Treaty of Rapallo. Treaty of Rapallo (1922) April 16, 1922 Treaty of Rapallo main provisions

Preventive war against Russia - suicide due to fear of death
Otto von Bismarck

The Treaty of Rapallo with Germany was signed by representatives of the Soviet delegation on April 16, 1922 during an emergency conference in the city of Genoa. This was an important step for both countries as it allowed them to break the economic blockade.

Prerequisites for signing the agreement

Despite the fact that in modern history textbooks, especially in Western ones, the significance of the signed documents in Rapallo is very great, and they had a huge impact on the entire political world of that era. In fact, we are talking about an agreement between two states that found themselves in global isolation for many years:

Germany, due to the fact that they signed the Treaty of Versailles, which was extremely unfavorable for themselves, during which they actually lost their independence and were economically dependent on other world superpowers.
Russia, which was represented at international conference delegates of the RSFSR led personally by V.I. Lenin, from the moment he came to power, tried unsuccessfully to establish diplomatic and economic relations with the Western powers.

As a result, a rather paradoxical situation developed, which no one could even think about a few years ago. The Treaty of Rapallo with Germany and the USSR was signed largest countries Europe under fear and strong pressure...

Talking about it historical event, many historians attribute it to a momentary impulse that was poorly thought out by the parties. This is wrong. After all, negotiations began even before the summit itself. The Soviet side was in Germany back in January 1922, where it held the corresponding round of negotiations.

Consequences of the signed agreement

The conference did not produce any positive results for either side. This was due to the fact that the Bolsheviks came to defend the interests of their Motherland, while Western states wanted only one thing - 18.5 billion gold rubles, which Russia allegedly owed for the supply of weapons.

However, on the night of April 16, 1922, the Treaty of Rapallo was concluded with Germany, which became known the very next day. The significance of this event could not be overestimated. In fact, this meant the lifting of the economic blockade of the RSFSR and recognition of the independence of this country. Indeed, among the terms of the agreement itself were:

Close economic cooperation, including in the field of trade
Establishing diplomatic relations.
Refusal of any economic claims to each other.
Recognition of the nationalization of enterprises on the territory of the USSR, including German ones.
Military cooperation as such was not envisaged, although the principles of mutual assistance in training and cooperation between the armies were subsequently voiced.

The parties entered into an agreement in Rapallo

The Treaty of Rapallo with Germany was signed on the Soviet side by Georgy Chicherin (in the top photo) and on the German side by Walter Rathenau (on the left in the photo). A small caveat needs to be made. In the document itself, Rathenau names the Weimar Republic as his country.

We see that the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany did not contain any significant restrictions that could affect other countries. It was a simple document between two parties. However, the reaction of the West was simply stunning. Everyone, both politicians and the press, began to talk about betrayal and literally force the Germans to break the agreement. It is even known for certain that Rathenau personally visited the Soviet diplomatic mission on April 17 with one sole purpose - to persuade them to steal the papers. But this was not implemented.

The significance of the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany for the young Soviet republic was extremely great, since it allowed them to secure a document that actually recognized the USSR on the part of Germany, which in turn had agreements with other countries. This meant the end of the international isolation of the USSR.

The Treaty of Rapallo is an agreement between the RSFSR and Germany, concluded on April 16, 1922 during the Genoa Conference in the city of Rapallo (Italy). Its peculiarity was that the reason and basis was the common rejection of the Versailles Treaty between the two countries. In the West, the Treaty of Rapallo is sometimes unofficially called the “treaty in pajamas” due to the circumstances of its conclusion, secret to the rest of the conference participants.

In Rapallo, a touchstone was sculpted that made it possible to recognize where there are solid efforts that serve real good neighborliness, and where there is verbiage that covers up evil. On this day people's commissar By foreign affairs G.V. Chicherin and Reich Foreign Minister W. Rathenau signed an agreement that drew a line under the “state of war between Germany and Russia”, laid the foundation for resolving problems caused by armed conflicts, for the restoration of diplomatic, consular and economic relations between the German Reich and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

The fall of the Weimar Republic from the ranks of “countries that rabidly hated the Bolsheviks” (W. Churchill), the proclamation of fundamentally different, in comparison with the Versailles construction, norms for rescuing the international community from the whirlpool of violence and hostility resonated with a storm of indignation among the “democrats”. Paris was the furthest away from the rest; it threatened Berlin with intervention.

