Foreign Policy 1930s Flashcards
Cooperation with Germany
Cooperation established by the 1922 Treaty of Rapallo and consolidated by the Treaty of Berlin 1926
Soviet Union benefitted from German technical expertise for the modernisation of industry and armaments production
1931 Germany and Russia negotiated the continuation of Treaty of Berlin but relations were beginning to come under strain
Soviet entry into League of Nations
1933 diplomatic relations established with the United States and an American embassy was opened in Moscow
US diplomatic recognition opened the way for bringing USSR into League of Nations. Litvinov well established by 1933 and re opened formal relations after a visit to Washington in nov 1933.
Joining League of Nations appealed to western powers to strengthen collective security against Japan
Pacts with France
Slow to react to rise of Hitler and continued cooperation with Germany
Non aggression pact was signed with France 1932 which was the basis for Franco-Soviet Pact of Mutual Assistance, negotiated in Dec 1934 and signed May 1935
Didn’t have specific clauses about military cooperation
Pacts with Czechoslovakia
USSR gave an undertaking to intervene militarily if Czechoslovakia was attacked by a third party as long as the French did also.
Czechoslovakia encouraged into pact by France and Britain
Soviet intervention in Spanish Civil war
Germany broke terms of Versailles and France did nothing about it which was an alarming indication for the future as if France weren’t going enforce Versailles in areas so close to France then they wouldn’t resist German attempts in east
Stalin went along with pact of non intervention in Spain but in 1936 took the decision to intervene
Intervention on a large scale with hundreds of Soviet ‘advisors’ sent to Spain backed by troops tanks and aircrafts. Early months of 1937 military commitment scaled down
Western appeasement
By 1938 Soviet Union facing serious threats to security as Stalin knew through secret intelligence that Hitler told his generals in Nov 1937 to prepare for a war of aggression and territorial expansion in Poland and Czechoslovakia. Also Japan had launched aggressive war on China. Collaboration with Western powers and reliance on collective security wasn’t effective. League of Nations proved toothless.
March 1938 German forces invaded Austria and the West did nothing
Munich conference 1938
Attended by Germany france Britain and Italy. USSR not invited. After Munich Stalin turned his back on the west and made a deal with Hitler
Soviet response to Japanese aggression
Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931 and Japan’s invasion of the rest of China in 1937 presented a serious threat to the position of the USSR. The threat from Japan was made more urgently the Anti- Comintern pact between Japan and Germany
USSR stationed substantial military forces on Manchurian frontier from summer of 1938 there was numerous border confrontations.
Decisive battle was at Khalkhin Gol in Soviet Mongolia in August 1939 where the Japanese army was encircled and defeated by soviet forces
Origins of Nazi Soviet pact
By summer 1939 it was clear Europe was sliding towards war. Hitler was committed to invading Poland but didn’t want to fight against a British- French- Soviet alliance in support of Poland and Stalin wanted to avoid a war on two fronts with Japan and Germany. Stalin hoped that the capitalist states would destroy eachother and Russia could remain neutral. The pact gave hitler a free hand to invade Poland and Stalin territorial gains in eastern Poland and Baltic states but more importantly breathing space allowing time to consolidate economic changes in Russia.
Outcomes of Nazi Soviet pact Aug 1939
-gave Stalin protection from war against Germany at a time where USSR was militarily weak
-gave him breathing space to concentrate on internal affairs
-enabled territorial gains and destruction of Poland
- Stalin could look forward to a war in which Britain France and Germany all became economically and militarily exhausted
Stalin miscalculated strength of french army and modern warfare and the rapid fall of france in June 1940 was a nasty surprise for Stalin, putting hitler in complete control of Western Europe
