In news that conveys perfectly the ideological emptiness of Realpolitik, declassified Moscow documents, now shed light on London and Washington’s apparent acquiescence to the Soviet annexation of the Baltic, prior to the German attack on the USSR.
This will be embarrassing for the British and American governments, who portrayed such solidarity with the people of Eastern Europe while trapped under the Soviet yoke.
From The Guardian:
Sphere: Related ContentReceived wisdom has it that the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, was deeply ambivalent about Moscow taking control of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940. But the editor of the 400-page dossier, Major General Lev Sotskov, told the Guardian it demonstrated that the UK and US “perfectly understood” that the region was needed as a buffer zone for the inevitable moment when Nazi Germany would break its non-aggression pact with Moscow and attack the Soviet Union.
Gen Sotskov said the documents proved that American and British leaders were often divided over their position on Soviet troop movements and their “public declarations clashed with internal assessments”. But Soviet intelligence showed that Churchill decided it was a pragmatic move not to confront Moscow’s occupation of neighbouring territory, which ended with the Nazi invasion of the Baltics in 1941. “Churchill realised this was the only way,” he said. “He saw it as a not very pleasant but necessary step to prevent Germany from further intrigues and advance.”
The Finns did not give in they fought 1939. Finnland survived. Estonia military officals sent some officers abroad to be save in 1939 already. Estonia had to pay a high price. Waggons to the Gulag, soldiers in the Red Army , soldiers under German command, and again waggons to Siberia and refugees all over the world.
Hi Jens-Olaf,
Yeah the Finns were brilliantly resourceful. A war-buff friend at work loves to regale me with stories of the Finnish air force.
I had a look at your blog, but alas, I don’t read German. I know a couple of my readers do. It’s a shame, as I have been looking for a good Estii blog. As a matter of fact, I’m in Tallinn for 10 days in a couple of weeks!
I love Tallinn.
Giustino does the job at http://www.palun.blogspot.com, he is from New York and his wife from Estonia. Maybe we will see him as a journalist in Tallinn in the future. There are not that many blogs reporting about Estonia regulary in English (politics). The Estonians are fine with their eesti keel.
And, I always forget to mention the war of the forest brothers in the Baltics lasting into the 50s, the undergound fighters against Germans and Soviets.
Thanks for that Jens-Olaf.
Interesting. I wonder if the Estonian government would hire a top UK blogger to cover Estonia? I think I could be happy writing from our Tallinn apartment.
Note to self. But some gloves and warm hat.
If i could I would like to promote such project. One of the first English writing blogger was Scott, kind of pioneer:
‘Welcome to Baltic Blog
TALLINN — I’m Scott Abel, a media professor at Concordia International University Estonia, a small private college on the outskirts of Tallinn, Estonia. …
I spent six months in Estonia in 2001 and planned to come back at the start of 2002, but September 11th and the war in Afghanistan derailed my return until August.’
But I guess he is back home now. He let his students do a blog as a semester work. Some in English. His blog is history now, but still interesting to read.
http://balticblog.blogspot.com
Interesting, Jens-Olaf, am adding that balticblog to my browser.
I couldn’t access palun, though.
Sorry,once again:
http://www.palun.blogspot.com
Thanks for a good read.
But remember that Finland lost!!!
It needed a huge effort by Finns to repay the war debt ( today many think that was a mistake).
Also, let us be honest here, without Russians giving up their lives the Hitler machine would have carried on without too much opposition.
And, since when were the UK or USA politics clean in thought word and deed?
Can anyone give an example?
Thanks again for tempting me into thought and action.
Zlainkspots, no one has a doubt about the efforts of the Soviet Army defeating the Wehrmacht. If the Soviets would not have send the Balts, Poles, Jews and others to the GULAG in 1941 and starting it again after the second occupation 1944, their reputation would be much better in the Baltics.
In Finland more people survived. Estonia, occupied three times in a row lost 25% of its population. For Britain it would had been more than 10 million.
Estonia lost the Germans, Jews, the Estonian Swedes who fled to Sweden 1944, they lost their parlamentarians, a lot of scientists, politicians, books were burnt by Soviets after the war. Giustino (palun.blogspot) emphazised that nearly all the ‘Founding Brothers’ of Estonia from 1918-1920 became victims of the Soviets.
Ouch!!!!
Er. Not really. No.
I think for a few years, before Robin Cook was cruelly sidelined, Labour did indeed have an ethical foreign policy. But Blair, blinded by neocon ideology, soon put pay to that.
I should say, for the record, that Mrs tyger is Estonian, but of Russian stock.
Estonia gave up in 1939, she was in a difficult situation. Päts, the president, was ruling, some say he was a dictator, there were signs for a change to democracy again, maybe not. But it was not like in Germany. Jews were still living in Estonia and their institutions were still alive. This ended in 1941, the Soviets closed down the Jewish insitutions in Estonia. I wished Estonians would be strong enough to resist every threat. They did not. The government did not tell the people that Estonia was lost. They advised my grandfather, a military, to emigrate in October 1939. Telling him to go and save his life (Molotov-Ribbentrop pact). What happened to Estonia then? I`ve told already here. And the Soviets and Nazis found their collaborators they needed. And because of that they got them today to bash each other.
Thank you, Jens-Olaf, this time I got Palun blog alright. Added it to my browser.
The Yalta meeting had much to do with the situation in the world after WWII- Churchill, Rosevelt and Stalin sliced the world to their convenience, thus the outcome was what it was. The West acquiesced to Stalin’s demands, perfectly knowing what the countries that were to be within the scope of Russian Stalinism were going to suffer under that iron fist. So the Western allies should share half the blame for all that happened.
Hello, i love tygerland.net! Let me in, please
Hello Lusidvicel,
tygerland.net loves all its readers.
In where?
Please take most of Scott Abels rantings with a pinch of salt. He is a right wing American from Kansas who supported the war on Iraq 100%. I think right now he has restricted access to his blog because there were a lot of us who were totally opposed to what he was saying. He also gave several lectures on how the EU is a bad institution and why Europe should be modelled more along the lines of Republican America. Since the WMD was has come full circle he seems to be in hiding. If you do want a neo conservatives view of the Baltics please by all means do log into his blog.