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SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1941 (PART III)

SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1941 (PART III). THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT 1939. Stalin knew that USSR was too weak to defeat Germany Still building up USSR’s industries Did not want to risk war unless he could win

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SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY 1918-1941 (PART III)

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  1. SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY1918-1941(PART III)

  2. THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT 1939 • Stalin knew that USSR was too weak to defeat Germany • Still building up USSR’s industries • Did not want to risk war unless he could win • Since he could not trust Britain and France, the alternative was to come to terms with Germany • Signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact in Aug 1939 • Agreed to divide Poland among themselves • USSR would remain neutral in the imminent war along Germany’s eastern frontier with Poland • Germany would not stop USSR from taking over the eastern part of Poland as well as Estonia and Latvia • Germany agreed later not to oppose USSR taking over Lithuania as well

  3. THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT 1939

  4. THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT 1939

  5. WHY STALIN SIGNED THE PACT • Recovery of lost USSR territories • Gained time for Stalin • Stalin’s worry about fighting a war on two fronts • Loss of confidence in Britain and France

  6. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signs the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact while German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop and Soviet leader Stalin look on under a portrait of Lenin, August 23, 1939.

  7. Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signs the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact while German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop and Soviet leader Stalin look on under a portrait of Lenin, August 23, 1939.

  8. NAZI LEADERS AFTER SIGNING THE PACT WITH USSR Upon signing the mutual non-aggression pact, German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop (center) boasted that he could "fill a chest with all the treaties that he had violated." (Germany violated this treaty after twenty-two months.)

  9. WHY STALIN SIGNED THE PACT • Recovery of lost USSR territories • Land lost in the Brest-Litovsk Treaty • Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania • Secret agreement that Russia could recover territory lost to Poland during the Russian civil war period • Advantage of moving USSR’s western frontier further away from the main cities and industries • In the event of war with Germany, German forces would have to fight through all these territories before getting to USSR ie creation of a buffer zone

  10. WHY STALIN SIGNED THE PACT 2. Gained time for Stalin • More time to build up his armed forces • Why? • USSR would be in a better position to fight Germany then • Probably one reason why the USSR defeated Germany later in WWII

  11. WHY STALIN SIGNED THE PACT 3.Stalin’s worry about fighting a war on two fronts • West : Against Germany • East : Against Japan • Limit German expansion to the east by redirecting it to the West towards France • “Front seat” to watch the Western powers slug it out with Germany

  12. WHY STALIN SIGNED THE PACT 3.Stalin’s worry about fighting a war on two fronts • 1937 : China at war with Japan • USSR supported China • Stalin feared a Japanese attack on Soviet territories in East Asia • Did not want to fight a war there and in Europe • This war between Japan and USSR never materialized but it seemed very likely at that time

  13. WORLD WAR II • WWII started in Sep 1939 with Hitler’s invasion of Poland on 1 Sep 1939 • As agreed in the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Stalin moved into eastern Poland, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania at the same time • Less than 2 years later, in June 1941, Germany attacked USSR • There was no declaration of war by Germany • 3,000,000 German troops poured into USSR in one of the biggest invasions in world history • The Soviet army was swept before it • Thus began what the Russians call “The Great Patriot War”

  14. WORLD WAR II German attack on USSR 1941

  15. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Information and image sources • Moreira J., World in Transition – Perspectives on Modern World History, Singapore : SNP Education Pte Ltd, 2000. • Kelly N. and Shuter J., As It Was Lived – A History of the Modern World, Singapore : Pearson Education Asia Pte Ltd, 2000. • Lim S H, Tham Y P, Wang Z and Yeo L, Inroads – Modern World History, Singapore : Oxford University Press, 2000. • Tate N., A History of the Modern World, Singapore : Federal Publications, 1995.

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