Influence of foreign powers Flashcards
Molotov
Foreign minister for USSR
Replaced Litinov (Jewish)
Molotov declares interest in western alliance
May 1939
Stalin
Hoped for closer relationship w/ democracies
Allowed Nazi-Soviet pact to go ahead - Britain and France not serious
Admiral Drax
British delegate w/ aristocratic background
Sent on an old merchant ship - British didn’t look serious
Ribbentrop
Catalysed negotiations
Germany and Russia 1920s
Fought each other in WWI
Treaty of Brest Litovsk
Rapallo Treaty
Rapallo Treaty
1922
Led to reconciliation - German rearmament on Soviet soil
Signals for Germany wanting increased relations
Stalin replacing Jewish Litinov w/ Molotov
Berlin thinks Stalin not convinced by western democracies
Updated Rapallo Treaty
Would included a ‘German Poland’ and ‘Russian Poland’
Later pushed by the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
USSR overall contribution
Bolstered Hitler confidence in Poland
Speeds up invasion - mutual interest
Soviets don’t want alliances w/ Western powers - Enables Hitler for alliances
Clemenceau
involved in negotiating ToV
Impact on France WWI
Cost them 1.5 million men
Caused drop in birth rate
Little Entente
1924-27
Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia
Gov Transition in France
Right to left wing
1930s
Marechal Petain
Creation of Vichy State in alliance w/ Hitler
Led political revolution
Popular Front took power
1936
Left-wing gov
rearmament meetings took place
Maginot
French minister
Increased defence on western border - Maginot line
Flaws of Maginot line
gaps in the battlements on French border w/ Belgium and Luxembourg
France Overall Contribution
French policy confused and contradictory
Their demands created deep resentment in Germany
Aims of Italy
Idea of Mutilated Victory
Italy a revisionist power - not satisfied by ToV even though they won the war
Italy vs Britain coal production
230 million tonnes vs 1 million tonnes 1938-39
Locarno Treaty
1925
Respect Western Borders
Stresa Front
1935
Action against German attempts to revise Versailles
anti-Comintern Pact
1937
Italy signed w/ Germany against communism and USSR
Pact of Steel
1939
Italy follow Germany into war
Italy overall contribution to war
Mussolini contribution to Hitler’s aims was only helpful in early 30s
Supporting Anschluss helped Hitler destroy Versailles