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The Road to War: Soviet Foreign Policy and the Nazi Threat (1930-1940)

This overview examines Soviet foreign policy from 1930 to 1940, highlighting significant events and strategies in response to the growing Nazi threat. Under Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov, the initial goal was to restrain Nazi Germany while avoiding direct conflict, evidenced by the Soviet focus on the Popular Front and the 1938 Munich Agreement. The analysis also covers the implications of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and the subsequent Winter War, revealing insights into the Soviet military's perceived weaknesses and geopolitical maneuvering during this turbulent period.

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The Road to War: Soviet Foreign Policy and the Nazi Threat (1930-1940)

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  1. THE ROAD TO WAR

  2. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • New Focus • Growing Nazi threat • Turn to West • The “Popular Front” • Main goal = restrain Nazis but avoid war Maxim Litvinov, Foreign Commissar, 1930-1939 “Bolshevism unmasked”

  3. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • Appeasement • Britain & France make concessions to Hitler • Munich Agreement - 1938 • Soviet isolation The Anschluss: Nazi troops enter Austria, March 1938 Germans take Sudetenland, 1938 “What, no seat for me?”

  4. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • Problems in the Far East • Japanese aggression in China (Manchukuo) • Fighting on Mongolian border • Threat of 2-front war

  5. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT • Litvinov replaced by Molotov • Germans & Soviets sign Non-Aggression Pact, August 1939 • Also contains Secret Protocol including territorial divisions Vyacheslav Molotov German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop & Molotov sign pact

  6. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT • Shocked much of world • Caused loss of support for Soviets

  7. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT • Economic collaboration • Germans did not follow through with obligations Soviet supplies getting ready for shipment to Germany

  8. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • THE NAZI-SOVIET PACT • Soviet benefits • territory in Poland (western Belorussia & Ukraine • Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)

  9. THE ROAD TO WAR SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • THE WINTER WAR, 1939-1940 • Finns resist Soviet demands • inflict heavy damage & casualties on Soviets • convinced Germans of Soviet military weakness

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