The Soviets, the Munich Crisis, and the coming of World War II
By: Hugh Ragsdale.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 212
Subjects: Munich Four-Power Agreement (1938); World War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic history -- Soviet Union; World War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic history -- Germany; World War, 1939-1945 -- Causes
Description: "The Munich crisis is everywhere acknowledged as the prelude to World War II. If Hitler had been stopped at Munich, then World War II as we know it could not have happened. The subject has been thoroughly studied in British, French, and German documents, and consequently we know that the weakness in the Western position at Munich consisted in the Anglo-French opinion that the Soviet commitment to its allies - France and Czechoslovakia - was utterly unreliable. What has never been seriously studied in the Western literature is the whole spectrum of East European documentation. This book targets precisely this dimension of the problem. The Romanians were at one time prepared to admit the transfer of the Red Army across their territory. The Red Army, mobilized on a massive scale, was informed that its destination was Czechoslovakia. The Polish consul in Moldavia reported the entrance of the Red Army into the country. In the meantime, Moscow focused especially on the Polish rail network. All of these findings are new, and they contribute to a considerable shift in the conventional wisdom on the subject."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-206) and index.