Collective security in Europe. Attempts to create a system of collective security in Europe and the reasons for their failures

In the late 20s - early 30s. The international situation has changed. The deep global economic crisis that began in 1929 caused serious internal political changes in all capitalist countries.

Thus, the international situation sharply worsened after the National Socialist Party, led by A. Hitler, came to power in Germany in 1933. The new government set as its goal to review the results of the First World War. As a country that lost the war, Germany did not have the right to have its own armed forces, but it refused to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and in 1935 announced the creation of military aviation and a navy, introducing universal conscription.

In 1933, the Soviet government developed a plan for the struggle for collective security, which provided for the conclusion of a regional agreement between European states on mutual defense against German aggression. In 1934, the USSR joined the League of Nations.

As a result of negotiations between the French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou and the USSR People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M.M. Litvinov, a draft Eastern Pact was developed, according to which the USSR, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland form a collective security system.

But, however, the Eastern Pact as a system of collective security was not implemented due to the opposition of England and the right-wing reactionary circles of France. In 1935, the Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak treaties on mutual assistance were signed by the government of the USSR. The parties were obliged to immediately provide assistance to each other in the event of an attack on one of them.

In March 1936, an agreement was concluded with the Mongolian People's Republic, and in August 1937 - a non-aggression pact between the USSR and China.

In 1935, Germany sent its troops into the demilitarized Rhineland, and in 1936, Germany and Japan signed an agreement directed against the USSR (Anti-Comintern Pact). In 1938, Germany annexed Austria.

At this time, the Western powers pursued a policy of concessions to Germany, hoping to direct aggression to the East. It was no accident that the Munich Agreement of 1938 was signed between Germany, Italy, France and England, according to which Czechoslovakia lost its independence.

In conditions when the USSR's negotiations with England and France reached a dead end in 1939, the Soviet leadership accepted Germany's proposal for peace negotiations, as a result of which a Soviet-German non-aggression treaty was concluded in Moscow in August 1939, which immediately came into force and designed for 10 years (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact).

Attached to the agreement was a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The interests of the Soviet Union were recognized by Germany in the Baltic states (Latvia, Estonia, Finland) and Bessarabia.

Thus, the USSR was faced with an alternative: either come to an agreement with England and France and create a system of collective security in Europe, or conclude a pact with Germany, or remain alone.

Having concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939, when Far East military operations were underway, the USSR avoided a war on two fronts.

However, the pact did not make it possible to create a united anti-Soviet front in Europe.

On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. Thus began the Second World War.

In new international conditions The USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements. On September 17, after the Germans defeated the Polish army and the fall of the Polish government, the Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine.

On September 28, 1939, the Soviet-German Treaty “On Friendship and Border” was concluded, securing these lands as part of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the USSR insisted on concluding agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, receiving the right to station its troops on their territory. In these republics, in the presence of Soviet troops, legislative elections were held, in which communist forces won. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.

In October 1939, the USSR offered Finland to lease the Hanko Peninsula, which was important for our borders, for 30 years, to transfer the islands in the Gulf of Finland, part of the Rybachy and Sredny peninsulas, part of the Karelian Isthmus - in exchange for territory in Soviet Karelia.

However, the Finnish side did not accept the conditions and negotiations were interrupted. A military conflict broke out. The Soviet-Finnish War lasted 105 days, from November 30, 1939 to March 12, 1940.

Although this campaign ended in victory for the USSR and allowed our country to strengthen its strategic positions in the north-west and move the border away from Leningrad, it still caused political and moral damage to our country. World public opinion In this conflict, Finland was on the side, the prestige of the USSR dropped noticeably. On December 14, 1939, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations.

In summary, it should be noted that the Soviet government played a significant role in the creation of collective security, which provided for the conclusion of a regional agreement between European states on mutual defense against German aggression. Thanks to this, the USSR joined the League of Nations.

However, the fact that the USSR entered into a war with Finland, which lasted 105 days and ended in victory for the USSR, allowed our country to strengthen its strategic positions in the north-west, move the border away from Leningrad, while still causing political and moral damage to the USSR.

It should be noted that world public opinion in this conflict was on the side of Finland, and therefore the prestige of the USSR dropped noticeably.

Soviet-German treaties of 1939: essence and significance

In 1939, the following Soviet-German treaties were concluded.

Germany provided the USSR with a loan of 200 million German marks and undertook to supply the Soviet Union with machine tools and other factory equipment, as well as military equipment, under this loan; at the same time, the USSR pledged to repay the loan with supplies of raw materials and food.

• On February 11, 1940, a business agreement was concluded to expand trade.
• On January 10, 1941, an agreement was concluded on mutual trade supplies until August 1942.

These agreements were important for both parties, because carried serious economic and military-technical cooperation between Germany and the USSR. And the agreements were in force until the start of the Second World War.

A significant agreement was the agreement (September 28, 1939. Treaty of Friendship and Border between the USSR and Germany.

This agreement established a demarcation between the USSR and Germany according to “ Curzon lines", thereby consolidating the liquidation of the Polish state.

Treaty of January 10, 1941. This was the Treaty on the Soviet-German border from the Igorka River to the Baltic Sea; Agreement on the resettlement of Germans from the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian SSR to Germany with an Agreement on the settlement of mutual property claims related to this resettlement.

It is worth mentioning the agreement dated August 23rd. 1939 g. (Non-aggression Treaty between the USSR and Germany (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact).

This agreement meant a sharp reorientation in the foreign policy of the USSR towards rapprochement with Germany. The secret protocol to the agreement established the delimitation of the areas of interests of the parties. Germany recognized the interests of the USSR in Latvia, Estonia, Eastern Poland, Finland, and Bessarabia.

By the way, after the conclusion of the treaty on September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, and on September 17 1939 the Red Army entered the territory of Eastern Poland, after which Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were included in the USSR (1939), and subsequently the Baltic states and Bessarabia 1940); at the end of 1939, the USSR attacked Finland, starting the Soviet-Finnish war.

“Both contracting parties undertake to refrain from any violence, from any aggressive action and from any attack against each other, either separately or jointly with other powers:

In the event that one of the contracting parties becomes the object of military action by a third power, the other contracting party will not support this power in any form.

The governments of both contracting parties will remain in. in the future in mutual contact for consultation to inform each other about issues affecting their common interests.

Neither of the contracting parties will participate in any grouping of powers that is directly or indirectly directed against the other party.

In the event of disputes or conflicts between the contracting parties on issues of one kind or another, both parties will resolve these disputes or conflicts exclusively peacefully, through a friendly exchange of views or, if necessary, by creating a conflict resolution commission.”

