; Indukaeva N. C. History international relations 1918-1945 gg. Tomsk, 2003; Pavlov N. B. The foreign policy of the Weimar Republic (1919-1932). [Electronic resource] // MGIMO. ru. 2011. October. URL : http:// www. mgimo. ru/ files/210929/ Weimar. pdf; Treaty of Rapallo between the RSFSR and Germany. sixteen April 1922 // Izvestia. No. 102 (154!). May 10, 1922

prisoners different countries in the XX century, have become objects of close study of politicians and historians in the last two decades. Many of them have long lost their meaning and legal force. Of particular interest is the Soviet-German pact of 1939 concerning the division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. But one more important document is somehow forgotten - the Rapallo Treaty. It did not have a statute of limitations and is still formally valid.

Aliens in Genoa

In 1922, Soviet diplomacy made a major breakthrough in the field of international relations. The world's first proletarian state was in isolation, the government of the recently formed USSR did not want to recognize the countries of Europe, Britain, the USA and many other states. The Soviet delegation arrived in Genoa in order to establish cooperation, mainly trade and economic, and to affirm a fait accompli in the world consciousness. A new state arose from the ruins Russian Empire; here is his flag - red, and here is his anthem - "Internationale". Feel free to reckon.

Very little succeeded on the first try. The head of the delegation, People's Commissar G. V. Chicherin, understood that it was necessary to look for allies, and among opponents, because there was nowhere else. And he found.

Germany after the crushing defeat of 1918 was a pariah country on a global scale. It was with this state that the mutually beneficial Rapallo Treaty was concluded a little later.

German affairs

Woe to the vanquished, this has been known since ancient times. Reparation payments imposed by the Entente countries on Germany crushed the country's economy, which itself suffered huge losses, human and material, for four years big war. In fact, state independence was trampled on, the size of the army, trade activities, foreign policy, the composition of the fleet and other issues usually resolved sovereign entities independently came under foreign control. An avalanche-like inflation raged in the country, there was no work, the banking system was ruined, in general, residents of post-Soviet countries who remember the early nineties, such a sad picture in in general terms familiar. In the early twenties, Germany needed an external partner, reliable and strong, just like Soviet Russia. The interest was mutual, the Germans needed raw materials and markets. The USSR had dire need in technologies, equipment and specialists, that is, in everything that the countries of the industrialized West denied. The Treaty of Rapallo with Germany became a means of overcoming this foreign policy frustration. It was signed by Georgy Chicherin and Walter Rathenau at the Imperial Hotel.

Renunciation of mutual claims

In the Italian city of Rapallo in 1922, on April 16, an event took place that was important not only for Soviet Russia, but also for Germany. This was understood by both parties, who found themselves outside the economic and political world processes. The fact is that the Rapallo peace treaty was the first post-war international agreement concluded by Germany on equal terms. The parties made mutual concessions unprecedented in history. The Germans recognized as fair the alienation of the property of their fellow citizens (called nationalization), and the USSR abandoned claims for damage caused by the aggressor during the hostilities. In fact, the compromise was forced. Both parties understood the impossibility of collecting any damages, and preferred to come to terms with the real state of affairs.

Realism and pragmatic considerations formed the basis on which the Rapallo treaty with Germany was based. The date of April 16, 1922 marked only the beginning joint activities two countries in international isolation. The main work was ahead.

Economic aspect

Germany before the First World War was considered the most industrialized country in Europe. It was here, in the place of the greatest concentration of the working class, according to Karl Marx, that the first proletarian revolution was to be born and take place. The defeat and the shameful conditions of the world seemed to put a fat cross on the industrial development of this state. Nevertheless, German firms, experiencing a serious shortage of raw materials and marketing and sales problems, continued to fight for existence. The significance of the Rapallo Treaty is eloquently indicated by the contracts that followed it. Already in 1923, Junkers undertook to build two aircraft factories on the territory of the USSR and sell a batch of finished aircraft, representatives of chemical concerns expressed a desire to jointly produce certain products (more on that later) on a joint basis, and also in the Soviet Union. The Reichswehr (which later became the Wehrmacht) made a major engineering order (more on that later). German engineers were invited to the USSR for work and consultations, and Soviet specialists went to Germany for training. The Treaty of Rapallo led to the conclusion of many other mutually beneficial agreements.

