• Interior
• Window
• Walls
• Projects
• The buildings

Tripartite Pact

Representatives of the delegations of Germany, Italy and Japan at the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact (Berlin, 1940)

Tripartite Pact(also known as Berlin Pact of 1940 And Three Power Pact)- a treaty concluded in Berlin on September 27, 1940, which created the military alliance known as the Axis Powers. The name of the treaty reflects the initial number of contracting parties, which were Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan.

1. Essence of the agreement

The pact provided that over the next 10 years, the participating countries would provide each other with support and cooperation in achieving geopolitical goals, the main of which was the establishment of a new world order.

According to the Tripartite Pact, the participating countries pledged to provide each other with political, economic and military assistance and determined own spheres influence in the world. Germany and Italy asserted their dominance in Europe, and Japan in East Asia.

The agreement determined the development of German-Japanese cooperation in the military-political sphere, begun by the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936, and allowed Germany to level out relations with Japan, which to a certain extent had deteriorated as a result of the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that year.

2. Accession of other countries to the pact

During 1940-41 to Tripartite Pact A number of countries joined that were dependent on one of the states that concluded it, as well as those that, through cooperation with these states, wanted to solve their own foreign policy problems - to realize territorial claims, to ensure security from external attacks, etc.

2.1. Kingdom of Hungary

Tangible territorial losses led to the growth of ultra-patriotic sentiments in the country, the rise to power of the far-right fascist organization “Iron Guard” and the accession of Romania to the Tripartite Pact on November 23, 1940.

2.3. The Slovak Republic

Formally, Slovakia joined the Tripartite Pact on November 24, 1940, although in practice it began to fulfill its allied obligations to Germany already in the first days of World War II, taking part in the Polish Wehrmacht campaign in September 1939. signed the Tripartite Pact on March 25, 1941. This caused mass protests in Yugoslavia and two days later a military mutiny occurred in the country with the support of the British government. The new leadership of the state, led by the general, formally joined the Pact on June 15, 1941.

Treaty of Military Alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan, signed in Berlin on behalf of their governments by German Foreign Minister J. Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister G. Ciano and Japanese Ambassador to Germany S. Kurusu.

