Word: molotovs
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...remark that stung Molotov most was Marshall's indirect reference to the fact that Russia (at Potsdam) had agreed to German economic unification, but was now trying to up the price. Said Marshall: "It looks very much to us as though the Soviet Union is trying to sell the same horse twice." Replied Molotov: "We did not approach this problem of reparations from a point of view of merchants, but we do not want other merchants selling our horse at a low price without our consent." (The strong equine note in the discussion reminded observers of an old Russian...
...week's biggest news was Molotov's first specific statement on Germany's political future. He started, true to form, by denouncing the Western nations' plans for a federalized Germany as a "plot to dismember" the country. But there were signs that the Russians might compromise. Molotov, suggesting that the Germans themselves fix the degree of federalization, proposed that the old Weimar Constitution be used as a basis for a new one. This drew immediate objections. Cried France's Bidault: "The ghost of the Weimar Republic will not find favor with the French people...
...Molotov and Bidault represented the two extreme positions on the matter- and an instructive paradox. Russia, which calls itself a federation of 16 individual republics, demanded a relatively unified Germany; France, which has one of Europe's most closely centralized administrations, demanded a loose German federation. The issue was not really one of political forms: Russia wanted to curry favor with the Germans, and France in accordance with her traditional policy wanted to weaken Germany...
Tactics & Strategy. George Marshall drove himself and his colleagues hard. One incident was typical. Bevin suggested that the deputies for Austria be asked to submit their report. Molotov objected: "The Austrian deputies may not be prepared to report on such short notice." Whereupon Marshall snapped in his crispest military tone: "The American deputy will be ready." Half an hour later, the American deputy (General Mark Clark) was told at his hotel to make a progress report next day. Cried he, aghast: "We made a report on London. You mean progress here?" Then he stalked off to write a report...
Marshall scored his neatest diplomatic touchdown when Molotov accused the U.S. of holding back reparations from Germany. The Russian reported (from a document Andrei Vishinsky handed him) that Mr. John Green, of the U.S. Commerce Department, had publicly emphasized the great value of German patents which the U.S. had obtained...