Military cooperation

Soviet Russia was not bound by the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, she did not sign it. Nevertheless, the young proletarian state could not openly ignore it - this would cause unnecessary complications on the diplomatic fronts, where the position of the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs was not yet very strong. Germany - under the terms of Versailles - was limited in the number of Reichswehr, did not have the right to create air Force and a full-fledged Navy. The conclusion of the Rapallo Treaty made it possible, in secrecy, to train German pilots in Soviet flying schools located deep in Russia. Officers for other military branches were trained on the same basis.

Treaty of Rapallo and defense industry

Industrial cooperation also covered the joint production of weapons.

The Rapallo treaty with Germany, in addition to the officially published text, had a number of secret applications. In addition, it has been updated several times.

Order for 400 thousand artillery shells three-inch caliber was made by the Soviet side. Planned construction joint venture producing agents (mustard gas) was not implemented due to the backwardness of German technology in this area. The Germans sold the cargo-and-passenger Junkers, but when organizing a licensed assembly, the company's representatives tried to cheat by supplying all the technically complex components ready-made. This did not suit the Soviet side, which was striving for the most complete development of advanced technologies. In the future, aviation technology in the USSR developed mainly on the domestic industrial base.

Result

The Rapallo treaty did not solve all the diplomatic problems facing the communist government of Soviet Russia, but it created a precedent for mutually beneficial trade and cooperation between countries with different political and economic systems. The ice broke, the process began, the issue of recognizing the new state as a subject of international law was resolved de facto for the first time. Already in 1924, diplomatic relations were established with Britain, Norway, Italy, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, France, China and several other countries. The results of the Treaty of Rapallo marked the path along which our country had to go through almost the entire remaining 20th century.

Outwardly, Germany's political position became more and more precarious. In this situation, Germany again turned its eyes to Soviet Russia. In early April 1922, German-Soviet negotiations took place in Berlin. Questions were discussed about the economic relationship between Soviet Russia and Germany, including questions about concessions and Germany's renunciation of claims for compensation for losses from the nationalization carried out in the RSFSR. The RSFSR delegation proposed reaching an agreement on the basis of Germany's complete and unconditional renunciation of the claim for damages. These negotiations, which began in Berlin, were not documented. The German government hoped to use its negotiations with Soviet Russia to bargain with the victorious powers at the Genoa Conference. However, representatives of these powers did not meet Germany, but Soviet Russia became an important factor international politics with which the government circles of Germany could not but reckon. It is precisely with this that many concessions and compromises are connected, to which the German government was doomed. In addition, the defeat of the interventionists and the confident position of the Russian delegation in Genoa convinced the German government that the RSFSR was a fairly reliable guarantor and counterbalance in negotiations with the Entente countries. Thus, for Germany, an alliance with Soviet Russia provided a real opportunity to improve its international position and to strengthen their positions in negotiations with the victorious powers.

The economic ties of Soviet Russia were also of extreme importance for Germany: the capacity and proximity of the Soviet market, good sources of raw materials were the goal for German industrialists and promised great benefits for her. The German monopolists even hoped to monopolize if possible. In addition, Russia itself made a similar offer to Germany back in Berlin, and now, for German capital, it was stupid to miss such an opportunity. Thus, Reich Chancellor Wirth himself initiated the resumption of the interrupted negotiations in Berlin with the delegation of the RSFSR. As a result of these negotiations, an agreement was reached, and on April 16, 1922, a Soviet-German treaty was signed in Rapallo (near Genoa).

The Treaty of Rapallo established diplomatic and consular relations between Germany and the RSFSR. Germany renounced its claims on capitalist property nationalized in the RSFSR, although in the agreement, at the insistence of the German side, it was not practical value a proviso that this refusal will be valid only if the government of the RSFSR does not satisfy similar claims of other states. The Treaty of Rapallo established the principle of most favored nation in Soviet-German trade and economic relations which, of course, created a favorable basis for the development of these relations. Under the Treaty of Rapallo, the parties refused to reimburse military expenses and losses, as well as non-military losses of citizens of both countries and the costs of prisoners of war. The Rapallo Treaty contained the refusal of Soviet Russia from German reparations. All articles of the Rapallo Treaty enshrined the principle of equality and reciprocity of both parties.

