Chapter twenty - Stalin and international relations

Question 1

When was the Berlin treaty renegotiated?

Answer 1

1931

Question 2

What was the Soviet-German military cooperation in the early 1930s?

Answer 2

Areas of Russian territory were used to carry out military developments that were forbidden under the Versailles treaty. This included the Junkers aircraft factory near Moscow, a training school for German pilots at Lipetsk in Ukraine, a factory for practising tank warfare at Kazan and a secret joint facility at Samara for developing poison gas weapons.

Question 3

What was the ideological divide between the USSR and Germany in the early 1930s?

Answer 3

By 1932, with the Nazi party gaining mass electoral support, it seemed political upheaval would force a change in Soviet policy. In 1933 and 34 the Rapallo period of cooperation was put to one side as Stalin showed interest in collective security and improved relations with western democracies.

Question 4

When did the USSR join the League of Nations?

Answer 4

September 1934

Question 5

What were Riga watchers?

Answer 5

American foreign policy experts, who used Riga, the capital of independent Latvia, as a listening post from which to observe development inside Russia

Question 6

When was an American embassy opened in Moscow?

Answer 6

1933 - they no longer had to rely on Riga Watchers

Question 7

Who was the foreign commissar?

Answer 7

Litvinov. It was his visit to Washington in November 1933 that finalised the agreement to reopen formal relations.

Question 8

Why were the Japanese a concern?

Answer 8

The country had invaded Manchuria in 1931 and seemed set for further militaristic expansion. They had withdrawn from the League of Nations in 1933.

Question 9

What was the German relationship with the League of Nations?

Answer 9

They had been allowed to join in 1926 when they were fulfilling the terms of the Versailles treaty however Hitler had withdrawn in 1933.

Question 10

What were popular fronts?

Answer 10

The rise of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany led to calls for ‘anti-fascist solidarity’ - setting aside divisions and rivalries to provide united action by liberals and the Left. A popular front government was formed in France in May 1935 and there were calls for popular fronts in many other countries. Under Stalin’s orders, support for popular fronts became the official policy of the Comintern in August 1935.

Question 11

How did Stalin support collective security in the mid 1930s?

Answer 11

1934 and 35, Stalin announced the official policy to support broad based popular fronts in other countries. Soviet communism was to cooperate with democratic socialists in the fight against fascism. Stalin announced this new line in the Pravda in 1934.

Question 12

What was the pact with Poland?

Answer 12

December 1932, the USSR negotiated a non-aggression pact with Poland, which was made into a ten year agreement in 1934.

Question 13

What was the pact with France?

Answer 13

November 1932 - non-aggression pact
This was the basis of the Franco-Soviet Pact of Mutual Assistance, negotiated in December 1934 and signed in May 1935

Question 14

When did Hitler announce the German rearmament?

Answer 14

March 1935

Question 15

What were the weaknesses of the Franco-Soviet pact?

Answer 15

It did not have specific clauses on military cooperation, and was vague on the circumstances in which it might be activated. Many observers in Western countries were sceptical about the pact as they regarded it as a hollow threat of a two-front war on Germany.

Question 16

What was the pact with Czechoslovakia?

Answer 16

1935 - the USSR gave an undertaking to intervene militarily if Czechoslovakia was attacked by a third party as long as the French did also. This was encouraged by France and Britain, whose foreign secretary Anthony Eden visited Moscow in 1935.

Question 17

What was the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 17

In March 1936, Hitler ordered German troops to march into the Rhineland, territory which had been declared a demilitarised zone at the treaty of Versailles in 1919. France and Britain did not intervene so the remilitarisation succeeded.

Question 18

What was the effect of the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?

Answer 18

The passive response of France weakened Stalin’s faith in the value of the Franco-Soviet pact of 1935. It was also indicative of the future as it showed they may not be bold in resisting future attempts of Germany in East Central Europe.

Question 19

What was the Spanish civil war?

Answer 19

Began in July 1936 when right wing army officers led by Francisco Franco launched a nationalist rebellion against the Spanish Republic. Both fascist Italy and Nazi Germany sent military support to the Francoists.

Question 20

What was the Western reaction to the Spanish Civil War?

Answer 20

The popular front government of France wanted to prevent the civil war from becoming internationalised. In August 1936, France proposed a general agreement on non-intervention in Spain. At first Stalin went along with this policy but was anxious about what he perceived as French and British weakness in combating fascism. In September 1936, Stalin took the decision to intervene in Spain.

Question 21

What was Soviet intervention in the Spanish civil war like?

Answer 21

Hundreds of Soviet advisors were sent to Spain, backed by troops, tanks and aircraft. Soviet forces operated independently of the Spanish Republican government. Soviet propaganda went into overdrive with floods of posters and cinema newsreels, and a mass rally in Leningrad in 1937.

Question 22

What was the impact of Soviet intervention in Spain?

Answer 22

Saved Madrid from falling to Franco

Question 23

What was the change of Soviet policy in Spain?

Answer 23

From early 1937, the aim was to prolong the war in order to wear down Italian and German forces.

Question 24

What was the other reason for changed policy in Spain from 1937

Answer 24

Disillusionment with France and Britain - they began to show suspicion of Stalin’s intentions in Spain

Question 25

When did hitler tell his general to prepare for war?

Answer 25

November 1937 against Czechoslovakia and Poland

Question 26

When did Germany invade Austria?

Answer 26

March 1938 - France and Britain protested but took no action

Question 27

What was the Munich conference?

Answer 27

Chamberlain believed that the only way to achieve peace was by negotiating directly with Hitler. This led to the Munich conference in September 1938, attended by Germany, France, Britain and Italy - USSR was not included

Question 28

How was Japan a threat to the USSR?

Answer 28

Occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and the invasion of the rest of China in 1937

Question 29

What was the Anti-Comintern Pact?

Answer 29

Japan and Nazi Germany signed this in November 1936. Italy joined in November 1937, forming a three power alliance that became later known as the Axis

Question 30

What happened when the USSR put military forces on the Manchurian frontier?

Answer 30

There was a war that raged from May to September 1939 involving over 100,000 troops and 1000 tanks and aircraft. Decisive battle was at Khalkhin Gol in August 1939 where the army was defeated by Zhukov - 75% of the Japanese troops were killed in battle

Question 31

When was the Nazi-Soviet pact signed?

Answer 31

23 August 1939 by German and Soviet foreign ministers Ribbentrop and Molotov.

Question 32

Why did Hitler sign the pact?

Answer 32

He wanted to invade Poland without having to fight Soviet support for the allies.

Question 33

Why did Stalin sign the pact?

Answer 33

Gave them protection from a war against Germany
Gave him breathing space to concentrate on internal affairs
Gave huge territorial gains in east Poland and the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
The long war would economically and militarily exhaust Britain, France and Germany

Question 34

What were Stalin’s miscalculations about the Nazi-Soviet pact?

Answer 34

Overestimated the strength of the French army - the rapid fall of France in June 1940 was a nasty surprise for Stalin.
He trusted Hitler - by October 1940, Hitler had already begun to prepare to invade the USSR in 1941

Question 35

What was the Winter War?

Answer 35

Soviet forces invaded Finland in November 1939. The war went badly at first and a peace agreement was agreed in March 1940 - 10% of Finland’s territory was ceded to the USSR. When Germany invaded Russia, the war resumed, which lasted until armistice was agreed in September 1944.