Russians have dreamed of a Carpathian shield...Carpathians would act as a natural border protecting Russia and forcing any army coming from the west to march through Poland or up through the Bessarabian gap in Romania.
I'm sorry, but this sounds like nonsense. So you're saying they are concerned because they were invaded by Napoleon and Hitler and thus want a shield that would force any invaders to take the same path that Napoleon and Hitler took? If they were currently after Poland this would make more sense.
A Russian excuse for the Ribbentrop-Molotov was that the Soviets worked with the Germans to estabilish a long direct border with Germany (which didn't even exist at all before the pact, with Poland and other buffor countries) because they feared a German invasion. It's absurdly nonsensical but maybe they actually believe it somehow.
Hitler and Napoleon did go through Poland, there was just no Poland on the map in both these cases. (Napoleon did create a "Duchy of Warsaw", from the lands he won from the Prussians and the Austrians but it was a French puppet state ruled by a Saxon king.)
I'm sorry, but this sounds like nonsense. So you're saying they are concerned because they were invaded by Napoleon and Hitler and thus want a shield that would force any invaders to take the same path that Napoleon and Hitler took? If they were currently after Poland this would make more sense.
A Russian excuse for the Ribbentrop-Molotov was that the Soviets worked with the Germans to estabilish a long direct border with Germany (which didn't even exist at all before the pact, with Poland and other buffor countries) because they feared a German invasion. It's absurdly nonsensical but maybe they actually believe it somehow.
Hitler and Napoleon did go through Poland, there was just no Poland on the map in both these cases. (Napoleon did create a "Duchy of Warsaw", from the lands he won from the Prussians and the Austrians but it was a French puppet state ruled by a Saxon king.)
Okay. I see how being able to attack invaders from the south while your forces are protected by the Carpathians would be useful.