The significance of the German-Soviet treaty signed in Rapallo was enormous for both sides. It was one of the first general political treaties concluded by Germany on the basis of equality, mutually beneficial cooperation, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs. The Treaty of Rapallo practically embodied the ideas of peaceful coexistence of states. The treaty created the basis for the development and strengthening of normal political and economic relations between the Soviet state and

Germany in the interests of peace and security. The Treaty of Rapallo had great value for Germany, which was in the grip of the Versailles system. The treaty opened before Germany the prospect of a healthy development of the entire economy, as a result of maintaining normal trade relations with the Soviet country. The Treaty of Rapallo finally brought Germany out of international isolation and provided her with sufficient conditions for further pressure on the Entente countries, in order to revise its foreign policy towards Germany. Reich Chancellor Wirth announced the beginning of the turn in foreign policy Germany. On April 20, 1922, at the call of the KPD, demonstrations were held throughout Germany expressing approval of the Rapallo Treaty.

However, in Germany, the Rapallo Treaty was not welcomed by everyone willingly and loyally. Representatives of the largest concerns, the military and the right-wing social democracy opposed the treaty. Foreign Minister Rathenau, who signed the treaty, was killed by terrorists sent by reactionary circles. The governments of nine powers, including Britain and France, also opposed the treaty. In its reply note, the German government announced that it could not withdraw from the treaty. This kind of persistence was explained mainly by the interest of representatives of the German generals. Back in May 1921, at secret negotiations between employees of the German Ministry of Defense and Soviet representatives, the main topic was the strengthening of the Soviet military industry with the help of Germany: to create modern army the Bolsheviks needed technical assistance and financial help. With the help of German subsidies and specialists, the Soviet government hoped to lay the foundations of the aviation and other branches of the military industry. Germany had its reasons. The Russians were not parties to the Treaty of Versailles and were not interested in supporting it, including in matters relating to military restrictions. Huge natural resources Russia, as well as ranges remote from the prying eyes of observers of the Western powers, gave ideal opportunities both for the creation of weapons prohibited by peace treaties, and for the preparation of a contingent for the Reichswehr. Therefore, the Germans showed an increased interest in negotiations with the Soviet representatives. General Hans von Sect, commander of the Reichswehr, personally informed the Reich Chancellor K.I. about their progress. Wirth. Negotiations with Russian emissaries ended with the signing of secret agreements on August 11, 1922.

Negotiations on cooperation between the Red Army and the Reichswehr began in 1922. The negotiations at that time were conducted by Rozengolts, a member of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Union, and, after a long exchange of views, in the autumn of 1923 they adopted specific form contracts:

• a) with the Junkers company on the supply of aircraft and the construction of aircraft factories on the territory of the USSR;
• b) with the command of the Reichswehr on the joint construction of a mustard plant ( joint-stock companies"VIKO", "Metakhim", "Bersloh"). Further, in 1924, through the Metachim company, our industry accepted from the Reichswehr an order for 400,000 shells for field 3-inch guns.

The above agreements did not give us positive results. The Junkers company did not fulfill its obligations to supply the USSR with metal aircraft, and a plant for their production was not built. Therefore, the contract was terminated. The agreement on the joint construction of a mustard plant also had to be terminated, since the Stolzenberg company, to which the Reichswehr, for its part, entrusted the technical execution of the obligations assumed under the agreement (supply of equipment and organization of production) did not fulfill them. The equipment supplied by Stolzenberg did not comply with the terms of the contract, and the methods for making mustard gas by Soviet specialists, and subsequently by German ones, were recognized as outdated and unusable.

The Reichswehr order for 3-inch shells was executed, but this case brought great political damage to both the USSR and Germany, since this fact of cooperation, through the fault of the Germans themselves, became known to the Social Democrats, who, led by Stresemann, raised against Soviet Russia a big company in the press.

