Аго фон Мальцан: становление дипломата и основные этапы деятельности на советском направлении
Ago von Maltsan: The Formation of a Diplomat and the Main Stages of Activity in the Soviet Direction

Summary/Abstract: The life and work of the famous German diplomat Ago von Maltzan has not yet become the subject of a special study in Russian historiography. Coming from a family of hereditary aristocrats, whose history dates back to the end of the XII century, he received a good legal education, but chose a diplomatic career. Before the First World War, A. von Maltzan served in the German embassies of Brazil, Norway and China. It was then that his basic approaches to fulfilling his tasks took shape — to establish personal trusting relationships with important people in the host country; to gain maximum knowledge about the life of the state in which you serve or work; to be able to maneuver in the face of confrontation between several political forces and, most importantly, to put practical tasks above abstract political ideas. Even before the First World War, Maltzan had friction with the political leadership of Kaiser Germany on international issues. The bloody massacre convinced the diplomat of the lack of foreign policy realism among the elite of the Second Reich and the German common people. He realized early enough that his country would lose the war, and at the final stage of the slaughter and immediately after the end of the fighting, he tried to do everything possible to minimize the losses that his country could inevitably suffer. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, the leading direction of A. von Maltzan's efforts became the Soviet direction. He tried to use relations with Moscow to obtain certain preferences in relations with the Entente. In 1919—1921, the German diplomat, together with the "semi-legal Bolshevik plenipotentiary" in Berlin, Viktor Kopp, did a lot to establish a dialogue with Weimar Germany and Soviet Russia. Later, Maltzan played a leading role in the preparation of the famous Treaty of Rapallo, signed in April 1922. The agreement normalized relations between Berlin and Moscow. During the preparation of the treaty, the diplomat managed to attract Reich Chancellor J. Wirth and Foreign Minister W. Rathenau to his side, and enlist the support of influential military, business and political circles in Germany. Maltsan, while advocating for the development of ties with the Soviet state, remained a consistent opponent of communism and repeatedly spoke out against the actions of the Third International. However, while criticizing the Comintern, he made significant efforts to normalize relations with the USSR during the conflict over the Soviet embassy in 1924. At the end of that year, Maltsan was sent as ambassador to the United States. In 1927, a plane crash cut short the diplomat's career.

• Details
• Contents