Word: baltics
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...world knew the classic cornerstone of Russian diplomacy: that no nation but Russia should control the Black Sea straits. Joseph Stalin's choice was now a grim one. If he acquiesced in the Axis Drang nach Osten, he ran the risk of being bottled in both the Baltic and Black Seas by Germany. If he did not, he ran the risk of being attacked by 2,000,000 real soldiers through what used to be Poland...
...diplomatic defeat. On Oct. 22, British Ambassador Sir Stafford Cripps had presented a note to the Kremlin offering a promise never to attack Russia, a guarantee of Russian participation in World War II's peace treaty and, ironically, de facto recognition of Russia's absorption of the Baltic States.* Britain asked in return only "a more benevolent attitude." Joseph Stalin's reply had been to send Comrade Molotov to Berlin...
...mission's failure. The truth is that it was not so much Sir Stafford who failed as the British Government in London, which understands Russian sensitivity less than its Ambassador. While Sir Stafford was earnestly assuring Moscow of Britain's friendship, the Government froze the Baltic States' bank balances in England, refused to surrender Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian ships in British ports, and last month requisitioned several of those ships. All this served to deepen Joseph Stalin's Oriental distrust of the Occidental Britons...
...Britain's refusal to recognize Russia's sphere of influence in the Baltic that caused the breakdown of Anglo-Franco-Russian talks in 1939, and the subsequent Russo-German Non-Aggression Treaty...
Referring to the annexation of the Baltic countries, Meyendorff asserted that it was "a continuation of the Civil War. Whole regiments in the Red Army were composed solely of Latvians, who gained a reputation of bravery fighting on all fronts including Siberia and the South...