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Yep, you´re right. Soviet Union has nothing to do with Munich´s dictat. My mistake. Italy was the 4th country that signed it.
Soviets threw us (and not only us) aboard 1 year later- in August ´39 when they signed Molotov-Ribentrop pact.
And if you speak about ´45- this year in fact started our living behind the iron curtain which I haven´t 4gotten and ignored...one occupation ended up just to allow to start the other occupation...that lasted more than 40 years...
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact dividing Poland was signed some 6 months after Czechoslovakia had been completely occupied by Germany where the Soviets hadn't been involved in any way.
I mean, 40 years is nothing in the long term. In 100 years noone will remember what iron curtain or socialist economy was...
I too believe that the equalisation of the 50 years of communist rule in Czechoslovakia and German occupation on the other side would be a great exaggeration, despite all oppression occurred.
seesul, in the game of superpowers, the smalls allways looses. whats better example than poland in ww2 ? invaded 3 times: 1 by germany, 2 by soviets and the only country that allies declared war was germany.
the czech politicians should make the better for their people not for usa/nato or for russia. i cant see a situation wheres you have foreign weapons in your ground would bring some profit. turkey have missiles too. its makes turkey more important ? more stable ? more rich ? i dont know. cuba also almost had missiles in their ground but it didnt make them a better country by that. its all relative, but if you read machiavel, he have a good explanation about his point over a kingdon depends other kingdon´s forces to make their own security.
1935 May 2. France concludes a treaty of mutual assistance with the Soviet Union
- May 16. Czechoslovakia signs a treaty of mutual assistance with the USSR, thereby joining the Franco - Soviet treaty
Treaty contents
Article 1
In the event that France or the U.S.S.R. are subjected to the threat or the danger of aggression on the part of a European state, the U.S.S.R. and France engage themselves reciprocally to proceed to an immediate mutual consultation on measures to take in order to observe the provisions of Article 10 of the League of Nations Pact.
The Soviets in fact condemned the annexation postfactum. And later, in 1945 it was the Russians who reunited Sudeten Lands with the rest of Czechoslovakia.
It is strange that you forgotten or just ignored these important facts.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact dividing Poland was signed some 6 months after Czechoslovakia had been completely occupied by Germany where the Soviets hadn't been involved in any way.
And if you speak about ´45- this year in fact started our living behind the iron curtain which I haven´t 4gotten and ignored...one occupation ended up just to allow to start the other occupation...that lasted more than 40 years
40 years of living behind the iron curtain must've been a nightmare for your freedoom loving people and I'm really sorry for few of your patriots died in 1968'
I dont wanna be very cynical here, but... at the end, you got your country independent, safe and sound, all in tact, it gained some territory, population grew, you still speak your language (and it's not German) ...
Russian tourists are your best customers now...
I mean, 40 years is nothing in the long term. In 100 years noone will remember what iron curtain or socialist economy was...
OK, if you really think that the only problem during those 40 years was the socialist economy, this could explain your opinion on this matter...
I was born in 1973 and the velvet revolution toke place in 1989 so I wasn´t affected by this period so much. But if you lived here in 50´s and 60´s, the times, when the human right was only a strange word, you would speak another way. The times of political processes with the innocent people, which were executed, the times, when your children and relatives couldn´t get a good job or to go in a good school only because you didn´t join the communist party, the time, when former gestapo confidents used to work for a new pro-Russian goverment and had a power, a real power, the time, when the former Czech WW2 vets from the west front were jailed, interrogated, tortured and sometime also killed, only because their fought against Nazis with West Allies...that was reality that was here for these 40 years...
You should tell your interesting opinion to my father that enjoyed this period for all these 40 years...or better you should speak to the political prisoners or their family members...
BTW, in my born town used to live one WW2 Czech vet, a pilot. He served in France, Great Britain and even in Russia. Real hero with more than 10 kills.
His fortune? They threw him away from Czech Airforce in 1947, he never got a good job, he was getting only a small amount of money for all the rest of his life so he better moved to my born town where he was unknown for all the people there. By the time the people got to know him and he became our secret hero. He wasn´t allowed to speak about his experience. Unfortunately he died too soon, in 1990, few months after the velvet revolution. I spoke to him several times and since that time I hate both nacists and communists. I just wasn´t able to get over the fact, that such a hero, that fought for our freedom so many years, was a dirty duster for his OWN HOMELAND!
If you´re interested, more here: http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/stories/s-ldr-josef-stehl-k-four-airforces-1603.html
That was 1935. Since France signed a new treaty in 1938 in Munich becoming now Germany's ally, and neither the Soviets nor Czechs were even invited to that conferrence, that act, I guess automatically denounced all previouse agreements between France, USSR and Czechoslovakia.
interesting thougt...so the fact that France signed a new treaty meant automatically that also an agreement between czechoslovakia and soviet union was cancelled as well...what a strong friendship...
but the Soviets did offer even a military help to Czechs during the Sudeten crisis ,didn't they? In fact they were the only ones who were ready to intervene military at the time of Munich agreement.
Dont forget about the part of making the Czech pretty much a communist puppet state and controling everything including there lives and then invading them when they decided they did not want anything to do with it anymore.
It is strange that you have forgotten or just ignored these important facts.
seesul i didnt posted that to convinced you to be against the missiles, just putting a different point of view to be analized. but you right, we cant just hide from the main issues.
Very easy answer my friend, such a NATO and Soviet Union confrontation would mean a WW3 and in this case you can imagine a result. So we better were sacrificied, as usually in the past...also, is good to remember, the spring of prague was instigated by a western propaganda radio. when soviets invaded czech and made that horrible scenes, that we saw in pictures posted before, what did west and nato to help the czechs that was been killed ?
in a certain point, all minor states or minor powers are somekind puppets of the great powers. lets dont forget that not just russians are guilty by its situation, but in almost of these states there was local leader, a local secret police, composed by local people. so its not just blame russia, but in the case of romenia, for example, blame ceaucescu, wich was romanian and a psycho.
That´s why I absolutely can´t agree with Stasoid opinion that 40 years in the past is in fact nothing and they will be 4gotten in 100 years. No, the past can´t never be 4gotten and that´s why I´m interrested in history. ´cause who doesn´t know it´s own history can´t create it´s own peaceful future.
Hey, lets think positive and move ahead. I dont know what kind of a tyrany you had there, but what I will remember of Czechoslovacia from 70th and 80th when I was a schoolboy is your great hockey team which kicked our ass so many times (I guess all of your players are in NHL these days), your cool Jawa motorcycles that every kid in my neighbourhood dreamed about, your orange painted Skoda trams in my hometown and those mighty Tatra trucks...
Do you still have anything of that? Or just beer? Is beer still good as it was 20 years ago?
If Obama gets elected we could answer that question.How will you guys from the US feel if the US government and economy came crashing down and everything is worth nothing and the US Navy, Airforce and Military is almost nothing from what it once was?