The French Prime Minister Clemenceau came up with the formula: “... the Versailles peace treaty, like all others (treaties), is and cannot but be only a continuation of the war.” This monster treaty, let us note, was literally dictated to the Germans. The winners did not allow Weimar to change even half a word in the text, or even move a comma. And here is the Rapallo model. Germany is rising from its knees and, even worse, Russia is acquiring the status of a subject of the international legal order, whereas according to the plans of the USA, England, France and Japan, it should have disappeared altogether. This, according to Marshal Foch, was almost the loss of the First World War.

In order to avoid simplifications (they harm the distillation of truth), there is no need to attribute pro-Soviet sympathies to Chancellor Joseph Wirth, and even more so to Walter Rathenau. The Treaty of Rapallo was not a response to the October (1917) Decree on Peace, to calls Soviet power towards establishing peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems. Let's listen to J. Wirth himself.

“The world community wants peace,” declared the Chancellor on January 26, 1922 in the Reichstag. - Peoples want to clear the way to new creative work. The spirit of war, together with the sword of war, must be buried. The peoples pin their hopes on this... The policy of violence dominated throughout the seven long years of the war. As a result, the European community of states and especially the economy have been largely destroyed, and cultural values have been irreparably lost. The policy of unilateral imposition of will also prevailed after the announcement of the truce... The policy of force did not solve the problems, but partially aggravated them.” “Is there a way to salvation from the current grave troubles? - Wirt continued. “This path runs only through the gates of genuine and lasting peace. Real peace can only be achieved through mutual understanding through economic sanity.” Common sense rejects a policy that “treats Russia as a colony.”

In support of the above considerations, the Catholic Joseph Wirth reproduced the message of Pope Benedict XV to the heads of the “warring nations.” “Should a civilized community be more than just a cemetery field? - asked Benedict on August 1, 1917. - Should Europe, so glorious and so bleeding, engulfed in general madness, roll into the abyss and commit suicide by committing suicide? In such a terrible situation, in the face of such a grave danger, We again appeal to peace and again urgently appeal to those in whose hands the destinies of nations.”

Objectivity obliges us to state that the call of Benedict XV found an echo only among the Soviet government. The “Democrats”, Japan, Germany (at the instigation of the Entente and the United States), instead of pacification, began an armed siege of Russia, placing it in the ring of an economic blockade. Attempts by the Weimar Republic to distance themselves from ardent Russophobes - in May 1921, the Germans concluded a trade agreement with Moscow - caused the “civilizers” to tighten the reparation stranglehold. Let's give J. Wirth his due - he did not bow down under blackmail, did not write off the claim for Germany's right to remain out of the fray.

The Treaty of Rapallo, therefore, was not only a breakthrough achievement of young Soviet diplomacy, but also an important milestone in the Weimar Republic’s search for its niche in post-war Europe, its search for itself, if you will. “Everyone who carefully and without bias reads the Treaty of Rapallo,” J. Wirth emphasized on September 29, 1922 in the Reichstag, “must admit that the Treaty concluded in Rapallo is an honest, just, peaceful creation. In a sense, it is a model peace treaty. In this peace treaty there are neither vanquished nor victors... The six articles of the treaty do not contain any provisions or transactions that could pose danger to any third party or infringe on its rights... It (the treaty) means not only peace between two peoples, who always benefited from mutual understanding. At the same time, he builds bridges between East and West. It is interesting that the Treaty of Rapallo is understood and highly appreciated by the working people of the whole world as the first peaceful achievement after the great catastrophe.” In conclusion, J. Wirth noted: “I can here once again solemnly announce that the Treaty of Rapallo does not contain any secret political or military provisions and that every malicious statement that still pops up here and there is a malicious insinuation designed to complicate the implementation of this the first act of peace that has ever been achieved in Europe."

To complete the picture, it is appropriate to add that far-right deputies and... social democrats voted against the ratification of the Treaty of Rapallo in the Reichstag. Militants of the terrorist organization “Consul” (backed by F. Thyssen and other oligarchs, not only German ones) “executed” W. Rathenau in the name of “prosperity of the fatherland” and unleashed an avalanche of threats on J. Wirth. Speaking in the Reichstag on June 25, 1922, the Chancellor demanded an end to “the atmosphere of murder, strife and persecution.” He bluntly pointed out the extremists seated in parliament - “there is an enemy there who pours poison into the wounds of the people. There's an enemy there. There is no doubt - the enemy is on the right! In this context, the following assessment by J. Wirth almost made the “democrats” wince: “The German people cannot live in the conditions into which their (Western) allies are driving them.”

