Soviet Foreign Policy - Pt. 1 (con't)

Author: Linda DeLaine
Website: RL Online
Department:
Page: 3 ( 5) pages

The German - Soviet relationship was a strange and tenious one. They were allied against a common threat; the West. However, this alliance did not stop the Soviets from siezing any opportunity to promote worker revolution in Germany.

For example, Germany failed to pay debts to France and Belgium, funds which were needed to restore industry in these two countries. This resulted in the Franco- Belgian occupation of the Ruhr in January 1923. The Soviet Comintern instigated workers' rebellions in Hamburg, Germany, which were put down by the German army.

The architect of Germany's foreign policy at this time was Gustav Stresemann who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. Stresemann endeavored to create a balance between the Western allies and the Soviet Union, but tended to favor the West in hopes of regaining lands lost to Poland. To this end, Stresemann signed the Locarno Treaties on October 16, 1925, in Locarno, Switzerland, and December 1, 1925 in London, England.

The Locarno Treaties were a collection of pacts intended to encourage peace in Western Europe. The signatories included France, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Italy and Poland. For Germany, the treaties secured the boundaries of France, Germany and Belgium. The Rhineland was declared a neutral zone. The Locarno Treaties worked in conjunction with the policies of the League of Nations (Treaty of Versailles) which Germany joined in 1926 and was granted a permanent seat on the League's Council. This arrangement improved the strained relationship between Germany and France.

Germany seemed to be on the way to amicable relations with its Western European neighbors. This was to be short lived. After Stresemann's death in 1929, Adolf Hitler became Germany's leader and reprehended the Locarno Treaties. In1936, he moved his military into the Rhineland neutral zone. This action went unchallenged by the other Locarno treaty nations and paved the way for WWII (1939 - 1945).

Soviet Foreign Commissar Georgii V.Chicherin encouraged Stresemann not to sign the Locarno Treaties. Soviet Russia believed that Britain was the greatest threat and feared that Germany would, by signing these treaties, come under British control. Lenin considered the League of Nations to be an anti-Soviet alliance whose purpose was to instigate a kind of holy war against Soviet Russia. Chicherin agreed with this. In reality, Britain had no interest in Eastern Europe, let alone domination of Soviet Russia. In fact, Britain signed the Locarno Treaties as a way of avoiding a French alliance.

Britain's European policy seemed clear enough in the West. Lenin, Chicherin and Stalin all were convinced that Britain was enemy number one. They insisted that, not only was Britain very interested in Eastern Europe, but intended to use the Baltics as a stagging ground for a Soviet invasion. This belief was not completely without merit as Britain had done just that during Russia's civil war. To this day, Russia is very nervous about any Western encroachment along its eastern borders. It has strongly protested the possible inclusion of the Baltics in NATO, an organization dominated by Britain and the U.S.

In September of 1926, almost a year after the Locarno Treaties, Soviet Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Berlin. Both nations agreed to remain neutral if the other was attacked by another nation or nations. This neutrality included any form of aggression be it military or economic. The treaty was part of Stresemann's efforts to create diplomatic balance for Germany between the Soviet Union and the West. This won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. The treaty did not stop the secret Soviet - German military development collaboration which Stresemann was fully aware of.

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Soviet Foreign Policy - Pt. 1 (con't)

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