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Foreign policy - Coggle Diagram
Foreign policy
Collective security 29-35
Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928)
Renounced war
USSR used it for:
Legitimacy
Integration into international system
Litvinov Protocol (1929)
Regional enforcement of Kellogg–Briand
Signatories included:
Poland
Baltic States
Romania
Turkey
Importance:
Showed USSR as peace-seeking
Reduced immediate border threats
Non-Aggression Pacts (1932–33)
Signed with:
Poland (1932)
Finland
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania
France
❌ Romania refused due to Bessarabia dispute
👉 Shows defensive realism, not revolutionary aggression
US Recognition (1933)
Why it happened:
Fear of:
Japanese expansion in Asia
Global instability
USA wanted:
Trade during Great Depression
USSR Agreed To:
End subversive propaganda
Respect US citizens’ rights
Drop compensation claims
1935 trade deal followed
👉 Major diplomatic success — ended isolation
Security legacy & background 1918-27
USSR had been:
Invaded during the Civil War (1918–21)
Economically backward
Diplomatic outcast
Stalin believed war with capitalism was inevitable, but not yet
Treaty of Rapallo (1922)
With Weimar Germany
Both were:
Isolated states
Excluded from Versailles system
Terms:
Cancelled war debts
Restored diplomatic relations
Secret military cooperation
German pilots trained in USSR
Chemical weapons testing
Significance:
Set precedent for:
Cooperation with ideological enemies
Prioritising security over principle
👉 Continuity: Stalin later does the same with Hitler in 1939.
Ideology and Comintern
Stalin Takes Control
By 1927–29, Stalin removed rivals (Trotsky, Bukharin)
Comintern became:
Tool of Soviet foreign policy
Subordinate to Stalin’s priorities
VI Comintern Congress (1928)
Declared:
Capitalism entering final crisis
War against USSR imminent
Introduced “Class Against Class” policy:
No cooperation with Social Democrats
Social Democrats labelled “social fascists”
Consequences
Communist parties ordered to:
Attack moderate left
Refuse alliances
👉 Ideological rigidity undermined anti-fascist unity
The nazi rise
Electoral Evidence (USE THESE NUMBERS)
1928 Reichstag:
Nazis: 12 seats
Communists (KPD): 54 seats
July 1932:
Nazis: 230 seats
Communists: 89 seats
Social Democrats: 133 seats
👉 Combined left had more seats than Nazis — but refused to cooperate
Stalin’s Miscalculation
Believed:
Nazi government would collapse
Fascism was “capitalism in decay”
KPD even called Social Democrats “social fascists”
Impact
January 1933: Hitler becomes Chancellor
KPD banned
Comintern policy proven disastrous
👉 AQA examiners see this as ideology weakening security
Far east & Japan
Chinese Eastern Railway Crisis (1929)
Chinese warlord seized railway
Red Army retook it swiftly
Demonstrated Soviet military competence
Manchurian Crisis (1931)
Japan invaded Manchuria
League of Nations failed
USSR faced:
Japan in east
Germany in west
Stalin’s Response
Avoid war:
Sold railway to Japan in 1935
Restored relations with China (1932)
👉 Shows Stalin prioritised strategic caution over pride