23/01/44 - Diplomacy & Economy
January 23rd, 1944
Uncle Sam's opinion
In the USSR, a Potemkin visit
Magadan, USSR - Accompanied by Owen Lattimore, the American vice president Henry A. Wallace embarks on an Asian tour. And what better place to start than the USSR?
After all, Wallace and Molotov had got on well during their first meeting in Washington. And Wallace had been very successful on his South American tour in 1942 - half a dozen countries joined the United Nations in their fight against Germany and Japan. So everything should go well with the Soviet ally.
That is why President Roosevelt charges Wallace with an additional mission: to solve the problem between the USSR and China concerning this obscure Chinese governor named Sheng Shicai. It seems that this Shicai - sorry? Shicai, that's his his first name, his last name is Sheng? Sorry... So, this Sheng would cause problems in Moscow and prevent the United Nations from really being a problem? This is certainly an exaggeration of diplomats.
For today, Vice President Wallace visits the Magadan labor camp, with none other than General Nikishov as his guide. What a strange name, "labor camp"! Everything seems to be going well here. Although we are in the depths of Siberia, everything is clean and harmonious, perhaps even better than in some military camps in the United States, thinks the vice-president, favorably impressed. As he said so well on his return, this Siberian village is a real forum of diverse opinions, where one can debate like in any New England assembly.
In Moscow, comrade Molotov, informed as he goes along, also thinks that this visit starts very well. But perhaps not for the same reasons as Mr. Wallace.
Romanian (and Soviet) maneuvers
One month and ten days
Bucharest - A month of regained sovereignty has barely passed when King Michael of Romania already has to agree to a first ministerial reshuffle, under the pressure of an RCP kindly supported by the Soviet big brother and his Red Army - which collaborates cordially with the Romanian army, now fully integrated in its system.
The reshuffle concerns only two ministries. But it is (still!) the portfolio of the Interior - General Aurel Aldea is replaced by Nicolae Penescu, from the National Peasant Party - and above all the portfolio of the War Ministry - general Ioan Mihail Racovita gives way to... Constantin Sănătescu himself. This is not ideal, but it is the only solution the prime minister has found to prevent the Communist Party from claiming the position in order to oust the "compromised military"!
The absolute fiction of an independent government of national unity will have lasted a total of 41 days. For Moscow, the maneuvers to put Romania under trusteeship are already well underway - but behind the scenes, of course.
The pride of an admiral
The Turkish way
Budapest - The Hungarian foreign minister Jenő Ghyczy de Ghicz delivers to the Regent his first report on the ongoing negotiations in Ankara with the Allies. They are unfortunately not as encouraging as expected. Indeed, the English refuse almost all of the proposals, although quite reasonable, formulated by Budapest.
However, since the first contacts, the Hungarians had already put a lot of water in their Egri Bikaver; they only ask one thing: the guarantee that the Red Army would not enter their territory - a territory whose exact borders remain to be defined. Alas, in London, they refuse to commit to this point. And yet, King George VI's armies are camped at the gates of Hungary! Really, the courtesy of the British, so much praised by Horthy, seems to have gone out of fashion. For their very simple counter-proposal, Hungary has to break with the Axis immediately, open its territory to all the Allied armies and wait until the end of the conflict to negotiate a peace with the entire United Nations, which will jointly determine the fate of the present regime and its leaders. This is not an unconditional surrender - but it sure looks like it!
Miklós Horthy put the document back on his desk with an air of annoyance. Obviously, the Admiral-Regent was hoping for something better. And he doesn't understand why the Allies are making such a fuss about his personal future. The stability of the current regime is however an asset for the post-war period - no doubt Győrgy Barcza will be able to explain this to them in Bern.
For if one thing seems clear in Horthy's mind, it is that, in this case, the worm is not in the fruit. It is in the one who picks it. What took the diplomatic services to rely for the Ankara negotiations on this George Paloczi-Horwath, an exile presumably circumvented by Tito and his communists! And who is to say that he is not also playing a double game with the British?
An amiral anger later, Ghyczy de Ghicz leaves the Regent's office with the order to replace Paloczi-Horwath with a more reliable figure: this is to be Lázló Veres, an official of the Magyar government press service, who will leave for Turkey to prepare the international fair in Izmir (which will not take place until September). As soon as Veres arrives in Ankara, it will be possible to restart the negotiations through this channel - in the meantime, the other actions must obviously continue.
Admiral Horthy goes back to his files, without realizing that if this Turkish track is a dead end, it is not entirely due to the negotiator. Certainly, it will be well proven after the war that Paloczi-Horwath was a communist militant... but the Hungarian demands were inaudible to the Allies, no matter who made them. The other plenipotentiaries are soon to experience this. And then, the Turkish channel has another serious defect, which is even more important for the future: it includes far too many intermediaries, not all of whom are necessarily well disposed towards Hungary. For Budapest has made many enemies in recent years and not only the communists and other titists...