This agreement was concluded for a period of ten years. On February 11, 1940, it was supplemented by a Soviet-German trade agreement.

This agreement was of great importance then.

His conclusion overturned the plans of those reactionary diplomats in England and France who hoped, by isolating the USSR, providing it with obligations of mutual assistance, to direct German aggression against it. This was the greatest diplomatic achievement of the USSR government.

On the other hand, by signing a non-aggression pact with Soviet Union, Hitler’s Germany thereby demonstrated to the whole world its recognition of the power of the USSR and its fear of the possible participation of the Soviet power in the fight against Germany on the side of the Anglo-French bloc.

So, of course, the agreement with Germany was by no means evidence of the Soviet government’s excessive trust in fascist Germany. He did not weaken the vigilance of the Soviet government and its tireless concern for strengthening the defense capability of the USSR. “This agreement,” said Comrade Molotov, “is supported by confidence in our real forces, in their full readiness in case of any aggression against the USSR."

The conclusion of a non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany sparked a new violent campaign against the Soviet Union. The reactionary press in England and France screamed about the unnatural alliance of communism and fascism. And the Reuters news agency supposedly the Soviet government itself explained the break in negotiations with England and France by concluding an agreement with Germany.

In his interview, published on August 27 in Izvestia, Voroshilov decisively denied all these fabrications. “Not because,” he said, “military negotiations with England and France were interrupted because the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany, but, on the contrary, the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact with Germany as a result, among other things, of the fact that military negotiations with France and England have reached an impasse due to insurmountable differences."

So, it becomes obvious that the Soviet-German treaties were of an important nature. They played a fairly serious role in the economies of both countries and the development of military-technical cooperation between Germany and the USSR.

In addition, by signing a non-aggression pact with the USSR, Germany demonstrated its recognition of the power of the USSR and its fear of the participation of the Soviet power in the fight against Germany on the side of the Anglo-French bloc. It is clear that the agreement with Germany was by no means evidence of the Soviet government’s excessive trust in Nazi Germany. He did not relax the vigilance of our government and its concern for strengthening the defense capabilities of the borders.

The problem of ensuring the peaceful coexistence of different states remains the most global one to this day. The first attempts to create organizations for protection against external aggression appeared after the end of the First World War. Each military invasion led to disastrous consequences for the life and health of various nationalities, as well as for the economies of states. The collective security system was created to eliminate threats to peace on a planetary scale. For the first time, the issue of creating such a system was brought up for discussion during negotiations between the USSR and France.

The creation of a collective security complex involves the adoption of comprehensive measures that are implemented by various states at the universal or regional levels. The purpose of creating such a protective complex is to eliminate the threat to peaceful coexistence, suppress acts of external aggression, and also create the necessary level of global security. Today, in practice, the collective security complex is understood as a set of forms and methods of struggle by countries around the world against manifested aggression.

How did the security system develop at the interstate level?

As already mentioned, the first attempts to create a collective security system in Europe were made in 1933. An agreement on mutual assistance was concluded between the Soviet Union and France. Subsequently, this document was called the Eastern Pact. Next were carried out multilateral negotiations, in which, in addition to the indicated countries, the USA, China, Japan and a number of other states participated. As a result, an agreement was reached to conclude the Pacific Pact.

The Pacific Pact was never concluded due to the influence of Germany and its demands for equal rights in the sphere of arms. Due to the manifestation of aggression on the German side, the Soviet Union concluded a number of agreements on mutual military assistance with European countries. These were the first steps towards the development of a connected security scheme.

Historical facts indicate that the USSR carried out actions aimed at signing peace agreements and non-aggression pacts.

After 1935, issues of ensuring international protection became the subject of repeated discussion in the Council of the League of Nations. It was intended to expand the number of countries participating in such negotiations. However, Great Britain refrained from signing any agreements. Numerous attempts by the Soviet Union to create a social system international security during the interwar period were in vain. After World War II, the United Nations was created, which documented a collective security agreement.

Elemental composition and classification of public safety systems

The united protection of the rights and interests of the entire population at the interstate level includes a number of components:

• Compliance with the principles international law;
• Respect for sovereignty and inviolability of borders;
• Non-interference in the internal political affairs of the country;
• Taking general measures aimed at combating aggression and eliminating the threat to the world community;
• Limitation and reduction of armaments.

The basis for the creation of such a large-scale complex was the principle of the indivisibility of the world. It is generally accepted to distinguish two main types of public security systems:

• Universal;
• Regional.

The video is about the collective security system in Europe:

Today, the United Nations is the guarantor of compliance with international law and the principles of peaceful coexistence. Collective activities that are carried out to maintain peace are enshrined in the UN Charter. The statutory document provides for the following provisions:

• List of prohibited measures (threat or use of force in interstate relations);
• Measures for the peaceful settlement of disputes;
• List of measures for disarmament of powers;
• Creation and functioning of regional protective organizations;
• Forced response measures without the use of weapons.

Maintaining peace on a planetary scale is carried out by the UN Security Council and General Assembly. The tasks assigned to the international organization within the framework of the universal system include:

• Investigation of cases and incidents that threaten peace;
• Conducting diplomatic negotiations;
• Verification of compliance with agreements on ceasefire or military intervention;
• Maintaining the rule of law and legal order of the member states of the organization;
• Humanitarian assistance to those in need;
• Control over the current situation.

Regional security systems are presented in the form of organizations or agreements that regulate peaceful coexistence in a particular region or continent. Regional complexes may include several participants. The competence of such an organization extends exclusively to countries that have signed the relevant agreement.

The video shows V.V.’s speech. Putin at the plenary meeting of the Collective Security Council:

Conditions for the activities of an international organization in the field of peacekeeping

Since the creation of the UN until today, in the event of military situations or external invasion, the organization can carry out peacekeeping operations. The conditions for such operations are:

• Mandatory consent of both parties to the conflict to carry out any regulatory actions;
• Cessation of fire and guarantee of protection and security for peacekeeping units;
• Adoption by the Security Council of an appropriate decision on the conduct of operations over which the Secretary General personally exercises control;
• Coordinated activity of all formed military units that are aimed at resolving the conflict;
• Impartiality and non-interference in the internal political affairs of peacekeeping organizations and units;
• Financing of regulatory activities international bodies through financial assistance and special contributions.

