The formation of the young Soviet state was quite complicated and long. This was largely due to the fact that the international community was not in a hurry to recognize it. In such circumstances, the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s of the 20th century was notable for its rigidity and consistency, since it was necessary to solve many problems.
The main challenges facing diplomats
As we said, the main task was to normalize relations with other countries. But the
foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30 years also involved the export of revolutionary ideas to other states. However, the romantic ideals of the revolution were quickly chilled by reality. Realizing the unreality of some ideas, the government of the newly-minted country quickly switched to more realistic tasks.
First achievements
At the very beginning of the twentieth century, a really significant event took place: the USSR achieved the complete lifting of the trade blockade, which hit the economy of the country very painfully, which was already very weak. The Decree on Concessions, which was issued on November 23, 1920, played a very important role.
In principle, right after the signing of all trade agreements with Great Britain, Kaiser Germany and other countries, diplomats actually achieved unofficial recognition of the USSR throughout the world. The official stretched from 1924 to 1933. It was 1924 that turned out to be especially successful, when it was possible to renew relations with more than three dozen foreign states.
That was the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s. In short, it was possible to reorient the economy to the industrial sector, as the country began to receive in sufficient quantities raw materials and technologies.
The first Soviet diplomats
The first foreign ministers, thanks to whom such a breakthrough became possible, were Chicherin and Litvinov. These brilliant diplomats, who received their education in tsarist Russia, became a real "bridge" between the young USSR and the rest of the world. They conducted the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30 years of the 20th century.
It was they who achieved the signing of a trade agreement with England, as well as other European powers. Accordingly, it was to them that the Soviet Union owed the lifting of the trade and economic blockade, which impeded the normal development of the country.
New deterioration in relations
But the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s knew not only victories. Around the beginning of the thirties, a new round of deterioration in relations with the Western world began. This time, the pretext was that the government of the USSR officially supported the national movement in China. Relations with England were almost severed due to the fact that the country was sympathetic to the striking English workers. It got to the point that the Vatican leaders openly began to call for a "Crusade" against the Soviet Union.
It is not surprising that the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s. XX century She was distinguished by extreme caution: it was impossible to give the slightest reason for aggression.
Relations with Nazi Germany
One should not assume that the Soviet leadership was conducting some kind of inadequate, disproportionate time policy. Just then, the government of the USSR was distinguished in those years by rare sanity. So, immediately after 1933, when the party of National Socialists came to sole power in Germany, it was the Soviet Union that began to actively insist on the creation of a collective European security system. All the efforts of diplomats have traditionally been ignored by leaders of European powers.
An attempt to stop Nazi aggression
In 1934, another event happened that the country had been waiting for. The USSR was finally admitted to the League of Nations, which was the ancestor of the UN. Already in 1935, an allied treaty was concluded with France, which provided for friendly mutual assistance in the event of an attack on one of the allies. Hitler immediately responded by capturing the Rhine region. Already in 1936, the process of the actual aggression of the Reich against Italy and Spain began.
Of course, the political forces in the country understood what all this threatened with, and therefore the foreign policy of the USSR began to undergo serious changes again in the 1920s and 1930s. The dispatch of equipment and specialists for the confrontation with the Nazis began. So the procession of fascism in Europe was marked, and the leaders of the European powers practically did not oppose this.
Further aggravation of the situation
The fears of Soviet politicians were fully confirmed when in 1938 Hitler produced the “Anschluss” of Austria. In September of that year, the Munich Conference was held, which was attended by representatives of Germany, Great Britain and other countries.
No one was surprised that, according to its results, the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia was unanimously surrendered to the Third Reich. The Soviet Union was almost the only country that openly condemned the fact of Hitler's undisguised aggression. Just a year later, not only the whole of Czechoslovakia, but also Poland came under his rule.
The situation was complicated by the fact that in the Far East the situation was constantly deteriorating. In 1938 and 1939, units of the Red Army entered into fire contact with the Japanese Kwantung Army. These were the famous Khasan and Khalkin-Golsk battles. Also, hostilities were fought on Mongolian territory. Mikado believed that the heir to tsarist Russia in the person of the USSR retained all the weaknesses of his predecessor, but he miscalculated: Japan was defeated, being forced to make significant territorial concessions.
Diplomatic relations with Germany
After Stalin at least three times tried to agree on the creation of an unfortunate European security system, the Soviet leadership was forced to establish diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany. Western historians are currently vying to convince the world of the aggressive intentions of the Soviet Union, but its true purpose was simple. The country tried to secure its borders from attack, having to negotiate with a likely enemy.
Treaties with the Reich
In mid-1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Under the terms of the secret part of the document, Germany received Western Poland, and the USSR went to Finland, the Baltic states, Eastern Poland, and most of present-day Ukraine. Relations with England and France that had normalized before were completely spoiled.
At the end of September
1938, politicians of the USSR and Germany signed an agreement on friendship and borders. How to better understand the goals pursued by the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s? The table below will help you with this.
Stage name, years | The main characteristic |
Primary stage, 1922-1933. Constant attempts to break through the international blockade. | Basically, all politics focused on raising the prestige of the USSR in the eyes of Western countries. Relations with Germany at that time were rather friendly, since with its help the country's leadership hoped to oppose England and France. |
The Era of Pacifism, 1933-1939. | Soviet foreign policy began a large-scale reorientation, heading towards establishing normal relations with leaders of the Western powers. Attitude towards Hitler is a wary, repeated attempts to create a European security system. |
The third stage, the crisis of international relations, 1939-1940. | Having failed to reach a normal agreement with France and England, Soviet politicians began a new rapprochement with Germany. International relations deteriorated sharply after the 1939 Winter War in Finland. |
That is what characterized the foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s.