Russian Ambassador Sergey Andreev has caused an outcry in Poland after stating that Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 was an act of self-defense prompted by the failure of the Poles to join a coalition against Hitler. It was a bizarre claim was not only politically disastrous but historically moronic. The Russians have often omitted from their accounts of the heroic Russian war with Germany that they were first and foremost an ally of Hitler and sought to carve up Europe with him. it was only when Hitler betrayed Stalin that the Russians fought against Germany in its invasion.
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop was non-aggression pact containing a secret protocol dividing Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland between the two dictators. Had Hitler not invaded Russia, Russia was committed to a non-aggression pact and the subjugation of its neighbors to dictatorship. It was a disgraceful chapter in Russian history that the Putin government appears eager to rewrite. Indeed, adding to this ignoble history, was the betrayal of Polish freedom fighters in the Warsaw uprising and the massacre of Polish intellectuals by the Russians in Katyn Forest.
The invasion of Poland was a joint operation between Nazi Germany and Russia — with the German invasion occurring one week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
Andreev insisted “Polish policy led to the disaster in September 1939, because during the 1930s Poland repeatedly blocked the formation of a coalition against Hitler’s Germany . . . Poland was therefore partly responsible for the disaster which then took place.” It is an untrue and dishonorable statement from a country that contributed to the death of millions in Poland.
There is an irony in these efforts to shift blame, including Poland’s own checkered history in dealing with Hitler. The German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact was signed in 1934 and pledged to avoid armed conflict for ten years. Later, it was suggested that this pact was the result of a refusal by France to declare war on Germany when Hitler began to rearm his country and violate the Treaty of Versailles. When France refused, Poland moved ahead with its pact with Hitler, though historians are divided on this relationship between France’s decision and the decision of Poland to join Hitler in its own agreement. None of this however offers any excuse or rationalization for Russia to carve up Poland and other countries in coordination with Hitler.
Regrettably, Putin has reasserted many of the worst Soviet-era powers and practices, including propaganda and historical revisionism. Just in case pictures can speak a thousand words, here are the Germans and Russians congratulating each other on the invasion of Poland and carving up the country:
For every action there is and equal and opposite reaction. History is written by the victors but written as well by each country for each country. All one needs to create a position is some modicum of truth. Then avoid some facts, embellish others, and design history. Look at Vietnam, Iraq, etc. They may be manipulated facts but their our manipulated facts.
Now for some vitriol.
Attack a country who is not a threat in “self defense”. It never gets old.
jeb good video. Just think if the assassination plot would have been successful. When sociopaths get into power just take them out rather then letting them actually start wars.
RIght now we have the little Hitler in North Korea, Kim Jong-un, the son of another sociopath Kim Jong-il
It’s a military junta and monarchy? An oligarchy none the less.
Here we spend more than the next 11 countries combined on defense and we along with the So. Koreans, and Chinese cannot remove this little wart.
Is there a political will to do something like this? We know we train political assassins. If we took out all bad guys, we would not have to have this huge military and the industrial complex to support it. Hence there is no political incentive to rid the world of tyrants.
Today we have instantaneous cell phone photos and videos going viral of events associated with military attacks. We have instantaneous comments, tweets, Facebook posts, blot posts of events as they are happening to people who are in the midst of the events. And still, interpretations of the facts differ, assumptions differ, reports differ. History books represent the biases of the authors and publishers. To get a decent sense of what happened you have to read a variety of interpretations from people who were there, representing, different factions, different ethnicities, different economic conditions, and still all will be influenced by official government narratives which were not designed to represent facts, but rather to make respective leaders look good. If you are holding yourself out as knowing history, hopefully you have read a wide array of reports from diverse observers.
Putin is the most dangerous man in the world and will challenge Obama in a big way soon. He’s testing the waters in Ukraine, Syria and elsewhere.
I knew this post would attract the President of the Russian/Putin Fan Club. Every dictator needs a Baghdad Bob.
It is interesting how so many politicians, including military officers embrace warfare. The reason is obvious because they are rewarded by the military industrial complex through campaign contributions and a host of other bennies.
It appears the harder determination is choosing which side of the war you will be on and hopefully it is the winners.
The Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel tried to assassinate Hitler. Erwin was unhappy with mass shootings and gassing of Jews in Poland.
Some one says be my ally and you say no. They invade and their aggression is YOUR FAULT! Yep, sounds like Russian logic to me.
Good review of history by randyjet above. America made a mistake by bringing Poland and other former Eastern Bloc nations into NATO. This makes war with Russia more risky not less.
Russia is the Texas of the world?
Let’s do a reality check:
1. Both Big. Yup.
2. Both heavily dependent on oil. Yup.
3. Both really boring to drive across. Yup.
4. Both led by persons with outsized visions of their own grandeur. Yup.
5. Both have nukyular missiles. Yup. But Texas can’t fire them on its own.
6. Both have 17th century health care policies (“if you can pay for it, you can get it”). Yup.
7. Both have soccer fields. Yup.
8. Both have borscht. Nope.
9. Both have Glenn Beck. Nope.
10. Both hosted the Olympics. Nope.
Seven out of ten ain’t bad, especially if you’re from Texas. As you must be, since you hate it that much.
The russian soldiers were even to toxic to be good fertilizer.
Russians lie.
It is in their DNA. They lied to and for the tsars, they lied to and for the soviets and now they lie to and for czar putin.
A crowd of cowards who only fight when it cannot be avoided and preferably against unarmed people.
Russia was the only ally of hitler to win the war.
They invaded Finland and have kept the Karelia pennisula . A referundum on whether they would rather be Finnish or degenerate russian is not to be allowed. But a crimean referendum under the guns of the coorupt russian army is supposedly “legitamate”. Only a failed and false sect such as the russian orthodox could be so dishonest and conspiciously in pursuit of raw power could accept this parody. But then again the russian orthodox are a parody of religion way before Monty Python’s the “Life of Brian”.