Principles of construction and functioning of the public protection complex

Among the principles for constructing a collective security system and its functioning, the following are distinguished:

• Development of certain approaches, documents, concepts, views on emerging problems of peaceful coexistence;
• Ensuring national (intrastate) and global security;
• Military construction, formation of headquarters and training of qualified military personnel;
• Development of regulatory documents in the state that comply with international law in the field of defense and peace;
• Bilateral or multilateral cooperation of states in commonwealths;
• Joint peaceful use of the components of militarized infrastructure, water and airspace.

Creating a peaceful space in the CIS

In 1991, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed an agreement to form the Commonwealth of Independent States. Later, other countries of the post-Soviet space (for example, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan) joined this Union. The defining direction of the CIS activities is maintaining peace and creating safe conditions life for the population.

Within the CIS, there are two main regulatory mechanisms.

Video about cooperation between Russia and Kazakhstan:

The first mechanism is provided for by the Charter. In the event of a threat to the constitutional order or external interference, the participating countries must consult each other and take measures to peacefully resolve controversial issues. If necessary, a peacekeeping mission can be carried out using armed units. In this case, the action of the armed forces must be clearly coordinated between all participants.

The second mechanism was enshrined in the security agreement general security. This documentary act was adopted in 1992. The treaty provides for the refusal of countries to take part in manifestations of aggression on the part of any state. The peculiarity of the concluded agreement is that if one of the states shows aggressive actions, this will be regarded as a manifestation of aggression against the entire Commonwealth. A state that is subject to aggression will be provided with any necessary assistance, including military assistance. In these documents, the mechanism for managing and regulating peace is not clearly established and may be contained in other international documents. The above Charter and Agreement are of reference to other regulations CIS.

In the 1930s political activity on international arena The Soviet leadership also deployed. Thus, on the initiative of the USSR, in May 1935, the Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak pacts on mutual assistance against aggression were signed. This could be a serious step towards curbing the aggressive policies of Nazi Germany and its allies and serve as the basis for the creation of a system of collective security in Europe. The Soviet Union strongly condemned the aggressive actions of Germany and proposed international conference to organize a system of collective security and protect the independence of countries threatened by aggression. However, the ruling circles of Western states did not express the necessary interest in its creation.

In 1939, the USSR continued to take active steps to encourage the governments of Great Britain and France to create a system of collective security in Europe. The Soviet government made a specific proposal to conclude an agreement between the USSR, Great Britain and France on mutual assistance in the event of aggression against any of the countries party to the agreement. In the summer of 1939, trilateral negotiations were held in Moscow on the creation of a collective security system.

By the end of July, some progress was nevertheless achieved in the negotiations: the parties agreed to the simultaneous signing of a political and military agreement (previously, England proposed signing a political agreement first, and then negotiating a military convention).

On August 12, negotiations between military missions began. From the Soviet Union they were led by People's Commissar of Defense K.E. Voroshilov, from England - Admiral Drax, from France - General Dumenk. The governments of England and France did not rate the Red Army highly and considered it incapable of active offensive operations. In this regard, they did not believe in the effectiveness of the alliance with the USSR. Both Western delegations received instructions to delay the negotiations as much as possible, hoping that the very fact of their holding would have a psychological impact on Hitler.

The main stumbling block in the negotiations was the question of the consent of Poland and Romania to the passage of Soviet troops through their territory in the event of war (the USSR did not have a common border with Germany). The Poles and Romanians categorically refused to agree to this, fearing Soviet occupation.

Only on August 23 did the Polish government somewhat soften its position. Thus, the opportunity to obtain consent from Poland to allow Soviet troops to pass through its territory was not yet irretrievably lost. It is also clear that the Poles were gradually inclined to make concessions under pressure from Western diplomacy. Given goodwill, the negotiations could probably still be brought to a successful conclusion. However, the mutual distrust of the parties destroyed this possibility.

The British and French military missions were not given the authority to make decisions. It became obvious to the Soviet leadership that the leadership of Western states did not want to quickly achieve positive results. Negotiations have reached a dead end.

3 Soviet-German relations and the conclusion of a non-aggression pact The position of the West, which constantly made concessions to Germany and rejected an alliance with the USSR, caused severe irritation in the Kremlin since the mid-1930s. It especially intensified in connection with the conclusion of the Munich Agreement, which in Moscow was regarded as a conspiracy directed not only against Czechoslovakia, but also against the Soviet Union, to whose borders the German threat had approached.

Since the autumn of 1938, Germany and the USSR began to gradually establish contacts in order to develop trade between the two countries. True, it was not possible to reach a real agreement then, since Germany, which had embarked on the path of accelerated militarization, did not have a sufficient number of goods that could be supplied to the USSR in exchange for raw materials and fuel.

Nevertheless, Stalin, speaking in March 1939 at the 15th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), made it clear that a new rapprochement with Berlin was not excluded. Stalin formulated the goals of the foreign policy of the USSR as follows:

1 Continue to pursue a policy of peace and strengthening business ties with all countries;

2 Do not let war provocateurs, who are accustomed to raking in the heat with the wrong hands, drag our country into conflicts.

In such a difficult situation, the USSR was forced to negotiate with Nazi Germany. It should be noted that the initiative to conclude the German-Soviet Pact belonged to the German side. So, on August 20, 1939, A. Hitler sent a telegram to I.V. Stalin, in which he proposed concluding a non-aggression pact: “...I once again propose that you receive my Foreign Minister on Tuesday, August 22, or at the latest on Wednesday, August 23. The Reich Foreign Minister will be given all the necessary powers to draw up and sign a non-aggression pact."

Consent was received on August 23, 1939. Foreign Minister I. Ribbentrop flew to Moscow. After negotiations on the evening of August 23, 1939, a German-Soviet non-aggression treaty (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) was signed for a period of 10 years. At the same time, a “secret additional protocol” was signed.

As can be seen, in August 1939 the situation in Europe reached the highest tension. Hitler's Germany did not hide its intention to take military action against Poland. After the signing of the German-Soviet treaty, the USSR could not fundamentally influence the aggressive actions of the Berlin authorities.