Virtov’s call to drive the “military ax into the ground,” as well as the Soviet proposal “bayonet into the ground” revived at the Genoa conference, did not inspire apologists for violence. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. It was this logic that permeated the behavior of the United States and England. No later than the fall of 1922, Washington took up the multi-move combination. Not without his promptings, in November 1922, the Reich Chancellor's chair was seized from the Center Party. J. Wirth was replaced by Hamburg businessman V. Cuno. The Americans began to promote a program to trim the reparation burden imposed on Germany at the insistence of Paris (“the Young Plan”). Then, in November, the United States administration established contact with Hitler, which soon grew into active cooperation. Already in exile, J. Wirth stated: “... without millions of injections from the oil and steel financial sectors, Hitler would not have come to power.” In 1936, when this was said in Lucerne, Wirth apparently did not have information that the financial component of the cronyism of the “democrats” with the Nazis was not exhausted.

There is a very widespread opinion that the history of mankind is a history of betrayals. Treason, of course, happened in abundance. In terms of number and consequences, betrayals can be rivaled by the catalog of missed chances that objectively made it possible to steer development at the regional, intercontinental and global levels into a constructive direction. The treaty made it possible to put violence - the midwife of history - to rest, especially since the profits from aggression no longer always covered the costs of armed intervention. However, dogma prevailed: there is not and cannot be equality between unequals, between the “pure”, which the “democrats” pretended to be, and the “impure”, into which the rest fell. Let us limit ourselves to a couple of other examples from modern and recent times.

Napoleon was defeated. The Russian army made a decisive contribution to the victory over him. All the prerequisites are present to extinguish the torch of war and make good neighborliness the fundamental principle of relations between states for generations to come. Not so. On December 22, 1814, delegates from England, Austria and France signed a convention, according to which each of these powers pledged to provide 150 thousand soldiers to expel Russia back home. For the sake of “saving honor, justice and the future of Europe.” The alliance members were going to include the Ottoman port, capable of committing “useful sabotage,” as well as Sweden into the circle of “saviors.” The plot failed. Napoleon fled from Elba. A Russian soldier was needed again. But the plan did not fade - it was realized forty years later in the Crimean War.

1898 Russian government proposed convening a conference with the aim of curbing the arms race and prohibiting the instruments of war that lead, as is now commonly said, to mass destruction. The first “peace conference” (The Hague, 1899, twenty-eight participating states) adopted a declaration limiting the use of chemically filled projectiles and prohibiting “dum-dum” bullets. The main initiative of St. Petersburg - to freeze the military budgets of states - did not pass due to categorical objections, primarily from England and Germany.

What motivated the opponents? At that moment, London courted Berlin with a view to merging different branches of the related “race,” meaning the ousting of Russia from the Baltic and Black Seas. In addition, the British “peacekeepers” weaved laces with Tokyo, encouraging it to attack its northern neighbor. 01/27/1904 Japan, which had a triple superiority in manpower, a multiple in artillery and an almost one and a half superiority in the Navy, without declaring war, attacked the Russian military base of Port Arthur, attacked the cruiser "Varyag" and the gunboat "Koreets" near the port of Chemulpo. The governments of England and the United States warned France and Germany that if the latter took the side of Russia, the Anglo-Saxons would oppose them on the side of Tokyo. In fact, London and Washington were complicit in the aggression. Japanese warships were the product of British shipyards, US banks reimbursed the Japanese for half of their expenses for the war against Russia.

1914 According to the versions of the victorious powers, the First world war Germany unleashed. There are no words, the first shot was fired by the Reichswehr, although the fatal shot might well have been avoided if London had shown the desire and will to prevent a catastrophe. However, both on the Spree and on the Thames, the temptation to take advantage of Russia's vulnerability now in Europe after its defeat in the war with Japan prevailed. To save space, I will reproduce the content of the conversation between W. Churchill and O. Bismarck, First Secretary of the German Embassy in London. Soviet intelligence provided her recording, dated October 20, 1930, to I.V. Stalin.

