A step in the right direction was the German-Romanian trade treaty of 23 March 1939.81 This provoked great alarm in London and Paris, because Romania was Eastern Europe’s only major oil producer and because the treaty was clearly the result of coercion as much as bribery.82 In Berlin, the deal was heralded as a major breakthrough, which would secure Germany’s oil and grain supplies for the foreseeable future. For the Romanians, however, it seems to have been little more than a means of warding off German and Hungarian pressure. A few weeks after concluding the deal, Romania inveigled the
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