32. Let not the history repeat itself

We have been taught that Russia (the Soviet Union, under Stalin) in World War II was on the side of those who saved the world and ended the war.

But not to forget the fact that it was also the country which along with Germany started the war. 

The date was September 1, 1939 early morning when Hitler's armies invaded Poland starting the WW II. The Soviets joined them after 16 days, on 17 September when they invaded eastern Poland. 

The bonhomie continued until the beginning of the Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941. 

On September 1938, the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Germany signed the Munich Agreement. The agreement provided for the German annexation of part of Czechoslovakia, where three million people, mainly ethnic Germans, 22.95% of the total population of the country lived in border regions for which they coined the new name Sudetenland, which bordered on Germany and Austria.

In the meeting Czechoslovakia was not represented.

The Agreement was absolutely on Hitler’s terms - by which Czechoslovakia must surrender its border regions (the so-called Sudeten region) to Nazi Germany. This region marked a natural border between the Czech state and the Germany which also presented a major natural obstacle to a possible German attack. 

Czechoslovakia submitted to the diplomatic pressure, and agreed to surrender territory to Germany following the Munich terms.

The urgency to Munich Agreement emerged because Germany had started an undeclared war on September 17, 1938 in Czechoslovakia followed by Polish and Hungarian territorial demands brought on 21 and 22 September, respectively. 

In fact, just after the Munich Agreement, on August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany which included a secret protocol that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet sphere of influence.

So, it was the expansionist plans of both Germany and Soviet Union.

Also, Munich Agreement was the first step towards Hitler's plans to attack Britain and France three to four years after dealing with the situation in Czechoslovakia, a fact his adjutant Fritz Wiedemann revealed when the war was over.

Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. The Red Army fought the German forces and captured Berlin, which was decisive in the Allied victory. 

Now it looks similar to what we are about to see.

The world community must stop the history to repeat itself.

However, the big players must stop to fuel an unnecessary feud between the two countries. 

It’s they who are the main culprit.

And it’s their action that justifies one party’s demands to have a buffer zone.