You Germans, Churchill told the grandson of Reich Chancellor Bismarck, are idiots, otherwise in the First World War the Reich would have concentrated all its forces in the east to defeat Russia. In this case, Albion would make sure that France did not interfere in the conflict. If the French had not followed British advice, we would have left them alone with Berlin. Next, Churchill discussed at length how a technological blockade could disrupt the increase in defense capability Soviet Union. The destiny of Rus' is to remain an agricultural country that feeds itself and, if possible, Europe.

Is it any wonder that no matter what proposals Moscow made about creating a system of collective security in Europe and countering aggressors in other regions, they were rejected out of the gate by the “democrats”? Preference was given to “pacifying” potential aggressors. First of all, because of the obstruction of the British, joined by the United States and France, no sanctions were taken against Japan when it invaded China (September 1931), as well as against Italy, which captured defenseless Abyssinia in 1935, against Berlin and Rome drowned in blood Spanish Republic. As an advance payment for the “development of living space” planned by the Third Reich in the east, Hitler was presented with Austria and Czechoslovakia, and they were preparing to surrender Denmark and the entire Baltic Sea basin.

Something else will be revealed when and if the rulers of the United States and England keep their promise and declassify key documents from the eve and period of World War II by 2045. The background behind the so-called “ strange war"British and French against Germany in 1939-1940. , London and Washington delaying bloodshed in Europe after the Nazi attack on the USSR for at least two to two and a half years, attempts by the “democrats” to come to an agreement with the Nazi generals to jointly “defend Europe from Russian barbarians.” In August 1943, the version of December 1914 was essentially repeated - the Moor had done his job, the Moor could leave.

Politicians assume that armies are positioned in the midst of battles. And if realities make it impossible to get what you want, ancient philosophers taught, you have to be content with what is possible. In the spring of 1945, Fr. Roosevelt remembered his own aphorism: “Gradually, old glasses distort new facts.” He considered it appropriate to besiege both his domestic enemies and Churchill, who intended to trumpet the campaign against the Soviet Union. Later, the prime minister’s plans would be given the code name “Operation Unthinkable.” The start of the third world war was scheduled for 07/01/1945. The goal was to subordinate the USSR to the dictates of the USA and England.

Be that as it may, Franklin Roosevelt declared, addressing the US Congress on March 1, 1945: “The world that we are building cannot be the American world, the British or Russian, French, Chinese world. He can't be the world big countries or the world of small countries. It must be a world based on the joint efforts of all states...” The president emphasized that “the fate of the United States and the fate of the whole world for future generations” depends on the implementation of the Tehran and Yalta agreements. “There can be no middle ground for Americans here,” Roosevelt concluded. - We must take responsibility for international cooperation or we will be responsible for a new world conflict.”

Fr. Roosevelt intended to develop the theme - war does not solve problems, violence only creates new ones, there is no alternative to cooperation on the principles of equality and mutual respect between states. The prepared speech the president planned to deliver on “Jefferson Day” blamed “doubts and fears, ignorance and greed” for the horrors of World War II. “Today we are faced with a fundamental fact: if civilization is to survive, we must improve the science of human relations, the ability of all people, no matter how different, to live and work together on one planet in peace.”

On the eve of “Jefferson Day,” 04/12/1945, Franklin Roosevelt’s earthly journey was cut short. With his death, the thread of politics that could qualitatively transform the world community and provide every nation with a place in the sun was cut short. The political covenant of Roosevelt and Rapallo - what is the connection between them? The answer suggests itself.

The proper lessons were not learned from the First World War. The “democrats” not only played along with extremists of various stripes, they willingly contributed to building the potential of encroachments on other people’s wealth and the lives of “subhumans,” on social “heretics,” being firmly confident that the energy of the aggressors would be discharged in the “right” directions. “Give Hitler freedom of action in the east, and he will leave us alone,” said N. Chamberlain at a cabinet meeting five days before Germany’s attack on Poland. He was guided by the credo: “for Britain to live, Soviet Russia must disappear.” Paris and Washington stayed ideologically close to London.

A correct assessment of what happened in the 30s and 40s. of the past century, in the “democratic” backstage, we find in Grigory Chukhrai: “... Facts in politics acquire true meaning only in the light of the goal, in the light of intentions, in the light of the doctrine according to which the war is waged.” This conclusion can be unconditionally applied to “ cold war" It is no coincidence that it is known in the United States for the final chapter of World War II. The baton of Nazi lawlessness was picked up by another contender for world hegemony. The government of G. Truman staked out in 1946 - no matter what policy the Soviet government pursued, the very existence of the Soviet Union was incompatible with the security of the United States.