The conclusion of the pact was preceded by lengthy negotiations between the three aggressors, which began even before the outbreak of World War II. The first draft of the agreement, entitled “Pact of Consultation and Mutual Assistance,” was prepared by Ribbentrop, agreed upon with the then Japanese Ambassador to Germany H. Oshima and submitted to the head of the Italian government and leader of the Fascist Party of Italy B. Mussolini and G. Ciano in September 1938. Its main content boiled down to the acceptance by Germany, Italy and Japan of an obligation to provide military assistance to each other in the event of an attack on any of them by one or more states. This project was rejected first by the Italian and then by the Japanese leadership. B. Mussolini, during negotiations with Ribbentrop, who arrived in Rome in October 1938, saw the drawback of the project in that it was of a defensive nature, while Germany, Italy and Japan were not threatened and they needed another treaty, which “should change geographical map peace." The Japanese government approved the project in early March 1939, but demanded that it include a clause stating that the military alliance was directed exclusively against the USSR and had no force in a war against other states. The need to include such a clause in the text of the pact was motivated by the fact that Japan was not yet ready to “wage an effective war at sea” against such powerful naval powers as Great Britain and the United States, as well as Japan’s reluctance to spoil Japanese-American relations and, as a result, to lose exports from the United States strategic materials needed to wage war with China. The reservation proposed by Japan was unacceptable to Germany and Italy. Their leadership wanted to conclude an alliance that, depending on the situation, would have power in the war, both against the USSR and the Western powers. Such an alliance between Germany and Italy was concluded on May 22, 1939 (“Pact of Steel”). He had, however, another drawback. Before signing the union treaty, Mussolini informed Berlin that he planned to complete Italy’s preparations for participation in a pan-European war only in 1942, and it would not enter it before that date. The German leadership accepted this condition. On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland and thus began World War II. On the same day, Hitler notified Mussolini that Italy would not need military support for Germany, after which the Italian government hastened to declare its “non-participation” in the war. When England and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, it further strengthened its decision not to engage in hostilities, and the Japanese government on September 4 declared “disinterest” in the war in Europe and intended to concentrate on “conflict resolution” in China. After the defeat of Poland, the German government began to seek Italy's entry into the war against England and France, as well as Japan's consent to conclude a military alliance directed against England. Italy declared war on England and France on June 10, 1940, as soon as it became clear that France was suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of German forces. At the same time, she hoped to take advantage of the defeat of the Anglo-French coalition to seize dominance in the Mediterranean. Japan in July 1940 announced its intention to establish close relations with Germany in order to take advantage of its support and victory in Europe in the interests of expanding its dominance in Asia. The path to concluding an alliance with Japan against England, which Germany had been striving for since the beginning of the war, was open. Meanwhile, on July 31, 1940, a decision was made in Berlin to prepare an attack on the USSR in the spring of next year. Hitler and his military leaders hoped to defeat him, like France, in one lightning campaign. Therefore, they considered it unnecessary to involve Italy and Japan in their anti-Soviet plans. They assigned these countries a supporting role in advance: Italy was supposed to shackle the forces of England in the Mediterranean, and Japan - the forces of England and the United States, which sympathized with it, in the Asia-Pacific region. Ambassador-at-Large H. T. Stahmer was sent to Tokyo to conduct secret negotiations on concluding a military alliance between Germany and Italy, on the one hand, and Japan, on the other. Negotiations began on September 9, 1940. On September 19, Ribbentrop presented the text of the treaty, already approved by the Japanese government, for consideration by Mussolini. He completely approved of it. After this, the Three Power Pact was signed in Berlin. In the preamble, the contracting parties stated the decision taken cooperate with each other to "carry out their aspirations in the great East Asian space and European areas" and extend this cooperation "to other nations in other parts of the world who are inclined to act in the same direction." The treaty stated that Japan “recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in creating a new order in Europe” (Art. 1), and Germany and Italy “recognize and respect the leadership of Japan in creating a new order in the great East Asian space” (Art. .2). Germany, Italy and Japan declared their intention to cooperate on the above basis and pledged to "support each other by all political, economic and military means in the event that one of the three contracting countries should be attacked by any power not presently participating" in a European war or in the Sino-Japanese conflict (Art. 3). To implement these provisions, the creation of “technical commissions” was envisaged, the composition of which was to be determined by the governments of Germany, Italy and Japan (Article 4). The Covenant contained a clause that “this agreement in no way affects political status, which currently exists between each of the three contracting parties and Soviet Russia” (Art. 5). Thus, Germany, Italy and Japan openly announced their claims to establish at their own discretion a “new order” in the vast expanse of Europe and Asia and beyond. They pledged to jointly use all means, including military ones, so that the USSR and the USA, which at that time did not participate in the war of Germany and Italy against England and Japan against China, would not be able to prevent the establishment of dominance by the three aggressive powers in Europe and Asia. The reservation that the Pact of Three did not affect the political relations that had developed at that time between Germany, Italy and Japan with the USSR was doubtful, since, despite the conclusion by Germany of a non-aggression treaty with the USSR in 1939, the one concluded in 1936-1937 remained in force . between Germany, Japan and Italy the Anti-Comintern Pact, which had a clearly anti-Soviet ideological and political orientation. In fact, this clause was included in the treaty by the German government in order to disguise the preparations that had begun for an attack on the USSR, which it began in July 1940. For this reason, the German leadership, striving to achieve surprise in the attack, hid its anti-Soviet intentions even from its allies . At the same time, in order to further strengthen and expand its positions before the upcoming “march against Russia,” it achieved the involvement of a number of states of South-Eastern Europe in the military alliance of the three powers. The Three Powers Pact was joined by Hungary (November 20, 1940), Romania (November 23, 1940), Bulgaria (March 1, 1941), as well as the puppet state entities- The Slovak Republic (November 24, 1940) and the Independent State of Croatia (June 16, 1941), created by Slovak and Croatian separatists at the direction of Berlin during the liquidation of the Czechoslovak Republic (1938-1939) and Yugoslavia (1941). Together with Germany, its allies under the Three Power Pact took part in the attack on the USSR in the summer of 1941: Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia, while Bulgaria played the role of Germany’s outpost on the Balkan Peninsula. Without concluding a formal alliance with Germany, Finland also participated in the attack on the USSR. Japan in July-August 1941 took measures to build up its forces Kwantung Army in Manchuria, threatening the USSR with an attack on it from the East. At the same time, she continued preparations for a war against England and the United States with the aim of seizing dominance in Asia. Attack Japanese fleet to the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, marking the beginning of the Pacific War. On December 11, 1941, Germany, Italy and Japan signed an agreement on the joint conduct of the war and committed themselves not to conclude either peace or armistice with the United States and England without mutual consent; to bring the fight against them to a victorious end in order to achieve “a new order in the spirit of the Three Powers Pact signed on September 27, 1940.” As a sign of solidarity with Japan and its allies, a state of war with the United States and England was declared on December 16, 1941 by the puppet government of Manchukuo, on January 25, 1942 by the government of Thailand, and on November 30, 1943 by the Chinese collaborationist government of Wang Jingwei.