Lecture 3 The beginning of World War II and events in Belarus

1 The outbreak of war, its causes and nature.

2 Accession of Western Belarus to the BSSR.

3 Germany’s preparation for war against the USSR. Plan "Barbarossa".

IN 1930- e years Soviet diplomacy sought, on the one hand, to implement a plan for collective security in Europe, to prevent the creation of a broad united anti-Soviet front, to maintain maximum caution and not succumb to enemy provocations, and on the other, to take all necessary measures to strengthen the country's defense. Soviet government in April 1939 made a proposal to conclude an agreement on mutual assistance between the USSR, England and France, according to which in the event of fascist aggression against a number European countries the three powers will jointly come to their aid. Foreign Secretary Chamberlain said he would "rather resign than sign an alliance with the Soviets." At the same time, the partners of England and France - Romania, Poland and the Baltic countries - reacted negatively to the proposal of the Soviet Union: to send troops to the territory of these countries in the event of a German attack. They feared that later the USSR would not want to withdraw its troops.
In June, delegations from England and France arrived in Moscow without the authority to make any decisions. They were given the mindset to conduct “negotiations for the sake of negotiations.” Held 12 meetings that did not lead to a specific result.
15 August Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army D. Shaposhnikov said that the USSR was ready to oppose the aggressor in Europe 136 divisions. At the same time, he outlined options for joint actions and noted that the USSR, with the beginning of the war, “does not intend to adhere to defensive tactics.” However, the Soviet proposals did not find support.
Meanwhile, secret negotiations were held between representatives of England, France and Germany, aimed at pushing Nazi Germany to war against the USSR.
In conditions when the negotiations of the USSR with England and France in 1939 reached a dead end, the Soviet leadership accepted Germany’s proposal for peace negotiations, as a result of which 23 August 1939 In Moscow, the Soviet-German non-aggression pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) was signed for a period of 10 years. At the same time, an additional secret protocol was signed, which delimited the spheres of interest of Germany and the USSR. The sphere of interests of the USSR included East End Poland, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Bessarabia (now Moldova). This protocol implemented Stalin’s idea of ​​returning to the USSR the lands ceded to Poland under the Treaty of Riga 1921 G.
Was there a non-aggression pact with Germany? the best option solutions to the problems facing the Soviet government?

There are different points of view among historians on this matter. The USSR was faced with a choice: either come to an agreement with England and France and create a system of collective security in Europe, or conclude a pact with Germany, or remain alone. Some experts view the conclusion of a treaty with Germany as the worst option, arguing that the pact provoked the Second world war. Another point of view comes down to an attempt to consider it as an example of compromise, the ability to use inter-imperialist contradictions.
What prompted Germany and the USSR to enter into an alliance?
For Hitler, this was a tactical move: initially he needed to guarantee the unhindered capture of Poland, and then other states. The Soviet Union, by signing the treaty, sought, on the one hand, to protect itself on the eve of Germany’s war against Poland by limiting the advance of German troops and Germany’s refusal to use the Baltic states for anti-Soviet purposes, and on the other, to secure the Far Eastern borders of the USSR from Japanese attack. Thus, concluding in 1939 g. non-aggression pact with Germany, the USSR avoided a war on two fronts.
You can speculate as much as you like on the Soviet-German pact 1939 g., portray it as a conspiracy of two totalitarian monsters, but to people who have any sense of reality, it is clear that the pact is a mutual ploy to gain time before the main battle. In general, this pact did not allow the creation of a united anti-Soviet front in Europe, delayed the start of hostilities for a while and allowed the USSR to move its borders away from the vital centers of the country. However, the USSR used the resulting delay less effectively than its pact partner.

