ABSTRACT
As early as 1940 the conflict between the two associate-enemies was becoming more acute. Hitler showed signs of real prudence; he avoided putting his adversary on his guard by suggesting that he would deal with him when the propitious moment arrived. Stalin pushed his pawns across the board in accordance with the system which Marshal Foch had employed in his offensives, and which he had called 'the parrot system'. Stalin began another series of probes. On his instructions, Molotov suggested to the representative of the Third Reich that the Vienna arbitration might be balanced by the cession of Southern Bukovina. Confronted by Stalin's dissatisfaction, Ribbentrop instructed his Ambassador, on the 9th September, to call on Molotov's new chief assistant, Andrei Vishinsky, and to hand him a memorandum which was intended to appease the master of the Kremlin. Schulenburg really believed in the possibility of good Russo-German relations.