Historical sources:

Documents and materials on the eve of the Second World War. T. 1-2. M., 1981.

Why didn't they shoot Zhukov? [In defense of Marshal of Victory] Kozinkin Oleg Yuryevich

Tripartite (Berlin) Pact of the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis, or Why Stalin could not attack Hitler “preventively” and why Hitler declared war on the United States in December 1941

When examining the question of whether Stalin could or could not attack Hitler in the first summer of 1941, it is not very often that researchers and historians examine such a question in the problem - could the USSR be drawn into a war on two fronts in this case? What would we have to do with Japan if the USSR attacked Germany first?

Supporters and admirers of Rezun declare in unison that nothing would have happened. Japan would not have attacked the Soviet Far East in this case. Because Japan itself was going to fight in South East Asia and the USSR was not interested in her.

As they say, the smart guys got it... And in order not to be unfounded, we’ll just look at the documents, treaties and agreements of the Axis countries and the USSR as of June 1941, what they obliged the countries that signed them to, or did not oblige.

Let's start with the Mutual Assistance Treaty between Germany, Italy and Japan:

"TRIPLE (Berlin) PACT

between Japan, Germany and Italy.

The parties agreed on the following: “The Government of the Great Empire of Japan, the Government of Germany and the Government of Italy, recognizing as preliminary and a necessary condition long-term peace to enable every nation to take its place in the world, consider as a fundamental principle the creation and maintenance of a new order necessary to enable the peoples of the Greater East Asia and Europe regions to reap the benefits of coexistence and mutual prosperity of all nations concerned, express their determination to cooperate mutually and take concerted action in designated areas regarding efforts based on these intentions.

The Governments of the Three Powers, eager to co-operate with all nations making similar efforts throughout the world, are eager to demonstrate their unyielding will for world peace, for which purpose the Government of the Great Empire of Japan, the Government of Germany and the Government of Italy have entered into the following agreement.

Article 1. Japan recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in establishing a new order in Europe.

Article 2. Germany and Italy recognize and respect Japan's leadership in establishing a new order in Greater East Asia.

Article 3. Japan, Germany and Italy agree to carry out mutual cooperation based on the stated course that if one of the three contracting parties is attacked by any power that is not currently involved in the European war and in the Sino-Japanese conflict, then the three countries undertake provide mutual assistance by all political, economic and military means at their disposal.

Article 4. For the purpose of implementing the present pact, a mixed commission appointed by the Government of Japan, the Government of Germany and the Government of Italy shall be established without delay.

Article 5. Japan, Germany and Italy confirm that the above articles in no way affect the political course currently existing between each of the three parties to the pact and the Soviet Union.

Article 6. This pact comes into force from the moment of its signing. The duration of the pact is ten years from the date of entry into force. The Contracting Parties, at the request of one of the powers that have concluded the pact, will discuss the issue of revising this treaty at any time before the expiration of this period.”

The Berlin Pact of 1940, also known as the Three Power Pact of 1940, or the Tripartite Pact, is an international treaty concluded on September 27, 1940 between the main countries participating in the Anti-Comintern Pact: Germany (represented by Reich Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop), Italy ( represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Galeazzo Ciano) and the Empire of Japan (represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Saburo Kurusu) for a period of 10 years.

