Soviet Foreign Policy

Question 1

Outline three foreign policy actions from 1917-1919

Answer 1

• 1917- Lenin repudiated all Tsarist foreign debt & froze all foreign assets in Russia
• 1918- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• 1919- The Communist International (Comintern) formed

Question 2

When and why was the Communist International (Comintern) formed?

Answer 2

19191. Created to promote world revolution & peaceful alliances & to give support to foreign left-wing groups- had 28 delegates in different nations

Question 3

Who was the Treaty of Rapallo between, in what year was it signed and who were the two negotiators?

Answer 3

1922- Treaty between Russia & Germany.

Negotiated by Georgi Chicherin (USSR) and Walther Rathenau

Question 4

What type of approach did the Treaty of Rapallo represent?

Answer 4

Treaty of Rapallo (Germany & Russia) represented a non-ideological approach to foreign policy & was aimed at ensuring the survival of Russia.

Question 5

Identify two key features of the Treaty of Rapallo

Answer 5

• Both signatories renounced all territorial and financial claims against the other following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and World War I
• Rapallo allowed Russia a place for her exports & entry into international affairs.

Question 6

In what years was a policy of peaceful co-existence adopted?

Answer 6

1925-1933

Question 7

Identify the six countries that Russia engaged in “peaceful co-existence” with

Answer 7

• Turkey, Germany (Treaty of Berlin), Lithuania, Afghanistan, Iran & Finland

Question 8

What essentially was peaceful co-existence made up of?

Answer 8

• series of neutrality treaties

Question 9

What was the name of the neutrality treaty signed between Russia and Germany?

Answer 9

Treaty of Berlin.

Question 10

What was one of the key stipulations in the Treaty of Berlin?

Answer 10

• stipulated that if a third party attacked there would be no support given

Question 11

What was the Kellogg-Briand Pact and when was it signed?

Answer 11

27/8/1928. Symbolic treaty which outlawed war; essentially an international agreement that states war is not to be used to solve foreign problems.

Question 12

Who were the signatories in the Kellogg-Briand Pact?

Answer 12

Germany, France and the United States

Question 13

From 1933 onwards what did Soviet foreign policy focus on?

Answer 13

Avoiding isolation & finding allies to nullify German threat.

Question 14

Identify three factors contextual that highlighted the need to nullify the German threat in 1933.

Answer 14

• Hitler was in power and had repudiated Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler severed diplomatic relations with Russia in May 1933.
• Communism and Fascism were deemed incompatible by Hitler

Question 15

In what year did the USSR join the League of Nations and what were they aiming to promote?

Answer 15

USSR joined the League of Nations in 1934 to promote collective security

Question 16

How did Stalin view the 1938- Munich Conference?

Answer 16

Viewed by Stalin as an anti-Soviet gathering intent on giving Germany permission to attack USSR

Question 17

What was the Munich Agreement?

Answer 17

An agreement permitting the Nazi German Annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland

Question 18

How did Stalin view the Munich Agreement and what was his response?

Answer 18

Stalin concluded that the West had actively colluded with Hitler to hand over a Central European country to the Nazis, causing concern that they might do the same to the Soviet Union in the future, allowing the partition of the USSR between the western powers and the fascist Axis.
This belief led the Soviet Union to reorient its foreign policy towards a reapproachment with Germany, which ultimately led to the singing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939.

Question 19

What was the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and in what year was it signed?

Answer 19

1939- Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Treaty restored territorial losses of 1918 & divided Poland between the two nations- provided “breathing space” to build up Soviet defenses

Question 20

What happened two weeks after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

Answer 20

Hitler attacked Poland- Soviet armies occupied eastern half & in June USSR occupied Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia, & Lithuania

Question 21

What was ‘Barbarossa’ and when did it occur?

Answer 21

Operation “Barbarossa” is the codename for the German invasion of the USSR in the largest German military action in WWII which occurred June 22, 1941

Question 22

What was Lenin’s view of foreign policy?

Answer 22

Lenin advocated a Marxist “internationalist” view of foreign policy- world revolution & non-annexation peace

Question 23

After the failure of the Civil War, expansion & advancement dropped in favour of what and for what reason?

Answer 23

‘REVOLUTIONARY PRAGMATISM”- Had to focus on internal consolidation & defense against outside threats and engage in peaceful coexistence & economic cooperation with capitalist powers. Aim to avoid war at all costs until they were strong enough to defend themselves

Question 24

How were Trotsky and Stalin’s views of foreign policy demonstrated through events in China?

Answer 24

Stalin believed China was not ready for socialist revolution and urged Chinese to support nationalist Kuomintang Party. Trotsky supported Chinese communists

Question 25

What were three of the main influencing factors of Soviet foreign policy?

Answer 25

Survival, security & ideology