He delivered the lecture on Friday about his recent book “Faustian Bargain: the Soviet-German Partnership and the Origins of the Second World War” hosted by the history department.
“My book is the story of a 20-year-pact between Germany and the U.S.S.R and how this partnership led the world back to war, a war even more horrific than the First World War,” Johnson said.
He began his talk speaking of the Treaty of Versailles and its major repercussions on the economy and welfare of Germany. At the time, the Soviet Union was also at a financial loss and without a standing army.
“It was at this moment of isolation that the two states began to work together,” Johnson said.
As part of their relationship, the U.S.S.R. offered Germany access to its land for pilot training in exchange for technology, Johnson said.
“Why did two groups who viewed each other as the literal embodiment of evil, begin cooperating so shortly after fighting each other? Their hostility toward the international status quo was greater than their hatred of each other,” Johnson said.
In April 1922, Soviet Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Apollo, Johnson said.
Yet, ever since the Treaty of Versailles, restrictions on military production prohibited Germany from forming an army within its own country. As a result, it relocated military production, flight training and technological advancements to Soviet Russia, Johnson said.
“To have someone come and speak who is an expert in military history is an almost...
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