This Pact provided for the delimitation of zones of influence between the Axis countries when establishing a “new world order” and mutual military assistance in the event of an attack on one of the countries by a third party not participating in the war at that time. Germany and Italy were destined for a leading role in Europe, and the Japanese Empire - in Asia. The following also joined the Berlin Pact: European countries”, dependent on Germany, are Hungary (November 20, 1940), Romania (November 23, 1940), Slovakia (November 24, 1940) and Bulgaria (March 1, 1941). Also, countries such as Spain, Finland, Croatia in Europe and in Asia - Manchukuo, Siam, Thailand, and the government of Wang Qingwei in China have also joined this Pact.

And here is how V.M. Pact assessed it. Molotov:

“NOTE BY V.M. MOLOTOV

"BERLIN PACT OF THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE"

On September 27, a pact of military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan was concluded in Berlin. There is no need to dwell on the contents of this pact, since its text was published in the press. The pact is not anything particularly unexpected for the Soviet Union, both because it represents, in essence, the formalization of already established relations between Germany, Italy and Japan - on the one hand, England and the United States of America - on the other hand, so and because the Soviet government was informed by the German government about the upcoming conclusion of the tripartite pact even before its publication.

Turning to the question of the significance of the pact, it should first of all be noted that it marks the entry into a new phase of the war, wider than before the conclusion of the pact. If until recently the war was limited to the sphere of Europe and North Africa- in the West and the sphere of China - in the East, and these two spheres were separated from each other, now this isolation is put to an end, for from now on Japan abandons the policy of non-interference in European affairs, and Germany and Italy, in turn, abandon the policy non-interference in Far Eastern affairs. This undoubtedly means a further escalation of the war and an expansion of its scope. Comrade Molotov was right when he said in his speech at the last session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR that there was “the danger of further expansion and further incitement of the war, with its transformation into a world imperialist war.”

What caused the emergence of the pact, what stimulated it?

There is no doubt that it is stimulated primarily latest facts from the field of strengthening and expanding military cooperation between England and the United States of America. These include: ever-increasing US military assistance to England; transfer of British naval bases in the Western Hemisphere to the United States of America; the unification of the military efforts of England, Canada and Australia with the United States of America and the inclusion of South American countries in the US sphere of influence; England's consent to transfer its Far Eastern and Australian bases to the United States of America. Of course, the United States has not yet formally entered the war on the side of England against Germany, Italy and Japan. But this is not so important, since the United States is in fact in the same military camp with military adversaries Germany, Italy and Japan in both hemispheres.

One of the important features of the pact is that it openly recognizes the spheres of influence of its participants and the division of these spheres between them with the obligation to mutually protect these spheres of influence from attacks on the part of other states and, of course, primarily from England and those in cooperation with of the United States of America. According to the pact, Japan is given the “great East Asian space”, and Germany and Italy are given “Europe”. Another question is whether the parties to the pact will be able to actually implement such a division of spheres of influence. There is no doubt that the implementation of such a plan will depend on the real balance of forces of the warring countries, on the course and outcome of the present, increasingly escalating war.

Another important feature The pact is constituted by the clause in it about the Soviet Union.

The pact states: “Germany, Italy and Japan declare that this agreement does not in any way affect the political status currently existing between each of the three parties to the agreement and the Soviet Union.”

This reservation must be understood, first of all, as respect on the part of the parties to the pact for the position of neutrality that Soviet Union carried out from the first days of the war.

True to its policy of peace and neutrality, the Soviet Union can, for its part, confirm that this policy of its, so far as it depends on it, remains and will remain unchanged."

That is, the Axis countries respect the position of the USSR, but as long as the USSR remains neutral and does not attack anyone. Well, the USSR, in this article in Pravda, confirmed that it wants to remain neutral in the world disputes between Germany and England and the United States.

For those who have not yet understood the essence of this pact and the situation around the USSR, we can explain that the USSR did not participate in any war either in September 1940 or in June 1941. Neither in Europe, nor in Asia and with none of the signatories of the Berlin Pact. And thus, if the USSR attacks either Germany or Japan, then all participants in the Berlin Pact are obliged to attack the USSR! At the very least, they have no reason not to attack to “help” an ally, and especially at the request of a victim of USSR aggression. And the same Japan can attack the USSR at any moment convenient for itself.

