Soviet-German Agreement
In August 1939, Germany broke the terms of the Anti-Comintern Pact when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed between the Soviet Union and Germany. However, by 1940, Hitler began to plan for a potential invasion (planned to start in 1943) of the Soviet Union. The German foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, was sent to negotiate a new treaty with Japan. On September 25, 1940, Ribbentrop sent a telegram to Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet foreign minister, informing him that Germany, Italy and Japan were about to sign a military alliance. Ribbentrop tried to reassure Molotov by claiming that this alliance was to be directed towards the United States and not the Soviet Union:
- "Its exclusive purpose is to bring the elements pressing for America's entry into the war to their senses by conclusively demonstrating to them if they enter the present struggle they will automatically have to deal with the three great powers as adversaries."
This was welcomed by the Soviet Union, which went as far as to propose two months later to join Axis. The preliminary condition, unacceptable for Germany, was to greatly extend Soviet sphere of influence to include: Bulgaria, Bosfor, Dardanelles, Batumi, Baku, and further south "towards Persian Gulf".
Read more about this topic: Anti-Comintern Pact
Famous quotes containing the word agreement:
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—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)