In the aftermath of World War I, the armed forces of both Germany and Russia were in desperate straits indeed. The end result had two past and future adversaries effectively sharpening each other’s sabers-sabers that they would shortly draw against one another.ĭesperate conditions can lead to imaginative thinking. This transformation lay in a feat of military secrecy on a grand scale: a period of cooperation in which the Soviet Union helped Germany circumvent international law by allowing it to rebuild its armed forces in Russia, and in which Germany gave Russia an evolutionary boost in technology and training. More remarkably, by the outbreak of World War II, the defeated powers of the First World War had surpassed the victors in their ability to wage modern, mechanized warfare. Yet just over a decade later, Germany and Russia were fielding cutting-edge air and mechanized forces. The civil war between the Reds and the Whites-and intervention by the Western powers-had further devastated the country. Millions of Russians had died in the war. Germany had suffered a catastrophic defeat, and its new democratic government had to con- tend with an economic crisis, a communist revolution, and the loss of 10 percent of its territory. Both countries were in desperate shape after World War I. In 1920 any well-informed observer would have found it highly improbable, if not impossible, that Germany and Russia would pose a military threat to the world for decades to come. How Germany conspired with Russia to build a cutting-edge army and air force-long before the start of World War II. Devil’s Bargain: Germany and Russia Before WWII Close
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