Chapter 20: Stalin and international relations

Rapallo(1922), Berlin(1926), technical, 1931

The Treaty of _____(____) established German relations, which was consolidated by the Treaty of ______(____). The SU benefitted from German _________ expertise. In ____, Germany and Russia negotiated the continuation of the Berlin Treaty but by then the Soviet-German relationship was beginning to come under strain.

Junkers aircraft factory near Moscow, training school for German pilots in Ukraine, facility for practising tank warfare at Kazan, secret joint facility at Samara for developing poison gas

Soviet and german cooperation that was forbidden under the Versailles treaty included:

Nazi party gaining mass electoral support in 1932, Stalin interested in collective security and improved relations with western democracies but kept options open with germany

What led to the ned of the “Rapallo period”(1933-34)?

zig-zag, single minded obsession

Often suggested that Stalin had a ‘________’ policy, but an alternative view argues that he had a ______ ________ ________ with security pursued with unpredictable tactics but with the same overall strategic objective

Alexandr Nekrich, “Pariahs, Partners, Predators”(1997)

Argues that there was a consistent ‘Stalin Doctrine’ in the 1930s, wanting a war between Germany and the capitalist West that would weaken both sides while the USSR stayed neutral

established in 1933, opening of American embassy in Moscow — vital for invitation into LofN

How were relations set up with the United States?

Riga Watchers

US no longer reliant on them after setting up relations with USSR in 1933—American foreign policy experts who used Riga(Latvia capital) to observe developments inside Russia

Maksim Litvinov

• established by “33 as the ‘acceptable face’ of the regime

• Credibility with west→polished background and long experience with the west

• 1933: reopened formal relations with US following the rise and military expansion of Japan in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria.

Japanese and German aggression

What made bringing the USSR into the LofN more appealing to Western powers?

1933

Japan and Germany leave LofN as Hitler withdraws his gov. And Japan mount a war against China

1934

When was the USSR admitted to LofN(radical change in Soviet policy)

1934-5, collective security, popular fronts, 1935

____-_: Stalin took further steps towards ________ _______ by announcing a new official policy to support broad-based ‘______ _____’ in other countries, which became official policy at the Comintern Congress in ____

Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and Japan’s occupation of Manchuria in 1931

Why did Stalin fear Japanese aggression?

popular fronts

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.

december 1932

non-aggression pact with Poland(made into 10 year agreement in 1934)

Franco-Soviet Pact, november 1932

• non-aggression pact with France(basis of a Franco-Soviet Pact of Mutual Assistance, negotiated in 1934 and signed in “35)

• France worried about Hitler’s announcement of German rearmament in 1935 but there was no specific clauses on military cooperation here(empty threat against Germany)

Czechoslovakia Pact

• USSR gave an undertaking to intervene militarily if Czechoslovakia was attacked by a 3rd party(Germany) as long as France did also

  • Encouraged by France and Britain, whilst Stalin pressured French Communist Party to support the Pact

1936, Rhineland, faith

In ____ Hitler retakes the __________ and violates Versailles treaty. Passive French response makes Stalin lose ____ in Franco-Soviet pact(if France wasn’t going to enforce Versailles on an issue close to them than how about on German attempts to Russia?)

Spanish Civil War(1936)

Began when right-wing army officers led by Francisco Franco launch nationalist rebellion against the Spanish Republic

popular front, internationalising, 1936, non-intervention, fascism, advisers

_______ _____ gov of France wished to prevent Spanish CW from ____________ and in ____ proposed a general agreement on _____________, which Stalin initially accepted. But he later intervened in 1936 as he grew anxious about French and British weakness in combating ________. Soviet military and political support was given to the Spanish Republican Government, and Soviet propaganda went into overdrive in support of the ‘anti-fascist crusade’ in Spain(e.g. Mass rally in Leningrad in 1937). This intervention was on a large scale and rapidly implemented with hundreds of Soviet ‘________’ sent to Spain, backed by troops, tanks and aircraft.

