Directions of foreign policy of the USSR in the 30s

European direction.

In 1933, the Nazis led by Hitler came to power in Germany. They set a course for redividing the world. The balance of political forces in Europe has changed. This forced the USSR to change its foreign policy course. Soviet Union abandoned the basic tenet of his foreign policy, according to which the imperialist states were perceived as enemies ready to start a war with the young socialist state. At the end of 1933, a collective security plan was developed, the main objectives of which were the isolation of Germany and Japan and the fight against fascism. From this time until August 1939, the Soviet foreign policy had a clear anti-German orientation.

In 1933, the United States recognized the USSR, and diplomatic relations were established between the two countries.

In 1934, the USSR was admitted to the League of Nations, becoming a permanent member of its Council. The country returned to the world community as a great power.

Meanwhile, active militarization was underway in Germany. She, a loser in the First World War, was prohibited from having her own armed forces. But she refused to fulfill the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and in 1935 announced the creation of military aviation and the navy, and introduced universal conscription. Hitler attracted fascist Italy and militaristic Japan to his side. Active preparations were underway for a new division of the world.

The USSR took vigorous measures to prevent new war. The Soviet Union condemned the introduction of universal conscription in Germany and the Italian attack on Ethiopia. In 1935, the USSR, following its collective security plan, concluded mutual assistance agreements with France and Czechoslovakia in the event of an attack by an aggressor. True, the treaties were not accompanied by military agreements, and therefore were ineffective.

Western countries did not support the Soviet collective security plan. They pursued a policy of “pacifying the aggressor” and sought to direct his aggressive actions against the USSR.

In 1938, Germany included Austria. German troops concentrated on the border with Czechoslovakia, demanding that the Sudetenland of that country be transferred to Germany. The USSR was ready to provide military assistance to Czechoslovakia, but the Czechoslovak leadership refused it, hoping for help from Western countries. In the same year, negotiations were held in Munich between England, France, Germany and Italy, to which neither the USSR nor Czechoslovakia were invited. During the negotiations, the aggressor received another concession. The parties signed an agreement according to which the Sudetenland was torn away from Czechoslovakia and transferred to Germany.

In the summer of 1939, aggressive actions fascist Germany in Europe forced England and France to negotiate with the USSR to counter the aggressor, but these negotiations reached a dead end. The Soviet collective security plan failed. The Soviet Union faced the threat of being left alone with Germany. In the event of the capture of Poland, the Nazis came close to the borders of the USSR. At this time, the Soviet Union was at war with Japan in the Far East, and everything had to be done to avoid a war on two fronts.

Under the current conditions, the Soviet leadership significantly adjusted its foreign policy course. Not finding allies in Europe, the USSR decided to abandon its anti-German course and accepted Germany's offer for peace negotiations. Germany was no less interested in them than the USSR. In 1939, as a result of negotiations, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was concluded. The USSR avoided a war on two fronts and gained time.

Attached to the non-aggression pact was a secret protocol on the division of spheres of influence in Europe. The Soviet sphere included part of Poland (Western Ukraine and Western Belarus), the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia), Bessarabia, and Finland.

Beginning of World War II.
On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second has begun world war. In the new international conditions, the USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements. On September 17, after the Germans defeated the Polish army and the fall of the Polish government, the Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. On September 28, 1939, the Soviet-German Treaty “On Friendship and Border” was concluded, securing these lands as part of the Soviet Union.

Accession of the Baltic countries to the USSR.
The USSR insisted on concluding agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, receiving the right to station its troops on their territory. In these republics, in the presence of Soviet troops, legislative elections were held, in which the communists won. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.

Far Eastern direction.

In the Far East, the Soviet Union was opposed by Japan.

In March 1936, the USSR concluded a mutual assistance agreement with Mongolia.

In November 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact directed against the USSR. Italy, Spain, and Hungary joined it.

In July 1937, Japan began large-scale aggression against China. China moved towards rapprochement with the USSR. In August, a non-aggression pact was concluded between the two countries. The Soviet Union began to provide military and material assistance to China.

