760N.00/116
Memorandum by the Minister in Latvia (MacMurray)24
In the course of a casual conversation on the subject of the present European situation, Mr. Tripier25 expressed the currently orthodox French viewpoints that Germany considers it a right and indeed a duty to dominate Europe, and will sooner or later resort to arms in order to achieve that purpose; and that while France would infinitely [Page 274] prefer to establish a system of security in which Germany would participate, she finds very little encouragement in Germany’s attitude, and sees no alternative but to encircle Germany with a combination of superior armed force—a policy which, he admitted, might well prove in the end to have made a new European war inevitable, but which would at any rate tend to postpone such a catastrophe for longer than would one based upon a misconception of Germany’s intentions.
Beyond developing this familiar thesis, Mr. Tripier went on to comment that there had been a further particular reason for the recently concluded Franco-Soviet Treaty. Up to the time when Hitler came into power in Germany, he maintained, there had been a very close relationship, involving a considerable degree of cooperation, between the German and Soviet Governments: and even now, although the Nazi and the Communist Governments themselves are “like cat and dog”, there continues to exist a large measure of collaboration between the Reichswehr and the Red Army. When, therefore, the French Government found the U.S.S.R. again turning towards the West, it felt that it was vitally necessary to assure that Russia should not make the choice of participating in European affairs as a collaborator with Germany, but should be won over to cooperation with the opposing group; and the recent Treaty was regarded as a necessary means of ensuring that result.
With regard to the position of the Baltic States in relation to the general European situation, Mr. Tripier expressed a serious apprehension lest Germany’s projected construction of a considerable naval force in Baltic waters would compel the U.S.S.R. to build in competition with her a fleet for which Kronstadt (Leningrad), the sole Russian Baltic port, could not afford an adequate base: and that this would predispose Russia towards a policy looking to the reacquisition of the ports of Reval (Tallinn), Riga and Libau, at the expense of Estonia and Latvia.