The same WIKIPEDIA says this about the essence of the points of the pact, and Rezun’s fans really like it:

“The Berlin Pact, according to Article 3, was initially anti-American; at the same time, Article 5 provided for a favorable attitude towards the USSR. The Pact also took into account the right of the contracting parties to have their own own relationships with the Soviet Union..."

They say that Japan would never have attacked the USSR, even if the USSR struck Hitler first. Well, let's look at these points again:

"Article 5. Japan, Germany and Italy confirm that the above articles do not in any way affect the political course existing at the present time between each of the three parties to the pact and the Soviet Union."

I don’t know what the person who entered his “opinion” into “VIKI” saw, but this point only says that at that time Stalin was powdering the brains of this company - putting forward impossible demands for allegedly joining their “Union”. What they, in principle, really wanted was to drag the USSR into the “Union” against England and the USA. Or at least for the USSR to remain neutral. Stalin was stalling for time with accession negotiations, and this point is just about that specific situation around the USSR.

But if the USSR had attacked one of the members of the “Union”, then they would have given a damn about this point... This point does not oblige anyone to anything, if someone from the countries not participating in the war with the Axis countries does not will attack one of the countries. And the question of who will attack whom first has no meaning for the Axis members! This applied equally to both the USA and the USSR.

“The above articles in no way affect the political course currently existing between each of the three parties to the pact and the Soviet Union.”

Yes, the Axis countries flirted with the USSR-Stalin, wanting to see him, if not an ally against England and the USA, then at least neutral, but paragraph No. 3 refers to the above articles, which says: “if one of the three contracting parties is attacked on the part of any power which is not at present engaged in the European war, and. in the Sino-Japanese conflict, the three countries undertake to provide mutual assistance with all political, economic and by military means».

That is, if the USSR turns out to be an aggressor, then the Axis countries will have to forget their “benevolent” attitude towards the USSR...

But the USSR in the spring of 1941 again got rid of everyone - it concluded a neutrality agreement with Japan, which made it possible to be sure that if the USSR became a victim of aggression from Germany (a member of the Berlin Pact), Japan’s hands would be tied and it would not will be able to attack the USSR. The Japanese prime minister was drunk for the last time at the station, he sang “The Reeds rustled” with Molotov, Stalin arrived at the station, kissed him again, and the drunken and happy Japanese was thrown into the carriage... (Hitler was wildly offended by such an outburst from Japan - the signing of a neutrality treaty with THE USSR.)

Let's look at this agreement:

"NEUTRALITY AGREEMENT

BETWEEN THE UNION OF SOVIET

SOCIALIST REPUBLICS AND JAPAN

Neutrality Pact between Japan and the Soviet Union

The Greater Empire of Japan and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, guided by the desire to strengthen peaceful and friendly relations between both countries, decided to conclude a neutrality pact and agreed on the following:

Article 1. Both contracting parties undertake to maintain peaceful and friendly relations among themselves and mutually respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of the other contracting party.

Article 2. In the event that one of the contracting parties becomes the object of hostilities on the part of one or more third powers, the other contracting party will remain neutral throughout the entire conflict.

Article 3. This pact comes into force on the date of its ratification by both contracting parties and remains in force for five years. If none of the contracting parties denounces the pact one year before its expiration, it will be considered automatically extended for the next five years.

Article 4. This Pact is subject to ratification as soon as possible. The exchange of instruments of ratification should also take place in Tokyo as soon as possible.

Vyacheslav Molotov

Yusuke Matsuota

Yushitsugu Tatekawa"

The point that did not give Japan the opportunity to help Hitler in the event of his attack on the USSR, if the USSR was not the aggressor - point 2. I hope there is no need to “translate” it into human language - everything is clear and intelligible. Is it clear why Hitler was offended by Japan for this treaty? According to this point, Japan could not attack the USSR if it was not the aggressor. And the USSR did not help the United States in the war with Japan. More precisely, the USSR did not consider itself obligated to help the United States while it was at war with Hitler. But since Japan formally became the aggressor in December 1941 by bombing Pearl Harbor, the USSR could at any time violate its neutrality towards Japan.