The Second World War claimed more than a hundred million lives in fourteen years. Washington guardians of human rights and freedoms, as well as their NATO accomplices, have repeatedly tried on how to destroy hundreds of millions of Russians and Chinese in half an hour or an hour, so that “Pax Americana” can establish itself on the planet. Alas, it is hardly appropriate to believe that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russophobic squint in influential structures in the American Olympus was corrected. Washington's military budget and allocations for “improving” military technology exceed the total expenditures of all other states. To the hundreds of former military bases, new ones are being added in the immediate vicinity of Russian borders. Therefore, the horizons are still far from clearing.

"Watch out!" - Kozma Prutkov edified. There is no other option.

Prisoners different countries in the 20th century, have become objects of close study by politicians and historians in the last two decades. Many of them have long lost their meaning and legal force. Of particular interest is the Soviet-German Pact of 1939 concerning the division of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. But somehow another important document has been forgotten - the Treaty of Rapallo. It had no statute of limitations and is formally still in effect.

Strangers in Genoa

In 1922 Soviet diplomacy made a major breakthrough in the field international relations. The world's first proletarian state was isolated; the government of the recently formed USSR did not want to be recognized by European countries, Britain, the USA and many other states. The Soviet delegation arrived in Genoa in order to establish cooperation, mainly trade and economic, and to establish a fait accompli in the world consciousness. A new state arose from the ruins Russian Empire; here is its flag - red, and here is its anthem - "Internationale". Please be considered.

On the first try, little was achieved. The head of the delegation, People's Commissar G.V. Chicherin, understood that it was necessary to look for allies, and among opponents, because there was nowhere else. And he found it.

Germany, after the crushing defeat of 1918, was a rogue country on a global scale. It was with this state that the mutually beneficial Rapallo Treaty was concluded a little later.

German affairs

Woe to the vanquished, this has been known since ancient times. The reparation payments imposed by the Entente countries on Germany put unbearable pressure on the country's economy, which itself suffered enormous losses, human and material, over four years Great War. In fact, state independence was violated, the size of the army, trade activities, foreign policy, the composition of the fleet and other issues usually resolved by sovereign entities independently came under foreign control. An avalanche-like inflation was raging in the country, there was no work, the banking system was ruined, in general, residents of post-Soviet countries who remember the early nineties saw such a sad picture in general outline familiar. In the early twenties, Germany needed an external partner, reliable and strong, just like Soviet Russia. The interest was mutual; the Germans needed raw materials and markets. The USSR had an urgent need for technology, equipment and specialists, that is, for everything that the countries of the industrialized West denied. The Treaty of Rapallo with Germany became a means of overcoming this foreign policy frustration. It was signed by Georgy Chicherin and Walter Rathenau at the Imperial Hotel.

Refusal of mutual claims

In the Italian city of Rapallo in 1922, on April 16, an event occurred that was important not only for Soviet Russia, but also for Germany. This was understood by both sides, who found themselves outside the economic and political world processes. The fact is that the Rapallo Peace Treaty became the first post-war international agreement concluded by Germany on equal terms. The parties made mutual concessions unprecedented in history. The Germans recognized the alienation of the property of their fellow citizens (called nationalization) as fair, and the USSR renounced claims for damage caused by the aggressor during hostilities. In fact, the compromise was forced. Both parties understood the impossibility of recovering any damages, and preferred to come to terms with the real state of affairs.

Realism and pragmatic considerations served as the basis on which the Treaty of Rapallo with Germany rested. The date April 16, 1922 marked only the beginning of joint activities between two countries that found themselves in international isolation. The main work was ahead.

Economic aspect

Before the First World War, Germany was considered the most industrially developed country in Europe. It was here, in the place of greatest concentration of the working class, according to Karl Marx, that the first proletarian revolution should have arisen and taken place. The defeat and shameful conditions of the world seemed to put an end to the industrial development of this state. Nevertheless, German firms, experiencing a serious shortage of raw materials and marketing and sales problems, continued to struggle for existence. The significance of the Treaty of Rapallo is eloquently demonstrated by the contracts that followed it. Already in 1923, Junkers committed to build two aircraft factories on the territory of the USSR and sell a batch of finished aircraft; representatives of chemical concerns expressed a desire to jointly produce certain products (more on that later) on a joint basis, and also in the Soviet Union. The Reichswehr (which later became the Wehrmacht) made a large engineering order (more on that later). German engineers were invited to the USSR for work and consultations, and Soviet specialists went to Germany for internships. The Treaty of Rapallo led to the conclusion of many other mutually beneficial treaties.

