Won’t comment on that last statement, but the deal wasn’t ‘no self defence’, it was ‘no taking sides’. With Finland, with the allied plans to invade Norway and axis invasion of Norway and allied invasion of Iceland, the Soviets struck a deal requiring the Finns to have a good standing army so they couldn’t be invaded and made use of. They went as far as selling Finland their best fighter aircraft to ensure this. The threat was ‘Fight to stay neutral during a war or we’ll have to invade you again’.
how nice of the commies to leave as long as austria promises not to defend itself
russia never changes, fucking cowards
Won’t comment on that last statement, but the deal wasn’t ‘no self defence’, it was ‘no taking sides’. With Finland, with the allied plans to invade Norway and axis invasion of Norway and allied invasion of Iceland, the Soviets struck a deal requiring the Finns to have a good standing army so they couldn’t be invaded and made use of. They went as far as selling Finland their best fighter aircraft to ensure this. The threat was ‘Fight to stay neutral during a war or we’ll have to invade you again’.