IN SEARCH OF ALLIES. THE USSR AND THE WESTERN POWERS ON THE EVE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Abstract

The article analyses the problems which emerged on the eve of the Second World War: the European crisis of 1939, Anglo-French guarantees to countries of Eastern Europe, talks between the USSR, Great Britain and France and the Soviet-German non-aggression Pact. In conditions of the acutest crisis a question of general security acquired a key meaning. To stop the aggressor and to prevent global catastrophe was only possible by collective efforts of the great powers and their allies. Great Britain and France guaranteed independence of several countries of Eastern Europe, but they could not compensate the absence of a grand anti-German alliance. The USSR was striving to erect a system of collective security, but its possibilities were limited. More than that Great Britain and France did not refuse the idea of appeasing Germany at the expense of Poland, and this actually excluded their participation in anti-German coalition. The unwillingness of the Western powers to cooperate with the USSR closely showed itself at the AngloFrench-Soviet talks in spring and summer 1939. As a result of this the USSR, having no alternative, agreed to sign the non-aggression Pact with Germany.