Military cooperation

Soviet Russia was not bound by the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty; it did not sign it. However, the young proletarian state could not openly ignore it - this would cause unnecessary complications on the diplomatic fronts, where the positions of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs were not yet very strong. Germany - under the terms of Versailles - was limited in size of the Reichswehr and did not have the right to create air force and full-fledged IUDs. The conclusion of the Treaty of Rapallo allowed German pilots to be trained in secrecy at Soviet flight schools located deep in Russia. Officers for other branches of the military were trained on the same basis.

Treaty of Rapallo and the defense industry

Industrial cooperation also covered the joint production of weapons.

The Treaty of Rapallo with Germany, in addition to the officially published text, had a number of secret annexes. In addition, it has been supplemented several times.

The order for 400 thousand three-inch caliber artillery shells was fulfilled by the Soviet side. The planned construction of a joint venture producing chemical agents (mustard gas) was not implemented due to the lag of German technology in this area. The Germans sold the cargo-passenger Junkers, but when organizing the licensed assembly, the company's representatives tried to cheat by supplying all the technically complex components ready-made. This did not suit the Soviet side, which was striving for the most complete development of advanced technologies. Subsequently, aviation technology in the USSR developed mainly on the domestic industrial base.

Result

The Rapallo Treaty did not solve all the diplomatic problems facing the communist government of Soviet Russia, but it created a precedent for mutually beneficial trade and cooperation between countries with different political and economic systems. The ice was broken, the process began, the issue of recognition of the new state as a subject of international law was resolved de facto for the first time. Already in 1924 diplomatic relations established with Britain, Norway, Italy, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, France, China and several other countries. The results of the Treaty of Rapallo outlined the path along which our country had to travel for almost the entire rest of the 20th century.

). Both contracting parties mutually refused compensation for military expenses, military and non-military losses, expenses for prisoners of war, introduced the principle of most favored nation in the implementation of mutual trade and economic relations; In addition, Germany recognized the nationalization of German private and state property in the RSFSR and the cancellation of tsarist debts by the Soviet government.

Background and significance

Negotiations on the settlement of existing controversial issues began even before Genoa, including in Berlin in January - February 1922 and during the meeting of G.V. Chicherin with Chancellor K. Wirth and Foreign Minister W. Rathenau during the stop of the Soviet delegation in Berlin on the way to Genoa.

The Treaty of Rapallo meant the end of the international diplomatic isolation of the RSFSR. For Russia this was the first full-scale treaty and de jure recognition as a state, and for Germany the first equal treaty after Versailles.

Both sides recognized the principle of most favored nation as the basis of their legal and economic relations and pledged to promote the development of their trade and economic ties. The German government declared its readiness to assist German companies in developing business ties with Soviet organizations.

The text of the treaty does not contain secret military agreements, but Article 5 states that the German government declares its willingness to support the activities of private companies in the Soviet Union. This practice avoided compromising the German government, although the costs were covered directly by the War Ministry.

The contracts with the Junkers company were terminated in 1926-1927, as it did not fulfill its obligations to supply metal aircraft and build factories. The agreement on the joint construction of a mustard gas plant was also terminated in 1927, since the equipment did not comply with the terms of the agreement and the methods for producing mustard gas were considered obsolete and unsuitable. Military facilities on the territory of the USSR functioned from the spring of 1925 to the autumn of 1933 (that is, until Hitler came to power).

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Excerpt characterizing the Treaty of Rapallo (1922)