In order to expand contacts between the German military department and the Red Army, in February 1923, Germany sent a delegation to Moscow, headed by General Has, head of the military department of the Ministry of Defense. The delegation included a specialist in aviation technology from the department technical equipment Reichswehr. And in December of the same year, a representative office of the Reichswehr was opened in Moscow under the modest name "Moscow Center". It was headed by Colonel Thomsen, who worked under the pseudonym von Litz. The nature of the activities of this organization is indicated, in particular, by secret negotiations, at which the following problems were considered:

• a) on the reconstruction of the submarine plant in the city of Nikolaev by the Blom und Voss concern;
• b) on the creation in Russia of aircraft manufacturing plants of the Junkers and Fokker firms;
• c) about being sent to work in Soviet design bureaus(aircraft, machine-building, artillery, ammunition and tank) German specialists.

Thus, the first period of cooperation between Germany and the USSR had few positive economic results, but marked the beginning political cooperation. If, by the agreements of 1923, Germany and, in particular, the Reichswehr, sought to become suppliers for Soviet Russia in the field of aviation and chemistry and to secure influence on the corresponding branches of Soviet industry, then, starting from 1925, when the failures with Junkers and the mustard gas plant were already clearly defined , cooperation gradually began to be transferred to other rails. Since that time, Germany has become more interested in acquiring greater influence to the Russian army air fleet(impact on the organization and tactical training Red Army).

Based on the opinions studied and the above points of view on the question of the causes and objectives of cooperation between Germany and Soviet Russia in the first post-war years, it should be noted that the relations of these two powers were built exclusively on mutually beneficial and mutual necessary conditions. The mutual attraction was also explained by the fact that, having established diplomatic contacts with each other, Germany and Soviet Russia were able together to resist the world community at that time, which rejected and did not recognize the legitimacy of the existence of these states. Germany, feeling the need to cooperate with the RSFSR, not only refused to intervene in the early 20s, but also secured a rather friendly disposition by signing the Ropallo Treaty, thereby forcing the Entente countries to hold back military sanctions after, and later completely revise them in favor of Germany.

In turn, Soviet Russia, being in a similar position, found in Germany a profitable economic partner. Germany, by skilful diplomatic moves, was able to get the most out of German-Soviet relations, bypassing the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. For the German state, Soviet Russia was the only equal and full-fledged partner with which Germany was able to build its policy in its own interests, without prejudice, but on the contrary, putting itself in the most favorable perspective. The best and most reasoned proof of this is the beginning of secret military cooperation. Thus, the tasks of the beginning of German-Soviet diplomacy are as follows:

• 1. establish diplomatic relations with each other, get out of international isolation;
• 2. in conditions of international isolation, mutually complementing each other, to conduct economic cooperation;
• 3. bypassing the limitations of the world community, start solving their own domestic political problems and tasks;
• 4. support each other in rivalry on international arena in relation to third countries.

On April 16, 1922, the Genoa Conference started. Among other participants there was the Weimar Republic and the RSFSR. It was these countries that eventually signed the treaty, which stated that Germany would recognize the USSR as a state. She pledged to establish strong diplomatic and economic relations with her.

In total, 29 countries of the world took part in the conference. Among them were France, England, and others. As a result, all countries managed to reach a general agreement. As a result, the Treaty of Rapallo was concluded. Georgy Chicherin then acted as the representative of the USSR. Germany sent Walther Rathenau as a representative of its interests.

Contract clauses

The Treaty of Rapallo provided for the instant approval of diplomatic relations between Germany and the RSFSR // Photo: pontos-news.gr

In addition, the so-called "most favored nation" regime was established between the camps. He assumed that if any Soviet entrepreneur visited Germany, England, France and another state, then they were obliged to provide him with all the conditions for the most productive work. This regime also worked in the opposite direction.

All clauses of the agreement were approved and signed exactly on time. This historic event took place on November 5, 1922 in the capital of Germany. Its action extended absolutely to all Soviet republics.

The treaty was the first maximally equal treaty after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles // Photo: wikipedia.org

Effects

The Rapalla Treaty is a model for building ideal international relations. Thanks to its signing, the RSFSR finally got rid of diplomatic isolation and was accepted by the world community. The newly minted state made the first important decision in its history. In addition, the treaty was the first maximally equal treaty since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

After the signing of the treaty, such an expression as the "Spirit of Rapallo" appeared in the world community. It was periodically used when signing documents and meant that each side treated each other with respect.

The Treaty of Rapalla is an example of building ideal international relations // Photo: roicullsiekemet.blogas.lt