The situation in the world changed dramatically after the establishment of the fascist dictatorship in Germany. 30 January 1933 The National Socialist Party led by Adolf Hitler came to power in this country. The new German government set as its task a review of the results of the First World War. The geopolitical theory of the “struggle for living space” has become widespread. “We are stopping the eternal onslaught of the Germans on the South and West of Europe and turning our attention to the lands in the East... But if today we are talking about new lands in Europe, then we can think first of all only about Russia and the outlying states subordinate to it,” - A. Hitler outlined his program in the book “Mein Kampf”. In October 1933 Germany withdrew from the League of Nations and took the path of pursuing a militaristic policy. In March 1935 d. she refused to comply with the articles of the Treaty of Versailles, which prohibited the country from having military aviation, introduced universal conscription, and in September 1936 adopted a “four-year plan” for the militarization of the entire economy.
Thus, in the first half of the 30s. A new, most dangerous center of the world war arose in Europe. This caused concern not only for the USSR, but also for other European states over which the threat of fascist aggression hung, and above all France.
In October 1933 France spoke in favor of concluding a mutual assistance treaty with the USSR in addition to the non-aggression pact 1932 g., as well as for the entry of the Soviet Union into the League of Nations. 12 December 1933 The Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, based on the general political line of the Soviet state, decided to launch the struggle for collective security in Europe. The plan for creating a collective security system provided for the USSR to join the League of Nations, the conclusion within its framework of a regional agreement on mutual defense against aggression from Germany with the participation of the USSR, France, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland or some of them, but with the obligatory participation of France and Poland; holding negotiations to clarify the obligations of the participants in a future agreement on mutual assistance upon presentation by France, as the initiator of the entire matter, of a draft agreement. Introduced in April 1934 d. by the French side, a draft plan for organizing a regional collective security system provided for the conclusion of two agreements: the Eastern Pact with the participation of the USSR, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, which would oblige them not to attack each other, and the Soviet-French mutual assistance pact. This established a formal connection between the two systems - Locarno and Eastern European, since it was understood that the USSR in this case would act as the guarantor of the first, and France - the second.
However, Germany's categorical refusal, Poland's opposition, and England's resistance led to the failure of this project. The Soviet Union and France reached an understanding in achieving another agreement - on mutual assistance, which was signed in Paris 2 May 1935 d. According to the agreement, the parties were obliged to immediately begin consultations in the event of a threat or danger of an attack on one of them by any European state. The most important article in the treaty was Article 2, which obligated both parties to provide immediate assistance and support to one of them that was the object of an unprovoked attack by a third European power. The most important drawback of this treaty was that it was not accompanied by any military agreements. The treaty gave other countries the opportunity to join it. But only Czechoslovakia did this, signing 16 May 1935 d. pact identical to the Soviet-French one. At the same time, at the insistence of the Czechoslovak side, the wording of the article was changed 2 document. It provided for mutual assistance to each other only if France came to the aid
victim of aggression.
Their desire to “be guided in mutual relations by the spirit of cooperation and loyal fulfillment of accepted obligations”, the interest of both sides in strengthening collective security was stated in the final communiqué following the visit to Moscow of the English
Minister A. Eden. This was the first visit to the Soviet Union by a member of the British government in 18 years of Soviet power.
The whole course of development international relations in the first half of the 30s. The question of the USSR's entry into the League of Nations was put on the agenda. French diplomacy carried out a lot of preparatory work in this direction. A 15 September 1934 G. 30 members of the League of Nations approached the Soviet government with an invitation to join this organization. 18 September The 15th session of the Assembly admitted the USSR to the League of Nations by a majority vote (against - Holland, Portugal, Switzerland).
The struggle against the spread of fascist aggression and for collective security becomes the main direction of activity of the Soviet Union in the League of Nations. When Fascist Italy in October 1935 started the war against Ethiopia, the USSR not only insisted on applying sanctions against Italy, but also consistently implemented them. The Soviet Union was the only state that came out in support of Ethiopian independence.
7 Martha 1936 German troops entered the Rhineland demilitarized zone. On the same day, Germany announced its rejection of the Locarno Accords. England and France limited themselves to only verbal protest on this matter. At the session of the Council of the League of Nations, the USSR demanded that the German aggressor be curbed and that international treaties be inviolable.
8 An anti-fascist movement began to develop in Europe. Held in July-August 1935 G. VII The Comintern Congress outlined a new strategic orientation and radically changed its previous line, although the printed and oral propaganda of those years emphasized the inviolability of previous guidelines. The Congress raised the question of cooperation with social democracy in countering fascism, and justified the policy of a broad popular front in the struggle to preserve peace.
From this moment on, the activities of the Comintern were dominated by the struggle against fascism and war.
In the second half of the 30s. International events related to the civil war in Spain became particularly acute. 16 February 1936 In the elections to the Cortes of Spain, the left parties that were included in the Popular Front. The Spanish military elite, with the support of the country's right-wing forces, began to prepare a rebellion against the Popular Front government.
It started on the night of 18 July 1936 g. The rebellion was led by General F. Franco. A civil war began in the country. The rebels turned to Rome and Berlin for help and received it instantly - with August 1936 Regular deliveries of weapons began. Over time, they become more and more large-scale, and by mid-autumn of the same year, Italian and German troops appeared in Spain.
The intervention of the fascist powers, in addition to the destruction of left-wing republican forces in Spain, pursued the goals of establishing control over the strategic routes connecting the Atlantic with Mediterranean Sea, Great Britain and France with their colonies; creating the possibility of using the raw materials of the Iberian Peninsula; turning Spain into a springboard in case of war with England and France. In addition, the struggle of powers in the Mediterranean was beneficial to A. Hitler in the sense that it allowed Germany to rearm and prepare for war. Already in the fall 1936 On the side of F. Franco, the 50,000-strong Italian Expeditionary Force, the German Condor Air Corps, numbering more than 100 aircraft and about 10 thousands of German military personnel (pilots and maintenance personnel, tank, anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft units). In total, during the three years of the war, they sent 250 thousand Italian and about 50 thousand German soldiers.
Despite the direct threat to Great Britain and France in the event of Italian-German control over the Iberian Peninsula, London and Paris did not oppose the rebels and interventionists in the fight against the “Red Peril” in Spain. The French government declared its neutrality, banned the import of weapons into Spain and closed the Franco-Spanish border. At the initiative of the governments of France and England, an agreement was reached on non-interference in the affairs of Spain. To monitor the implementation of this agreement 26 August 1936 In London, a Non-Intervention Committee was established consisting of representatives 27 European states. He started his activities 9 September. There were endless discussions in the Committee about plans to control the Spanish borders, the appearance of active work was created, but no concrete decision was made to force the Fascist Powers to withdraw troops from Spain and stop helping the rebels.
