A study of why the USSR signed a non aggression pact with Germany rather than with the Western Powers?

 C Evaluation of sources:

 Vizulis Izidors (1988). The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. New York: Praeger Publishers.

           This book is written by a Latvian professor in 1988. The main advantage of this book is that it a good section surrounding the causes of why the pact was signed, even though it focus’ mainly on the League of Nations and its failures.  The book mostly concentrates on what the pact led to in relation to the Baltic States. The reason this book was valuable was because it shows how other countries saw the pact between Russia and Germany. Its limitations might include that it is written by a Latvian author, so some events are written from a Latvian point of view.

Grey Ian (1982). Stalin -Man of Steel. Great Britain: Cox & Wyman Ltd.  

This book is written by a British author Ian Grey, I understand that this is one the best bibliography’s about Stalin written by a non communist. This book’s main advantage was that it had a section between the wars, where it described Stalin’s and the USSR’s views on Russia and how it affected the world. Even though the book was concentrating on Stalin, most of the important events and names were mentioned. Some limitations that are noticeable are that the author is biased, in some cases, and also that the book doesn’t give all the detail of some of the important events that happened.  

D Analysis

The USSR and Germany were the most unlikely countries to enter into a pact of any sort that one can imagine at the time. During the 1930’s Hitler had made no secrets of his racial contempt for the Slavs, his political contempt of Bolshevism and his ideas of territorial expansion into the USSR to create ‘Lebensraum’ for the master race of Aryans. Russian foreign policy did not take kindly toward Fascism either, and most of their efforts during the 1930’s were aimed at stopping fascist expansion and aggression.

At the time the pact was signed it was in both Germany’s and the USSR’s interest not to get involved in war with one another. For the USSR the war was not feasible because of the state of both the Russian economy and military was unprepared after the purges. In Russia’s case, the pact was more attractive seeing that it gained territorial expansion and gained trade agreements with Germany. In Stalin’s mind the nonaggression pact was the best way at the time to postpone the war with Germany until such a time that Russia was better equipped to handle it; it was a known fact that Hitler wanted to invade the USSR at some time.

 To understand the all the factors that influenced the USSR for entering the nonaggression pact, we have to consider Russia’s prior foreign policy and the internal affairs of the 1930’s. Seeing that Russia was spending all its energy and efforts on the extensive industrial and agricultural reforms that the five year plans brought about, and could not afford to engage in any major battles until internal stability was achieved, was a great concern to Stalin.

Russia’s policy of trying to ensure peace at all costs was greeted with varying levels of enthusiasm by the Western Powers, due to the fact that they did not fully trust Russia. This was mainly caused by the fact that Western democracy stood in total opposition to communist Russia. The horror that was inflicted on the Russian people by the purge trails in 1934 blackened the image of Russia even more in the eyes of the West. When Stalin’s constitution in 1936 proclaimed that Russia was to be the most democratic country in the world, the West saw it as superficial, and continued to see Russia as a totalitarian state. To a great extent these are the reasons why the USSR could not ally with the Western Powers.  

The Munich Agreement in 1936 arose a chance to form a united from against German aggression. Russia however was the only country that would stand up to Germany. The British did everything possible to appease Germany, and didn’t give the USSR warnings of the inevitable German aggression towards the East.  Russia was left out of the Munich Conference, which created the impression in Russia that the Western Powers were forming a block against them.

In the spring of 1939 negotiations were entered into by the Western Powers to consider a pact with the USSR, but from the start it was clear that England and France were not fully committed to reaching a fair agreement on mutual assistance and cooperation.

The Non-aggression pact was signed in August 1939 by Molotov, the Russian foreign minister and Ribbentrop, the Germany’s foreign minister.

E Conclusion

The key reason why the USSR signed the non-aggression pact with Germany can be simply stated as being that neither of the two countries wanted to be at war with one another. Stalin’s fear was an additional reason why he signed the pact; he thought that the Western Powers with Germany were forming a block against him and if he had a treaty with Germany their plans wouldn’t succeed. A further reason to keep in mind is that the Western Powers were not fully dedicated to accomplishing a reasonable treaty with the Soviets in 1939. This could be due to the fact that the Western Powers were in total opposition to communist Russia. The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact also provided Stalin with the advantages territorial gains and trade agreements.

F Sources:

Boyce R. & Roberson E. (1989). Paths to War. London: Macmillan Education ltd.

Farmer Alan (2000). Modern European History 1890-1990. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Grey Ian (1982). Stalin -Man of Steel. Great Britain: Cox & Wyman Ltd.  

Kissinger, Henry. (1994). Diplomacy. New York: Simon& Schuster.

Read A. & Fisher D. (1988). The Deadly Embrace. New York: W.W Norton & Company

Reyner E.G. (1999). The Great Dictatorships: international relations 1918-39. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

Vizulis Izidors (1988). The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. New York: Praeger Publishers.