Uncle Sam's opinion
In the USSR, a Potemkin visit
Magadan, USSR - Accompanied by Owen Lattimore, the American vice president Henry A. Wallace embarks on an Asian tour. And what better place to start than the USSR?
After all, Wallace and Molotov had got on well during their first meeting in Washington. And Wallace had been very successful on his South American tour in 1942 - half a dozen countries joined the United Nations in their fight against Germany and Japan. So everything should go well with the Soviet ally.
That is why President Roosevelt charges Wallace with an additional mission: to solve the problem between the USSR and China concerning this obscure Chinese governor named Sheng Shicai. It seems that this Shicai - sorry? Shicai, that's his his first name, his last name is Sheng? Sorry... So, this Sheng would cause problems in Moscow and prevent the United Nations from really being a problem? This is certainly an exaggeration of diplomats.
For today, Vice President Wallace visits the Magadan labor camp, with none other than General Nikishov as his guide. What a strange name, "labor camp"! Everything seems to be going well here. Although we are in the depths of Siberia, everything is clean and harmonious, perhaps even better than in some military camps in the United States, thinks the vice-president, favorably impressed. As he said so well on his return, this Siberian village is a real forum of diverse opinions, where one can debate like in any New England assembly.
In Moscow, comrade Molotov, informed as he goes along, also thinks that this visit starts very well. But perhaps not for the same reasons as Mr. Wallace.
Romanian (and Soviet) maneuvers
One month and ten days
Bucharest - A month of regained sovereignty has barely passed when King Michael of Romania already has to agree to a first ministerial reshuffle, under the pressure of an RCP kindly supported by the Soviet big brother and his Red Army - which collaborates cordially with the Romanian army, now fully integrated in its system.
The reshuffle concerns only two ministries. But it is (still!) the portfolio of the Interior - General Aurel Aldea is replaced by Nicolae Penescu, from the National Peasant Party - and above all the portfolio of the War Ministry - general Ioan Mihail Racovita gives way to... Constantin Sănătescu himself. This is not ideal, but it is the only solution the prime minister has found to prevent the Communist Party from claiming the position in order to oust the "compromised military"!
The absolute fiction of an independent government of national unity will have lasted a total of 41 days. For Moscow, the maneuvers to put Romania under trusteeship are already well underway - but behind the scenes, of course.
The pride of an admiral
The Turkish way
Budapest - The Hungarian foreign minister Jenő Ghyczy de Ghicz delivers to the Regent his first report on the ongoing negotiations in Ankara with the Allies. They are unfortunately not as encouraging as expected. Indeed, the English refuse almost all of the proposals, although quite reasonable, formulated by Budapest.
However, since the first contacts, the Hungarians had already put a lot of water in their Egri Bikaver; they only ask one thing: the guarantee that the Red Army would not enter their territory - a territory whose exact borders remain to be defined. Alas, in London, they refuse to commit to this point. And yet, King George VI's armies are camped at the gates of Hungary! Really, the courtesy of the British, so much praised by Horthy, seems to have gone out of fashion. For their very simple counter-proposal, Hungary has to break with the Axis immediately, open its territory to all the Allied armies and wait until the end of the conflict to negotiate a peace with the entire United Nations, which will jointly determine the fate of the present regime and its leaders. This is not an unconditional surrender - but it sure looks like it!
Miklós Horthy put the document back on his desk with an air of annoyance. Obviously, the Admiral-Regent was hoping for something better. And he doesn't understand why the Allies are making such a fuss about his personal future. The stability of the current regime is however an asset for the post-war period - no doubt Győrgy Barcza will be able to explain this to them in Bern.
For if one thing seems clear in Horthy's mind, it is that, in this case, the worm is not in the fruit. It is in the one who picks it. What took the diplomatic services to rely for the Ankara negotiations on this George Paloczi-Horwath, an exile presumably circumvented by Tito and his communists! And who is to say that he is not also playing a double game with the British?
An amiral anger later, Ghyczy de Ghicz leaves the Regent's office with the order to replace Paloczi-Horwath with a more reliable figure: this is to be Lázló Veres, an official of the Magyar government press service, who will leave for Turkey to prepare the international fair in Izmir (which will not take place until September). As soon as Veres arrives in Ankara, it will be possible to restart the negotiations through this channel - in the meantime, the other actions must obviously continue.
Admiral Horthy goes back to his files, without realizing that if this Turkish track is a dead end, it is not entirely due to the negotiator. Certainly, it will be well proven after the war that Paloczi-Horwath was a communist militant... but the Hungarian demands were inaudible to the Allies, no matter who made them. The other plenipotentiaries are soon to experience this. And then, the Turkish channel has another serious defect, which is even more important for the future: it includes far too many intermediaries, not all of whom are necessarily well disposed towards Hungary. For Budapest has made many enemies in recent years and not only the communists and other titists...