The Rostovs had a birthday girl, Natalya, a mother and a younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the large, well-known house of Countess Rostova on Povarskaya throughout Moscow. Countess with a beautiful eldest daughter and the guests, who never ceased replacing one another, sat in the living room.
The Countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by children, of whom she had twelve. The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, like a homely person, sat right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with the guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The Count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he said to everyone without exception, without the slightest shade, both above and below him) for himself and for the dear birthday girls . Look, come and have lunch. You will offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere.” He spoke these words with the same expression on his full, cheerful, clean-shaven face and with an equally strong handshake and repeated short bows to everyone, without exception or change. Having seen off one guest, the count returned to whoever was still in the living room; having pulled up his chairs and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, with his legs gallantly spread and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad, but self-confident French, and again, with the air of a tired but firm man in the performance of his duties, he went to see him off, straightening his rare gray hair on a bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hallway, he walked through the flower and waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table for eighty couverts was being set, and, looking at the waiters wearing silver and porcelain, arranging tables and unrolling damask tablecloths, he called Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, to him. who was taking care of all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, make sure everything is fine. “Well, well,” he said, looking around with pleasure at the huge spread-out table. – The main thing is serving. This and that...” And he left, sighing complacently, back into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! - the huge countess's footman reported in a bass voice as he entered the living room door.
The Countess thought and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tormented me,” she said. - Well, I’ll take her last one. Very prim. “Beg,” she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if she was saying: “Well, finish it off!”
A tall, plump, proudly looking lady with a round-faced, smiling daughter, rustling their dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps... elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant... au bal des Razoumowsky... et la comtesse Apraksine... j"ai ete si heureuse..." [Dear Countess, how long ago... she should have been in bed, poor child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] lively women's voices were heard, interrupting one another and merging with the noise of dresses and the moving of chairs. That conversation began, which is started just enough so that at the first pause you get up and rustle with dresses. , say: “Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman... et la comtesse Apraksine” [I am delighted; mother’s health... and Countess Apraksina] and, again rustling with dresses, go into the hallway, put on a fur coat or a cloak and leave. about the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich and handsome man of Catherine's time, old Count Bezukhy, and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I really feel sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already bad, and now this grief from his son will kill him!”
- What's happened? - asked the countess, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy’s grief fifteen times.
- This is the current upbringing! “Even abroad,” said the guest, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he did such horrors that he was expelled from there with the police.
- Tell! - said the countess.
“He chose his acquaintances poorly,” Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and Dolokhov alone, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the ranks of soldiers, and Bezukhy’s son was exiled to Moscow. Anatoly Kuragin - his father somehow hushed him up. But they did deport me from St. Petersburg.
- What the hell did they do? – asked the Countess.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, so what? You can imagine: the three of them found a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage and took it to the actresses. The police came running to calm them down. They caught the policeman and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear is swimming, and the policeman is on him.
“The policeman’s figure is good, ma chere,” shouted the count, dying of laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh about, Count?
But the ladies couldn’t help but laugh themselves.
“They saved this unfortunate man by force,” the guest continued. “And it’s the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov who is playing so cleverly!” – she added. “They said he was so well-mannered and smart.” This is where all my upbringing abroad has led me. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. They wanted to introduce him to me. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
- Why do you say that this young man is so rich? - asked the countess, bending down from the girls, who immediately pretended not to listen. - After all, he only has illegitimate children. It seems... Pierre is also illegal.
The guest waved her hand.
“He has twenty illegal ones, I think.”
Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened in the conversation, apparently wanting to show off her connections and her knowledge of all social circumstances.
“That’s the thing,” she said significantly and also in a half-whisper. – The reputation of Count Kirill Vladimirovich is known... He lost count of his children, but this Pierre was beloved.
“How good the old man was,” said the countess, “even last year!” I have never seen a more beautiful man.
“Now he’s changed a lot,” said Anna Mikhailovna. “So I wanted to say,” she continued, “through his wife, Prince Vasily is the direct heir to the entire estate, but his father loved Pierre very much, was involved in his upbringing and wrote to the sovereign... so no one knows if he dies (he is so bad that they are waiting for it) every minute, and Lorrain arrived from St. Petersburg), who will get this huge fortune, Pierre or Prince Vasily. Forty thousand souls and millions. I know this very well, because Prince Vasily himself told me this. And Kirill Vladimirovich is my second cousin on my mother’s side. “He baptized Borya,” she added, as if not attributing any significance to this circumstance.
– Prince Vasily arrived in Moscow yesterday. He’s going for an inspection, they told me,” the guest said.
“Yes, but, entre nous, [between us],” said the princess, “this is an excuse, he actually came to Count Kirill Vladimirovich, having learned that he was so bad.”
“However, ma chere, this is a nice thing,” said the count and, noticing that the eldest guest was not listening to him, he turned to the young ladies. – The policeman had a good figure, I imagine.
And he, imagining how the policeman waved his arms, laughed again with a sonorous and bassy laugh that shook his entire plump body, as people laugh who have always eaten well and especially drunk. “So, please, come and have dinner with us,” he said.