Also, this neutrality treaty with Japan did not allow the USSR to become an ally of the United States in the Pacific Ocean. And when Stalin began to buy planes from the United States (under Lend-Lease) and decided to fly them under their own power through Alaska-Kamchatka-Siberia, Stalin refused the US offer and request to fly the planes with American pilots almost to the Urals. The Americans would not have seen any “military secrets” over the tundra and taiga, but Japan would have had a chance to protest about this. After all, Japan is at war with the USA, but the USSR should have remained neutral and not helped America. As a result, American planes were ferried from Kamchatka by our pilots, and American planes that made emergency landings in Primorye after the bombing of Japan were interned in the USSR and kept on USSR territory until the end of the war.

Do you think the Americans offered their pilots to fly over our taiga out of “altruism”?! Right now! Already in the winter of 1941/42, the United States made requests - could Stalin strike Japan to help the United States? The answer was something like this: if we finish with Hitler, we will help. But if Stalin had agreed that the Americans themselves would fly those planes, then there would be a chance to push the USSR into a war with Japan...

By concluding a neutrality treaty with Japan, Stalin covered his back in case Hitler attacked first. But this neutrality treaty with Japan would not play a role if the USSR attacked Germany first - Japan, bound by the earlier pact with Berlin and the "allied duty", still has the right to attack the USSR to help its ally Hitler. But if the USSR is not an aggressor, but a victim, then Japan itself decides whether to help Hitler or not. Japan did not help Hitler.

To this, on one of the forums, a doubter objected:

“I didn’t understand about your example of signing a neutrality treaty with Japan. This fact plays in my favor. Why the hell did Stalin need this agreement if he wanted to be a “victim of aggression”? If Stalin is a “victim,” then Japan will not attack anyway. But Stalin concludes such an agreement, and even demonstratively Japanese Ambassador sees off. And it turns out in the end that if Stalin attacks Hitler, then Japan will be watching from afar. Is not it?" (Did you understand what the “rezun” asked? I didn’t.)

We'll have to explain the tricks again international relations(although I hope the experts won’t criticize me too much for this).

Japan has a mutual assistance agreement with Hitler if he is attacked. And it will turn out to be higher for Japan than the neutrality agreement with the USSR if the USSR turns out to be the aggressor! The USSR does not attack first, Japan has the moral right not to attack the USSR, and this is supported by a neutrality treaty with the USSR.

But if you can’t, but really want to, then you can. If Japan wanted, it would, of course, attack the USSR, violating international treaties. If necessary, Japan would figure out how to attack not even the aggressor Russia. Like, these Russians are completely crazy! Not only did they want to treacherously attack poor Hitler, and he, thank the gods, managed to strike first, but they are also bullying us, staging provocations on the border and firing at our Japanese border guards in China and Korea... Or, like, they want to take away our concessions on Sakhalin . But Japan did not agree to this. She preferred to comply with treaties regarding the USSR. Well, Stalin did everything possible to ensure that Japan began a campaign in the summer and autumn of 1941 to the south, to the British colonies. After this, Japan had no time for the USSR. Although before Stalingrad, or rather, after the pogrom of the Red Army near Kharkov, Japan had a certain itch and a desire to attack tried to appear...

(Note: By the way, these joint companies (concessions) for oil and coal production pumped oil and coal from Sakhalin almost until the summer of 1945. At the same time, no one has ever dared to reproach the USSR-Stalin for these concessions in all these years. Indeed, in this case, the USSR and Japan are neutral in this World War, and the supply of oil and coal to Japan is nothing more than business. In the same way, no one reproaches Sweden for the fact that it, “neutral,” sold ore to Hitler. And who would dare to reproach Stalin and the USSR, if the same USA, through front companies of “Honduras”, drove oil to Hitler almost until the spring of ’45. And by the way, Stalin also used these “concessions” to maintain peace with Japan. When Hitler tried to drag the USSR into the Triple Alliance, one of the conditions for entry Stalin put forward a demand - to “nationalize” these concessions in favor of the USSR.

Like Stalin’s other “proposals” for “joining” this union, they were obviously unacceptable to the participants in the “Berlin Pact”. Stalin understood this and put forward these demands precisely so that the USSR would not be accepted into the union. This is what Halder wrote in his office diary on December 3, 1940:

"and. Our proposals to Molotov: We propose one open agreement and two secret agreements for a period of ten years. The Russians agree to join the Tripartite Pact if five secret protocols are concluded:

1. Regarding Finland, with which they want to come to an agreement without the use of force.

2. Regarding Bulgaria, which must conclude a mutual assistance pact with Russia (in this case, Bulgaria can join the Tripartite Pact).

