on the common understanding in the spring of 1939 that there would soon be the announcement of a triple alliance binding the Western powers to the Soviet Union. Driven by the same assumption, the Yugoslavs, Greeks and even the Bulgarians drifted towards London and Paris in the summer of 1939, not towards Berlin. Even the Romanian trade deal failed to live up to German expectations. Once the threat of Hungarian military action had been lifted, the willingness of Bucharest to supply Germany with oil depended on Germany’s ability to provide reciprocal deliveries, in particular of arms.