Then they marched into the baltics because heaven forbid any free people be allowed to exist next to the brainless murders that are the russian people.
Then they enabled Hitler to start a war that devestated their country and then whined because they were victims of their own stupidity.
Russia the texas of the world.
Anyone who moves out of the country lowers the average IQ of bothe russia and wherever they go and anyone who moves in ( even punch drunk boxers and drug addled actors) raises the average IQ of where ever they leave and the cesspool of the world.
Randyjet….glad you “got a laugh out of the Poles complaining about the Soviets 1939 invasion of their country” .
Tom, Yes I DO get a laugh out of the Poles complaining about the Soviets taking back the territory that they took from the Soviets in 1923. You will recall that the dictator Gen Pilsudski attacked the Soviet Union while the Soviets were fighting against 14 other countries and thought he could restore Poland to its previous empire size. Then to compound the crime, they complain about the Soviets doing to Poland, what the Poles did to Czechoslovakia. Maybe you can explain to us all why it is right for Poland to attack the Soviet Union at the time without any declaration of war or provocation, otherwise known as a sneak attack. Then you can explain to us why it was right for Poland to join Hitler in taking apart Czechoslovakia when he decided to finish off that poor country. I call that rough justice since they reaped what they had sown.
I’m still mulling over your previous contentions that Michael Brown was shot from 100 feet away with his hands up, or that the Germanwings pilot did not intentionally crash the plane that killed over 100 passengers.
These are truly bizarre conclusions. Of you are determined to be an apologist for Stalin_ fine. We can play that game, too. And Adolf was merely trying to recapture German territory lost after WWI when he invaded Poland.
The facts are that Poland was sandwiched in between two imperial powers….first the Soviets, then the Nazi. It had nonaggression pacts with both, in an attempt to remain sovereign and avoid being swallowed up by either.
There are still some apologists for both Hitler and Stalin. The tone of your initial comment here was to shift much of the blame from the Soviets onto Poland. That is garbage.
I’m not wasting any more time revisiting your Michael Brown or Germanwings bizzare theories, or your remarkable, tilted views on shifting blame from the Soviets onto the Poles. It’s all garbage.
Thank you, Comrade Randyjet. I never knew before that the Poles were responsible for the outbreak of WWII.
I don’t know if you are mentally challenged or not, but I did NOT say the Poles were responsible for WWII. I DID say, the Poles REFUSED the offer of an alliance against Hitler by the Soviets. THAT is a FACT which you can easily check on. For a fuller explanation of the times, I suggest you read Manchester’s bio of Churchill, Alone, which details all the gory details. Thus the Russians are correct in stating that the Poles by their actions, of invading Czechoslovakia in conjunction with Hitler and refusing an alliance with the Soviets, ARE partially to blame for the CONDITIONS which allowed Hitler to think he could win a war. Of course Chamberlain and France are just as responsible too. I suggest you learn some history and THINK for a change.
What the Russians say is true in that Poland DID refuse Stalin’s proposal for an alliance against Hitler. Poland at the time was a military dictatorship, and the Foreign minister, Col. Beck was quite proud of the fact, he rejected the Soviets offer of an alliance. I would suggest people here read Manchester’s bio of Churchill which deals with this situation and it is quite depressing to see how stupid the leaders were. In fact, the whole idea of appeasement of Hitler was based on the hope that Hitler would attack the Soviet Union. When the Stalin/Hitler pact was signed, the western leaders realized that the tanks and planes they let Hitler build could move WEST as well as east. A fact Churchill had long been publicizing. The Poles were not alone in their stupidity since they were encouraged in this by the UK and France.
I get a laugh out of Poland complaining about the Soviets invading after Hitler had attacked. The fact is that Poland was AN ALLY OF HITLER when they invaded what was left of Czechoslovakia after Hitler took over the rest of that country. Poles think it is RIGHT for THEM to invade and steal a good chunk of their neighbors territory, but BAD when others do to them what they did to others. Stalin was just following the Polish example in invading Poland. It can also be reasonably argued that the Soviets had a RIGHT to the territory they took back since it had been stolen from the Soviet Union in the Soviet/ Polish war in 1923. In FACT the line that the Soviet advanced to was drawn by the British, Lord Curzon, who drew it for the boundaries of Poland after WWI. The British government after WWII had no argument against the Soviets then because the British still officially recognized the Curzon line as being the legitimate eastern boundary of Poland.
As for the Katyn mass murder, Stalin was indeed guilty of ordering that one. It was wrong, and should never have been done. I have to note as well that similar mass murders were committed by the military government of Poland during the Pilsudski regime and wars. I don’t think they got 20,000 at one shot, but I believe the totals are greater of Reds murdered by the Whites in Poland. There were similar mass murders throughout Europe in most countries that came out of the old Russian empire or Austro-Hungarian one. So no one side has clean hands here.
The only lies extent here are those who lie about history either through ignorance or malice. For those who are ignorant. you can remedy that. For the others I have no use for you or your views since you are so corrupt it is pointless.
Hilter was also pissed off by the Soviet invasion of Finland prior to his June 1941 attack on the Soviet Union.
Stalin, also a world-class mass murderer, had decimated his military with his favorite hobby….purges.
I think the Soviets succeeded in WWII in spite of Stalin, not because of him.
They are propagandized the most who think themselves propagandized the least.
Ironic that the Russians are now adopting Hitler’s “Big Lie” school of propaganda.
“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” Alphonse Karr
Sometimes humans simply drink too much vodka and make massive, massive mistakes or they just lie. This feels like a lie to me.