Between 1930 and 1945, Europe was as a game of chess between the two great dictators Stalin and Hitler in which Stalin – formerly the better strategist – won.
Let us not forget that the Kremlin initially supported National-Socialist Germany. It was under orders from Moscow that the combined efforts of Fascist and Communist organisations led to the fall of the Weimar Republic, to the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and, until 1941, to the supply of extensive material support for Hitler’s military projects. After these efforts, a weakened Eastern Europe came under Stalin’s control. Then, with the terrible losses suffered by the Russian people, the German military machine – as if by the wave of a magic wand – turned against Stalin and the Communist leadership finally took notice.
The Republic of Estonia in 1931 was a most usual European country, especially proud of its hard-won independence and eager to keep away from the impending European military threat. Confrontation and ambition were alien concepts to its leadership, which, in the end, came to be the reason for the period of great loss suffered by this small country during the war.
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