7 October 1936 The Soviet government made a statement to the chairman of the Committee on Non-Intervention, in which it pointed out the ongoing assistance to the rebels from the fascist states. The Soviet government warned that "unless violations of the non-intervention agreement are immediately stopped, it will consider itself free from the obligations arising from the agreement."
On the eve of this announcement - 29 September 1936 g. - The Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks approved the action plan for assistance to Spain. It provided for the creation of special companies abroad for the purchase and shipment of weapons and ammunition to Spain. Supplies from the Soviet Union were envisaged military equipment on a commercial basis against the Spanish gold reserves delivered to the USSR (from 635 510 tons of gold from Spain were deposited in the State Bank of the USSR). In total, Soviet military supplies in financial terms amounted to 202.4 million US dollars. WITH October 1936 to January 1939 The USSR delivered to Spain 648 airplanes, 347 tanks, 60 armored vehicles, 1186 guns, 20.5 thousand machine guns, about 500 thousand rifles, a large number of ammunition. in autumn 1938 The Republican Government of Spain was granted a loan in the amount of 85 million US dollars. Soviet people collected 56 million rubles to the aid fund for the Spanish Republic.
Military specialists and advisers (about 3,000 people) were sent to Spain. The main military adviser to the republican government was P.I. Berzin. Military advisers in units and formations were R.Ya. Malinovsky, K.A. Meretskov, P.I. Batov, N.N. Voronov and others.
The Comintern helped the Spanish Republic by organizing international brigades. Participated in them 42 thousand volunteers from 54 countries, and they played a big role in the fight against fascism on Spanish soil.
Attempts by Soviet diplomacy, with the help of the international community, to stop the intervention of Italy and Germany in the civil war in Spain and to break the military-economic blockade of the republic were unsuccessful. The policy of “appeasement” adhered to by the leading Western powers, persistent anti-communism and fear of the Bolshevization of Spain kept England and France from joint actions with the Soviet Union against Franco.
The intervention of Germany and Italy in Spain accelerated the formation of a military bloc of the fascist powers. 25 October 1936 An agreement was signed in Berlin, which marked the beginning of the existence of the “Berlin-Rome axis”. The parties agreed on the delimitation of their economic interests in Europe, on joint actions in Spain, on the recognition of the government of f. Franco. A month later, the Japanese-German “anti-Comintern Pact” was concluded. The parties pledged to inform each other about the activities of the Comintern and conduct a joint struggle against it. The secret annex to the pact stated that in the event of a war between one of the parties and the USSR, the other should not help alleviate its situation.
Germany and Japan pledged not to conclude political agreements with the USSR that contradict the pact. 6 November 1937 Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact. Thus, a military alliance of aggressive powers was created, directed not only against the USSR, but also against other states; an alliance that aimed to redraw the world map through war.
The initiatives of the Soviet Union in organizing collective defense against aggression were not limited only to the European continent. At the end 1933 The Soviet government put forward a proposal to collectively stop the dangerous developments in the Far East by concluding a non-aggression pact and not providing assistance to the aggressor. The parties to such a treaty were to be the USA, USSR, China and Japan - the largest powers with interests in the region Pacific Ocean. US President F. Roosevelt spoke in favor of a multilateral Pacific Pact with the accession of England, France and Holland. But this proposal did not receive further development, and subsequently the Western powers and Kuomintang China lost interest in it, although the Soviet Union for four years, until the middle 1937 g., did everything possible measures to get the Pacific Pact off the ground.
The policy of “appeasement” pursued by England, France and the USA ultimately contributed to the expansion of Japanese aggression in Asia and, in particular, in the Far East. From time to time, armed incidents arose on the Far Eastern borders of the USSR. It became increasingly difficult to maintain peaceful relations with Japan. IN 1935 The Japanese government once again refused to accept the Soviet proposal to conclude a non-aggression pact. In February 1936 g. serious armed clashes arose on the Mongol-Manchu border. At the same time, it was decided to formalize the allied relations between the Mongolian People's Republic and the Soviet Socialist Republic with an official protocol to warn the Japanese military. The Protocol on Mutual Assistance was signed 12 Martha 1936 G.
In summer 1937 The situation in the Far East has again become more complicated. 7 July Japan continued the war against China and short term occupied its northern, central and southern provinces - the most economically developed. There was no international reaction in response to Japanese aggression. The League of Nations did not take any measures, although the Soviet Union encouraged it to do so. The USSR was the only country that provided real support to China. 21 August 1937 a non-aggression pact was concluded between the Soviet Union and China. China received from the USSR not only political but also material support. During 1938-1939 The Soviet Union provided loans to China in the amount of 250 million US dollars; supplied with weapons and equipment. China was supplied 1235 airplanes, 1600 artillery pieces, over 14 thousand machine guns, a large number of tanks, trucks, gasoline, ammunition. Back to top 1939 There were 3,665 Soviet military specialists there.
Soviet-Japanese relations in the late 30s. became very tense. 15 July 1938 Japan, through its embassy in Moscow, presented claims to the Soviet government on a number of heights in the Lake Khasan area, stating that if these demands were not met, force would be used. These demands were rejected, and the USSR People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs presented documents to the Japanese embassy confirming that these heights belonged to Russia according to the designation of the border line under the Hunchun Agreement with China 1886 G.
29 July Japanese-Manchu troops invaded Soviet territory in the area of ​​Lake Khasan. They launched repeated attacks until 10 August, but did not lead to success. The clashes at Lake Khasan were associated with significant losses on both sides. Soviet troops lost 2,172 people in these battles, Japanese troops - 1,400. The events at Lake Khasan were the first major act of Japanese aggression against the Soviet Union on the eve of World War II. 11 August 1938 Japan was forced to conclude an agreement to eliminate the conflict.
However, the tense situation in the Far East continued to persist. Japan made claims to part of the territory of the Mongolian People's Republic, to the eastern bank of the Khalkhin Gol River, demanding to move the border to 20 km to the west, to the bed of Khalkhin Gol. 11 May 1939 G.
Mongolian border guards were attacked by Japanese soldiers, and 28 May Japan sent large forces of regular troops against the Mongolian People's Republic. Towards the middle August Japanese troops, consolidated into the 6th Army, numbered 75 thousand people, 182 tank, more 500 guns, about 350 airplanes. In accordance with the mutual assistance treaty, the Soviet government provided support to the MPR. During fierce four-month battles, parts of the Japanese army were defeated. Total Japanese losses were 61 thousand people (Red Army - 20 801). As a result of negotiations 15 September 1939 In Moscow, an agreement was signed between the USSR, Mongolian People's Republic and Japan to eliminate the conflict near the Khalkhin Gol River.
Along with the aggravation of the situation in the Far East, the danger of fascist aggression in Europe has increased. The policy of non-interference and connivance on the part of the Western powers allowed Germany to move on to acts of direct aggression. 12 Martha 1938 The Nazis occupied Austria. The Soviet government's proposal for collective action to stop the further development of aggression did not meet with the support of other states.
After Austria annexed the Nazi Reich, the German General Staff began immediate preparations for the seizure of Czechoslovakia, where a fairly large German population lived along the German border in the Sudetenland, among whom the Nazis were fomenting a violent separatist campaign. Berlin expected that neither Great Britain nor France would provide assistance to Czechoslovakia.