3. On the rental of strongholds on the Bosphorus.

4. Regarding Turkey, which should be required to join the Tripartite Pact; in case of agreement, a guarantee of its borders. If there is a refusal, then “diplomatic and military pressure from Germany, Italy and Russia.” Japan must give up its concessions on Sakhalin.

5. Regarding the Russian sphere of influence south of the Batumi, Baku line. We have not yet responded to these proposals."

Stalin’s “proposals” were not accepted, the concessions were preserved, Japan did not attack the USSR...)

The additional neutrality treaty with Japan gave the USSR a strengthened and consolidated guarantee that Japan would not risk attacking, even if Hitler began to beg her. That is, this neutrality treaty tied Japan’s hands more tightly and provided an additional decent guarantee against war in the Far East. After all, the USSR, having signed neutrality, must observe it. And this made it possible for Japan to target the south, being confident that the USSR would not attack them while they began to drive out the British and other French-Dutch people there, taking away their colonies. And by the way, the USSR did everything possible to push Japan into Southeast Asia. This is politics...

But if, having a neutrality agreement with Japan, the USSR nevertheless attacks first, then Japan’s hands will be free. But neutrality between the USSR and Japan is annulled due to the fact that the USSR is the aggressor, and Japan has an assistance agreement with Hitler.

In short, it will be bad for the USSR in any case if it is the aggressor. Japan, in the event of an attack by the USSR on Germany, at any convenient moment, will “forget” about neutrality at its own discretion, just as the USSR quite legally threw it away in 1945, by the way, when the faithful allied debt, etc. “blah blah” The USSR officially struck a blow at the Japanese army, warning Japan about the denunciation of neutrality several months in advance, and then beautifully declaring war. But in 1941 it would have been the other way around.

Stalin, in principle, himself “tied” the USSR with this treaty with Japan, because now the USSR could not possibly attack Germany first. But Stalin was a smart politician...

Japanese diplomats signed a neutrality treaty with the USSR on April 13, 1941. However, they did this on the way back from Berlin, where they arrived in March... through Moscow. The thing is that this was the second part of the negotiations between Japan and the USSR. In mid-March, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan arrived in Moscow for negotiations, at which he began to demand that northern Sakhalin be sold to Japan. After which all the island's oil would go to Japan. It was a probe, a test of Stalin's strength. Stalin showed firmness, the Japanese left for Berlin, and upon their return signed a neutrality treaty with the USSR.

Stalin was, of course, pleased with this agreement, which provided additional legal protection against a possible Japanese attack in the event of Hitler's aggression. After all, by signing the neutrality pact, Stalin greatly reduced the likelihood of a war on two fronts simultaneously against Germany and Japan. Immediately after this, the formation of the reserve of the High Command began, and at the end of April the General Staff gave the command to advance the first divisions from ZabOVO and Far Eastern Military District to the western borders.

And immediately after the departure of the Japanese, Stalin gave the command to L. Beria to prepare Operation Snow to draw the United States into the war with Japan, after which Japan would have no time for the USSR - no matter how Hitler begged the Japanese to strike our Far East.

That’s why it’s worth remembering how Hitler, seemingly out of the blue, declared war on the United States on December 7–8, 1941. Immediately after the Japanese air raid on the morning of December 7, 1941, on the US naval base Pearl Harbor (English: Pearl Harbor, also Pearl Harbor or Pearl Harbor - a harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Most of The harbor and surrounding areas are occupied by the central base of the US Pacific Fleet).

In this regard, at one of the historical forums, I asked the following question to history buffs and “experts”: “Why did Hitler declare war on the United States on these same days? You can see the connection - why did he do it? Why would Hitler declare war on the United States, which, apart from problems for him personally and Germany, which is fighting in Russia at that time, will definitely not give anything?”

The “experts” answered something like this: “Because the USA acted as a non-combatant ally of England and the USSR,” and also “to sink American ships going to help England.”

On the one hand, it seems to be true - the United States at that time seemed to be an “ally” of the USSR. But rather “moral”, because the United States signed an agreement on paper with the USSR only in the spring of 1942! The USA is indeed an ally of England, but this is not the most important reason.

