• ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      21 days ago

      People don’t seem to be generally aware that the Nazi/Soviet nonaggression pact included an enormous loan to Germany from the USSR, which temporarily helped to bail out Hitler’s collapsing finances. So Russian money literally contributed to all three things on that list.

      Another fun fact is that the deal also included a technology transfer of various advanced weapons systems from Germany to the USSR. Almost none of the stuff ended up being used by the Soviets in significant amounts, but one of the things transferred was advanced 37mm anti-aircraft guns that had been earmarked for installation on the battleship Bismarck. Bismarck went off on her first and last sortie with much older anti-aircraft weapons - and was fatally crippled by fucking biplanes.