22 Martha 1938 The British government sent a note to France in which it was reported that the latter could not count on British assistance if it entered the war in order to support Czechoslovakia. France, despite the fact that it had an agreement with Czechoslovakia on mutual assistance, considered fulfilling its obligations only if Great Britain simultaneously came out in its defense. By this time, the French government had actually completely abandoned pursuing an independent foreign policy and obediently followed in the wake of British policy.
The government of N. Chamberlain sought to reach an agreement with Hitler at the expense of Czechoslovakia. 19 September 1938 England and France demanded that the government of Czechoslovakia satisfy A. Hitler’s claims about the transfer to the Nazi Reich
Sudetenland. To resolve this issue, London put forward the idea of ​​convening a conference of four powers: Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
The position of the USSR was completely different. The Soviet government has repeatedly stated to the governments of Czechoslovakia, as well as France and Great Britain, that it is determined to fulfill its obligations under the Soviet-Czechoslovak Treaty of Mutual Assistance. Being in the middle May 1938 in Geneva (in connection with the session of the Council of the League of Nations), People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR M.M. Litvinov, during a conversation with the French minister, put forward a proposal that representatives of the French, Soviet and Czechoslovak general staffs discuss specific military measures that should be taken by the three countries. France did not respond to this important initiative.
In a conversation with the French Charge d'Affaires in the USSR J. Paillard 2 September 1938 Mr. M.M. Litvinov, on behalf of the Soviet government, stated: “Subject to the assistance of France, we are determined to fulfill all our obligations under the Soviet-Czechoslovak Pact, using all the ways available to us for this.” 20 September the position of the Soviet Union was also brought to the attention of the government of Czechoslovakia in response to a request from President E. Benes, and 21 September MM. Litvinov presented it at the Assembly of the League of Nations.
To assist Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union took the necessary military measures. 21 September An order was given to put a number of units and formations of the Red Army on combat readiness. In total, they were put on alert and concentrated near the western borders of the USSR 40 rifle and cavalry divisions and 20 tank, motorized rifle and aviation brigades. An additional 328.7 thousand people were conscripted into the Red Army, and the dismissal of those who served their assigned terms was delayed. IN last days September in the Kiev, Belorussian and other military districts were put on combat readiness 17 rifle divisions And 22 tank brigades.
The governments of France and Great Britain expressed doubts about the combat effectiveness of the Red Army, devastated by the purges of military personnel, and did not see how the Soviet Union would fulfill its obligations and how the Red Army would be able to participate in hostilities due to the refusal of Poland and Romania to allow it through their territory.
England and France continued to put pressure on Czechoslovakia to force it to accept A. Hitler's demand. 21 September 1938 d. their envoys in Prague resolutely declared to the Czechoslovak government that if the Anglo-French proposals were rejected, France would not fulfill its allied obligations to Czechoslovakia. England and France also warned Czechoslovakia that they were categorically against accepting help from the USSR. In the current situation, the government of E. Benes was forced to yield.
2930 September 1938 A conference of Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy was held in Munich, at which an agreement was signed on the separation from Czechoslovakia of the Sudetenland, which was transferred to Germany, and some territories transferred to Poland and Hungary.
As a result of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia lost about 20% of its territory, including extremely economically significant areas. The new borders cut off the country's most important transport routes. More than a million Czechs and Slovaks came under German rule.
The Munich Agreement caused a sharp weakening of the positions of France and Great Britain in Europe. In Munich, the system of military alliances concluded by France with other European states was essentially destroyed. In fact, the Soviet-French mutual assistance treaty as a means of ensuring peace and security in Europe also ceased to exist. Hitler's Germany received the opportunity for further expansion.
The Soviet Union clearly saw the danger associated with the Munich Agreement. The USSR was placed in a position of virtually complete international isolation. In October 1938 The French ambassador was recalled from Moscow, and the British one in November. In capitals Western countries They believed that from now on German expansion would be directed to the east.
From the Munich Agreement, Soviet leaders concluded that the “new imperialist war” for the redivision of the world had already begun and “became a fact,” although, as I.V. clarified. Stalin, “has not yet become a general, world war.” This conclusion was formulated by V.M. Molotov in November 1938 g., and then developed by I.V. Stalin in March 1939 on XVIII Congress of the CPSU(b). * At the congress it was noted that the main reason for the growing military danger in the world is the refusal of many countries, and especially England and France, from the policy of collective security, collective resistance to aggressors and their transition to a position of non-intervention. Such a policy encouraged and pushed Nazi Germany and its allies to new actions of an aggressive nature.
On the night of 15 Martha 1939 Mr. A. Hitler proclaimed the independence of Slovakia under the rule of a puppet government, and included the Czech regions - Bohemia and Moravia in connection with the “collapse of the Czechoslovak state” - into Germany as a protectorate. In the morning 15 Martha German troops entered Prague.
Only the Soviet Union in the German note dated 18 Martha qualified the actions of the German government as arbitrary, violent and aggressive.
2 Martha 1939 Under the threat of direct violence, an agreement was signed between Lithuania and Germany on the transfer to the latter of the port of Klaipeda (which the Germans called Memel) and the adjacent territory.
In March-April 1939 Mr. A. Hitler sharply intensified diplomatic and military training to attack Poland.
21 Martha Germany categorically stated its preferences
claims on Danzig (Gdansk), and also demanded from Poland
consent to the construction of an extraterritorial highway and
railway to East Prussia through the so-called
"Polish corridor"
At the same time, it was developed 11 April A. Hitler approved the Weiss plan - a plan for the military defeat of Poland. Italy was not slow to take advantage of the created atmosphere of impunity. 7 April 1939 Her troops invaded Albania by sea and occupied the entire country within a week. 14 April Albania was included in the Kingdom of Italy.
18 April 1939 Horthy Hungary defiantly left the League of Nations and embarked on the path of increasingly active cooperation with Nazi Germany.
At first May 1939 Germany put forward a demand for the return of its former colonies, taken away by England and France after the First World War. Then another important event happened -
22 May 1939 was concluded between Germany and Italy
agreement on a military-political alliance, called
"Pact of Steel" Munich policy of England and France
was a complete failure.
Under pressure from circumstances, England and France were forced to take a number of political steps to strengthen their military and international position. Their parliaments decide to increase defense spending. For the first time in Peaceful time Universal conscription was introduced in England. 22 Martha 1939 During a visit to Great Britain by the French President, an agreement was reached on mutual assistance in the event of an attack by a third power.
In March 1939 The cities of London and Paris provide guarantees to small European countries. Meanwhile, the West understood that without Soviet assistance these guarantees would be ineffective. And Anglo-French diplomacy turns to Moscow with a request to take upon itself, in turn, similar unilateral guarantees in relation to all countries that have already become the subject of the patronage of England and France.
Soviet response proposals were presented 17 April 1939 d. Their essence boiled down to the following: the USSR, England and France must conclude an agreement for a period of 510 years with the obligation to provide assistance to each other in the event that one of the powers is subjected to aggression; the contracting parties undertake to provide all possible assistance to the states of Eastern Europe bordering the Soviet Union in the event of aggression against them; the treaty must be signed simultaneously with the military convention, which will establish the shape and size military assistance; all three governments must undertake not to make any separate peace in the event of war.
27 May followed by an Anglo-French response to the Soviet proposals. It stated the intention to conclude an agreement with the USSR on terms of reciprocity. However, the agreement was accompanied by such reservations and procedural subtleties that actually immediately devalued these proposals. In addition, the question of the guarantee by Great Britain and France of the security of the Baltic states remained open.
From the middle June 1939 d. the method of conducting Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations has changed somewhat. It was decided, instead of forwarding further proposals to each other, to move on to direct negotiations between the three powers in Moscow.