Direct military commitment scaled down and Stalin now aimed to prolong the war to wear down Italian and German forces, political priorities focused on internal feuds and rivalries against left-wing elements opposition to Soviet domination, Stalin concerned with internal security out of fear of a revolutionary idealism he couldn’t control

Soviet intervention had a significant impact(e.g. saved Madrid from falling to Franco) but Stalin’s policy changed in 1937

Western democracies did little to prevent Francoists victory and suspicious of Stalin’s intentions, intervention in the Spanish CW hailed but on a governmental level exacerbating resentment of Soviet communism, weakening the prospects of future collaboration

Disillusionment with France and Britain also led Stalin’s policies to change

Hitler planned war against Czechoslovakia and Poland “37, Japan launched war of aggression in China

German and Japanese aggression in 1937 posed a serious security threat, and LofN proved toothless in dealing with aggression like the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 whilst French and British policies focused more on appeasement

Anschluss

1938: German invasion of Austria imposes the _________ which incorporates it into the German Reich

1938, Sudetenland, Chamberlain

Summer of ____: Nazi-inspired agitation for the German-speaking ___________ to be transferred from Czechoslovakia to Germany

• Exactly the threat the pact with France and CSR worked against but no activation

• Neville _________, british PM, took lead in 1938

anti-communist, believed peace would be achieved by directly negotiating with Hitler, leading to the Munich conference

What were Chamberlain’s beliefs?

Appeasement

a term widely used in the 1930s to denote the policies of the Western democracies in response to demands from Hitler’s Germany to revise the Treaty of Versailles; rather than relying on military alliances to enforce the post-war peace, the ‘appeasers’ believed in negotiations to ‘meet legitimate German grievances’

the Munich conference, Sept 1938

• Germany, France, Britain, Italy

• Excluded USSR and CSR, whose fate it was being decided

• Pact with CSR not activated because it depended on France taking action, which it didn’t

• Joseph Davies, confidential letter to Washington in 1939, — clear that Stalin may turn to Hitler after being excluded in an anti-HItler alliance

Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936

Early basis of the Axis three-power alliance, which was a joint agreement between Japan, Germany, and later joined by Italy in “37 to take joint action against Soviet ‘interference’

1937, 1938, Manchurian, 1939, 100k, 1k, Khalkhin Gol, Soviet Mongolia, 75%, Japanese

Stalin increasingly worried about Japanese expansion in 1930s, occupying rest of China by ____. Some historians argue that he was more worried about this than Hitler’s Germany. Numerous confrontations with Japan from _____ in the __________ frontier escalated into a major war from May to Sept _____, involving ____ troops, __ tanks and aircraft. Won by Russia in the decisive battle of ___________ in ______ _______ which saw the loss of __% of the _____________ troops in the battle

Japan left USSR alone to focus on the Pacific, served as a reminder to the USSR to stay militarily strong in Far East and coincided with a shift in policy towards Western Europe

What followed the 1939 war, also known as the ‘forgotten war’ which had little international significance but major damage to both sides?

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov(d.1974):

A career soldier of the Red Army who served in WW1, the CW, and in WW2 where he became Stalin’s most vital generals despite frequent altercations between the two. He was promoted to seniors positions during the 1930s purges and became a Hero for his victory in Khalkhin Gol.

Nazi-Soviet Pact

• Aug 1939: Non-aggression pact signed by German and Soviet foreign ministers, Ribbentrop and Molotov; a diplomatic revolution agreed by bitter ideological rivals

• Built on previous cooperation by giving Hitler freedom to invade Poland and access to Russian raw materials whilst territorial gains in east Poland and baltic states for Stalin.

• Allowed Stalin to consolidate the great economic changes within Russia by giving him breathing space

• Stalin kept a possible alliance with the West open, and continued negotiations by Litvinov with the West as well as Soviet propaganda against the evils of Nazism

1939, Poland, Prague, Anglo-French Military Mission

March ____: Britain and France agreed to assist _______ if Germany invaded following the taking of ______, but Poland was reluctant to cooperate with the USSR. Moreover, Britain and France lacked urgency in formulating the ______-_______ _________ _______, which had no chance of success against the Nazi-Soviet Pact upon reaching Moscow

protection against Germany, breathing space to focus on internal affairs, revenge on Poland 20 years after the Russo-Polish War(Miracle on the Vistula), territory(Baltics States, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania), possibility of another world war that would weaken France, Britain, and Germany

Outcomes of the NSP for the USSR

NSP strengthened Germany rather than weaken it

Why did the fall of France in 1940, giving Germany complete control of the western front, as surprise to Stalin?

‘Winter War’, Finland, 1940, 10, 1944

1939-40: “_______ ___” began when Soviet forces invade _______ in Nov 1939 which went badly for Stalin(purges destabilised military) and a peace agreement was signed in ____, where __% of Finnish territory was ceded to the USSR. But conflict resumed when Germany invaded Russia in 1941 and lasted until an armistice was signed in ____

over-estimated French military strength and believe he could trust Hitler

What two miscalculations did Stlain make?