Blob1 - Long Term Rivalry

how did the civil war between Reds and Whites lead to tension

1918-20: the west (Britain, France, USA) sent troops, arms, supplies to support the Whites

Churchill (Minister for War) - Bolshevik Revolution “strangled in its cradle“

Support given to Whites half-hearted but Bolsheviks always remember that west had tried to crush communist state at birth

what was comintern and when was it set up

Communist International - international organisation led by USSR

set up 1919 in Moscow during Civil War

Included communist groups from across Europe as well as USA and China - led by Lenin and Zinoviev

what did comintern do (and what did it do under Stalin)

Held congresses through the 1920s - called for civil war and revolution across the world

USSR provided funds through the Comintern to support communist revolutionaries in other countries (Hungary, Germany)

Under Stalin: comintern used more to control other communist parties rather than push for revolutions

how did comintern lead to growing tensions

West were both threatend by its early calls for the overthrow of their governments and then by Stalin’s attempt to extend his influence into their countries

why did Stalin aim to make a defensive alliance with Britain and France and why did they refuse

Hitler made his aim of conquest of Eastern Europe very clear - Stalin wanted defence alliance to deter Hitler from going to war

Britain and France saw Stalin’s communist USSR as a greater threat to their liberal democracies than Hitler - so refused to sign

what was the policy of appeasement?

1938 - agreeing that Hitler could take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, an Eastern country near the USSR without consulting the USSR

why was the Soviet-Nazi pact signned?

USSR was isolated - Stalin needed time to prepare his country for war

Pact signed: August 1939

what happened to Poland?

September 1939 - Poland partitioned by Hitler and Stalin

what was the west’s reaction to the partition of Poland?

Angered the west - declareed war on Germany due to its invasion of Poland even though USSR had taken part in this same invasion