However, even at this stage of the negotiations, the British and French sides continued to surround their proposals with reservations that did not correspond to the principle of reciprocity and therefore were unacceptable to the Soviet Union. Agreement could not be reached, in particular, on two key, from the point of view of the USSR, provisions - the signing simultaneously with the treaty of a military convention, without which the treaty itself remained ineffective, and the extension of guarantees to the Baltic states in the event of direct or indirect aggression against them. The formation of a coalition was also hampered by the position of the Polish government, which refused to grant Soviet troops the right to pass through its territory and opposed any alliance with the USSR. The Soviet side was also wary of the fact that English and French diplomats of very low rank were authorized to conduct negotiations in Moscow.
Trying to use every opportunity to create an effective defensive alliance of the three powers against aggression in Europe, the Soviet leadership 23 July 1939 invited the governments of England and France to begin negotiations on military issues and send appropriate military missions to Moscow.
Military negotiations have begun 12 August 1939 The Soviet delegation was headed by People's Commissar of Defense Marshal K.E. Voroshilov, the delegations of Western countries were persons who occupied a modest position in the leadership of their armed forces: the English - Admiral P. Drake, the French - General J. Doumenc. Both of them only had the right to negotiate, but were not authorized to sign any agreement.
Despite this position of the Western side, the Soviet delegation persistently sought to develop and adopt an agreed decision on jointly repelling aggression in Europe. 15 August she presented a detailed draft collective action plan. But neither the English nor the French missions had any military plan for joint operations against a common enemy and could not determine the forces and means put forward by the participants in the proposed convention. Western representatives were not even prepared to answer the self-evident question of whether Soviet troops would be allowed, in the event of hostilities, to pass through Poland and Romania to come into contact with the German army.
The failure of the negotiations was predetermined by the lack of political desire in London and Paris to conclude a pact of the type proposed by the USSR. British diplomacy, as documents later confirmed, intended, first of all, to take advantage of the threat of an alliance with the USSR in order to contain Hitler’s claims and thereby create the preconditions for a general Anglo-German agreement.
Anglo-German negotiations on a wide range of political and economic problems began on the initiative of the British side in June 1939 g. They took place in the strictest secrecy and continued until the very beginning of the war. The conclusion of a non-aggression treaty between England and Germany was discussed, an agreement providing for British non-interference in matters related to the implementation of German claims to “Lebensraum” in Eastern, Central and South-Eastern Europe, in exchange for German non-interference in the affairs of the British Empire; withdrawal by the UK of all guarantee obligations towards European partners; refusal to negotiate with the USSR and putting pressure on France to withdraw it from the system of treaties with other European countries. The economic program proposed by Great Britain was aimed at concluding agreements on foreign trade, the use of sources of raw materials, etc.
The government of N. Chamberlain was ready to enter into a new agreement with Germany, but in the summer 1939 The Nazis no longer sought a compromise. By this time, a decision had been made in Berlin to start a war against England, France and Poland as a matter of priority, and preparations for it were already in full swing.
At the same time, the German leadership was well aware that all its plans could be thwarted if an effective mutual assistance agreement was signed between Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Entering summer 1939 in secret negotiations with the British government, Hitler's Diplomacy, supporting the hope of the ruling circles of Great Britain to reach an agreement with Germany, thereby pushed the governments of Chamberlain and Daladier to disrupt the Anglo-Franco-Soviet negotiations.
The ineffectiveness of trilateral negotiations in the context of the approaching war between Germany and Poland with increasing certainty every day confronted the USSR with the prospect of international isolation. At the same time, as the date set by A. Hitler for the attack on Poland approached, German diplomacy began to make increasingly persistent efforts to rapprochement with the USSR.
In May 1939 The city of Berlin began to probe the ground for improving German-Soviet relations, subject to the Soviet Union's refusal to cooperate with England and France. The USSR made it clear that it did not intend to change its position on the issue of collective security. 3 August 1939 Mr. German Foreign Minister I. Ribbentrop proposed signing the corresponding Soviet-German protocol, which would resolve “to mutual satisfaction” all controversial issues “throughout the entire space from the Black to Baltic seas" The Soviet reaction was cautious: agreement in principle to negotiate, but gradualism in improving relations. Having learned about the sending of French and British military missions to Moscow, the German side made it clear that an agreement with Germany on a number of issues of a territorial and economic nature would meet the interests of the Soviet leadership. 14 August I. Ribbentrop declared his readiness to come to Moscow to clarify German-Soviet relations.
The demands of the Soviet side in connection with this statement were: the conclusion of a non-aggression pact, Germany's influence on Japan to improve Soviet-Japanese relations and eliminate border conflicts, a general guarantee for the Baltic states.
16 August I. Ribbentrop sends a new telegram to Moscow, which states that Germany agrees to accept Soviet demands.
In the response of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the USSR V.M. Molotov spoke about the Soviet Union's readiness to improve bilateral relations. But first, economic and credit agreements must be signed, and then, after a short time, a non-aggression pact. Agreeing in principle with I. Ribbentrop’s visit to Moscow, V.M. Molotov noted that some time was needed to prepare his arrival.
19 August The German government signs what has been discussed since the end 1938 G. trade agreement, very beneficial to the Soviet Union. It provided for the expansion of trade and credit in 200 million Reichsmarks at a very small percentage. The approaching date for the start of the war with Poland (preliminarily scheduled for 26 August 1939 d.) forced A. Hitler to speed up the achievement of an agreement with the Soviet Union. 20 August he addresses directly I.V. Stalin with a request to immediately receive the German Foreign Minister. On the same day, the Soviet government agreed.
The Soviet-German non-aggression pact was signed in Moscow 23 August 1939 d. Its action was designed to 10 years, and it came into force immediately. Attached to it was a secret protocol, the existence of which the USSR denied until the summer. 1989 d. The Protocol demarcated the “spheres of influence” of countries in Eastern Europe. The Soviet “sphere of interests” included the Baltic states, with the exception of Lithuania. After Germany's military invasion of Poland, the Belarusian and Ukrainian territories were to go to the USSR; the Soviet-German demarcation line was drawn along the Narew, Vistula and San rivers. The question of the advisability of maintaining an independent Polish state was to be decided by the two parties in the future.
The news of the signing of the Soviet-German Pact created a real sensation throughout the world. The general public was completely unprepared for such a development of events. Even in August 1939 , when a German attack on Poland seemed inevitable, the conclusion of a military alliance between the USSR, England, France, Poland and, possibly, other European countries that had not yet become victims of aggression could stop the war. With all the adventurism of the Hitler regime, he would not have dared to fight against a coalition of countries superior to Germany in terms of military force. However, in that specific historical situation, such an alliance on terms that suited everyone turned out to be impossible.
The exchange of views through diplomatic channels between Moscow, Paris and London, and then negotiations between military missions in Moscow showed that the goal of Western diplomacy is an agreement that would not close the door to the subsequent search for a compromise with Germany, would not bind England and France in clear and unambiguous terms. obligations. In other words, we were talking about an agreement designed to become an instrument of pressure on Germany.
So in August 1939 The international position of the USSR was rather uncertain. However, German diplomacy found itself in an equally difficult situation. Without clarifying the position of the USSR, the Hitler regime could not decide to start a war in Europe. Under the current conditions, A. Hitler was extremely interested in neutralizing the USSR. It seemed to the Soviet leadership that without risking anything, the USSR had the opportunity to expand its territory, to return what was lost in Civil War. In fact, I.V. Stalin, having made a deal with A. Hitler, gave the green light to fascist aggression in Europe. He hoped that by guaranteeing Germany the neutrality of the USSR, he would push it to war with the West and gain time to further strengthen the defense capability of the USSR.
However, the pact with A. Hitler caused enormous damage to the prestige of the USSR. Soviet diplomacy, accusing England and France of intending to abandon the idea of ​​collective security in Europe, in behind-the-scenes contacts with A. Hitler itself carried out what it attributed to others, dividing “spheres of influence” with Germany. Essentially I.V. Stalin also accepted the German version of the reasons for the outbreak of World War II. In a note from the USSR government dated 17 September responsibility for this was placed on the ruling circles of Poland.