Hitler did not actually announce the decision to declare war on the United States because of this. These days he had already begun to get punched in the teeth at the Battle of Moscow. It became clear to him that without the help of Japan he would not defeat the USSR-Russia and would definitely not take Moscow, but Japan did its best to fight off Hitler’s invitation to take part in the war with the USSR and strike the Far East. After all, she had already gotten involved in a war with England on the islands of Southeast Asia. And the same “p. 2" of the neutrality treaty tied his hands.

Hitler, who in June and before that himself pushed the Japanese in every possible way towards the English colonies to the south (the same English Singapore), so that in the event of a victory over the USSR not to share the “trophies”, by the winter of ’41 he needed any help from Japan. Even if Japan does not strike with all its might, if protracted border battles with the Red Army begin on the border, then Stalin will not be able to transfer divisions from the East. After all, at that time the USSR had a “common border” with Japan in China, too, which was very large, and Stalin kept up to 40 divisions there to cover this border.

So what did Hitler achieve with this declaration of war on the United States in this case? But the calculation was simple, and it was connected precisely with the Berlin Pact of September 1940. After all, according to it, the Axis countries were supposed to provide military assistance, including to those who were attacked by a third country that was not participating in the war at that moment. The United States did not formally attack Japan. But Hitler thus made a “gesture of goodwill” to Japan.

On the one hand, Japan struck at Hawaii in response to US provocations in the form of refusal to fulfill agreements on oil supplies to Japan. And she called the United States the “aggressor.” And Hitler, with his declaration of war on the United States, seemed to admit that Japan was a “victim of aggression.” After all, “formally” what the United States did to supply oil (scrap metal?) to Japan, violating long-term trade contracts for large sums, can also be regarded as aggression on the part of the United States. And on the other hand, Hitler, thus, showed Japan - they say, I went to some violation of the Berlin Pact, so why don’t you go to the same “violations” and declare war on the USSR!? Moreover, in this case it is really not at all necessary to start large-scale fighting on the border with the USSR and try to chop off Primorye or all of Sakhalin or Siberia. The mere fact of declaring war on the USSR will force Stalin to keep large forces on these borders and not transfer them to Moscow! Hitler did not have enough of those 20 Wehrmacht divisions that the partisans of Yugoslavia pulled over to take Moscow, and Stalin did not have enough of those divisions that he eventually sent with Far East and Siberia to defeat and drive the Germans away from Moscow.

But here it turned out that Japan had already gotten involved in a war in Southeast Asia by this time and the USSR was no longer interested in it - it itself did not need a war on two fronts.

Japan launched a one-time strike on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and Hitler, as befits an ally, declared war on the United States, making it clear to Japan that he considered it a “victim of American aggression.” Hoping that now Japan will also lose its neutrality treaty with the USSR and begin to fight in the Far Eastern District. But Japan was smart enough not to give a shit.

However, opponents are trying to refute this: “The Japanese were considering the option of attacking the USSR. And what stopped them was not the existence of a neutrality treaty with the USSR, but the lack of raw materials for industry.”

But in general, she had enough troops in northern China to draw off significant forces of the USSR to help Hitler take the same Moscow or Stalingrad, which is even worse, but she was smart enough not to interfere. Who said that, having started hostilities in the Far Eastern District, Japan had to push all the way to the Urals? It would only have to distract sufficient forces of the Red Army on the border with “local battles”, so that in the end they would not go to the West, and Hitler would finish off the USSR by the summer of ’42 for sure. Japan would have enough strength for this. Calculate how many forces were transferred from the Far Eastern Military District “near Moscow”, and imagine what would have happened if they had not been there... Would Churchill have been asked to send soldiers? But Japan in this situation simply did not want to fight on two fronts - in the winter of 1941, it already received one...

But there is one more aspect: why Stalin also needed the “image of a victim of aggression” for the USSR in the war with Hitler. And we'll talk about it in the next chapter.

Stalin in the role of Hitler When discussing the prospects of the “Zemshara Republic of Soviets,” our theorists and analysts display, firstly, fabulous ignorance. They simply do not understand how huge and complex the world is. Secondly, they are incapable of the most basic