There was silence. The Countess looked at the guest, smiling pleasantly, however, without hiding the fact that she would not be at all upset now if the guest got up and left. The guest’s daughter was already straightening her dress, looking questioningly at her mother, when suddenly from the next room several men’s and women’s feet were heard running towards the door, the rumble of a chair being snagged and knocked over, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, wrapping her short muslin skirt around something, and stopped in the middle rooms. It was obvious that she accidentally, with an uncalculated run, ran so far. At the same moment a student with a crimson collar, a guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, ruddy boy in a children's jacket appeared at the door.
The count jumped up and, swaying, spread his arms wide around the running girl.
- Oh, here she is! – he shouted laughing. - Birthday girl! Ma chere, birthday girl!
“Ma chere, il y a un temps pour tout, [Darling, there is time for everything,” said the countess, pretending to be stern. “You keep spoiling her, Elie,” she added to her husband.
“Bonjour, ma chere, je vous felicite, [Hello, my dear, I congratulate you,” said the guest. – Quelle delicuse enfant! “What a lovely child!” she added, turning to her mother.
A dark-eyed, big-mouthed, ugly, but lively girl, with her childish open shoulders, which, shrinking, moved in her bodice from fast running, with her black curls bunched back, thin bare arms and small legs in lace pantaloons and open shoes, I was at that sweet age when a girl is no longer a child, and a child is not yet a girl. Turning away from her father, she ran up to her mother and, not paying any attention to her stern remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of her mother’s mantilla and laughed. She was laughing at something, talking abruptly about a doll that she had taken out from under her skirt.
– See?... Doll... Mimi... See.
And Natasha could no longer speak (everything seemed funny to her). She fell on top of her mother and laughed so loudly and loudly that everyone, even the prim guest, laughed against their will.
- Well, go, go with your freak! - said the mother, feigning angrily pushing her daughter away. “This is my youngest,” she turned to the guest.

During the Genoa Conference in Rapallo (Italy). Both contracting parties mutually refused compensation for military expenses, military and non-military losses, expenses for prisoners of war, introduced the principle of most favored nation in the implementation of mutual trade and economic relations; In addition, Germany recognized the nationalization of German private and state property in the RSFSR and the cancellation of tsarist debts by the Soviet government.

Treaty of Rapallo
Representatives of the Soviet and German sides in Rapallo: Karl Joseph Wirth, Leonid Krasin, Georgy Chicherin and Adolf Joffe
Signing date	April 16, 1922
place	Rapallo
Signed	Georgy Vasilievich Chicherin, Walter Rathenau
Parties	Russian SFSR, Weimar Republic
Audio, photo and video on Wikimedia Commons

The peculiarities of the Rappal Treaty include the fact that its reason and basis was the common rejection of the Versailles Treaty between the two countries. In the West, the Treaty of Rapallo is sometimes informally called "contract in pajamas" due to the famous late-night "pajama meeting" German side on the acceptance of Soviet conditions [ ] .

Background and significance

The Treaty of Rapallo meant the end of the international diplomatic isolation of the RSFSR. For Russia it was the first full-scale treaty and de jure recognition as a state, and for Germany the first equal treaty since Versailles.

On the Russian side (RSFSR) it was signed by Georgy Chicherin. From the German side (Weimar Republic) - Walter Rathenau. The agreement was concluded without specifying a period. The provisions of the treaty came into force immediately. Only paragraph “b” of Art. 1 on the settlement of public and private law relations and Art. 4 on most favored nation came into force from the moment of ratification. On May 16, 1922, by resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Treaty of Rapallo was ratified. On May 29, 1922, the German government put the treaty up for discussion in the Reichstag and on July 4, 1922 it was ratified. The exchange of instruments of ratification took place in Berlin on January 31, 1923.

According to the agreement signed on November 5, 1922 in Berlin, it was extended to the allied Soviet republics- BSSR, Ukrainian SSR and ZSFSR. The agreement was signed by their authorized representatives: Vladimir Ausem (Ukrainian SSR), Nikolai Krestinsky (BSSR and ZSFSR) and Director of the German Foreign Ministry Baron Ago von Malzahn. Ratified by: BSSR on December 1, 1922, SSR of Georgia on February 12, 1922, Ukrainian SSR on December 14, 1922, SSR of Azerbaijan and SSR of Armenia on January 12, 1923. The instruments of ratification were exchanged in Berlin on October 26, 1923.

Russia and Germany developed Rapallo's policy in the Treaty of Berlin on April 24, 1926.