In August 1938, a major clash between the Red Army and Japanese troops took place in the area of Lake Khasan near Vladivostok. The fighting ended in victory for the Soviet troops. In 1939, Japanese troops invaded Mongolia. The USSR, in accordance with the Soviet-Mongolian mutual assistance treaty, sent troops into Mongolian territory. In the battles on the Khalkhin Gol River, Japanese troops were defeated. Japan was forced to enter into peace negotiations. In accordance with the peace treaty signed in Moscow, from September 16, 1939, all fighting in the Far East. The war in the region is over.

Soviet-Finnish war.

In October 1939, the Soviet leadership proposed that Finland transfer part of the Karelian Isthmus and a number of islands in the Gulf of Finland to the USSR in order to push back the Soviet-Finnish border, which ran 30 km from Leningrad. In exchange, the USSR was ready to give up twice the size of the territory of the Soviet Union, including the city of Petrozavodsk. The Finnish side refused. This became the cause of the military conflict.

The Soviet-Finnish War lasted 105 days, from November 30, 1939 to March 12, 1940. It ended in victory for the USSR. This allowed our country to strengthen its strategic positions in the north-west and move the border away from Leningrad. However, the country suffered severe political and moral damage. World public opinion in this conflict was on the side of Finland, and the prestige of the USSR noticeably dropped. On December 14, 1939, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations.

The foreign policy of the USSR in the 30s is a topic on which a lot of guys flop when answering an exam or writing a test. The reason for this state of affairs is that in addition to the facts, of which there are many, it is also necessary to remember the general trends that existed during this period. In this post I propose a plan for remembering this topic, in which I will reveal some important points that are worth remembering.

General trends in USSR foreign policy in the 1930s

A course towards building socialism in a single country. This meant that now the USSR was not proceeding from the principle of world revolution, but that it would support revolutionary actions in capitalist countries if these actions were pro-socialist. Now the USSR acted as an independent state that was developing in its own way.
Escalation of international tension. The escalation began literally from the beginning of the 30s, when militaristic Japan occupied China. Many historians therefore consider the period of the 20-30s not just the threshold of the Second World War, but, in fact, consider the period from 1914 to 1945 as a single period of confrontation. Then Hitler added fuel to the fire by transferring power into his own hands in 1933 and coming out with his Nazi slogans.
The collapse of the League of Nations as a peacekeeping organization. Events in China in 1931 showed that the League of Nations was unable to exert any serious influence on potential aggressors.
The need to create a system of collective security in Europe against a possible aggressor. It was this idea that excited the minds of Louis Barthou (Minister of Foreign Affairs of France), King Alexander of Romania and the Soviet leadership.
The reluctance of the great powers, primarily England and France, for a new world war, and at the same time they turned a blind eye to the actions of Nazi Germany in Europe, indulging its ambitions. This policy is called: the policy of appeasing the aggressor. In connection with this, by the way, I highly recommend the collection of Soviet and foreign military cartoons that I. Also, the great powers turned a blind eye to Germany’s violation of the terms of the Versailles Peace Treaty, which, in particular, limited the volume of displacement of its warships.

Key events in foreign policy and its significance

1930-1931 - Japanese occupation of Manchuria. The League of Nations acknowledged its incapacity by sending a written appeal to the Japanese leadership demanding an end to the occupation actions. Japan ignored the demand.
1933 - the NSDAP party and its leader Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. This event changed the balance of power on the world stage - Germany again declared its territorial ambitions.
1933 - establishment of diplomatic relations between the USSR and the USA. The United States became the last country to recognize the Soviet Union as an independent state.
1934 - The USSR was admitted to the League of Nations. This meant recognition of the USSR by the world community as an equal partner in foreign policy.
1935 - an agreement between France, the USSR and Czechoslovakia on mutual assistance in the event of an attack by an aggressor.
1936 - Anschluss between Germany and Austria.
1938 - Czechoslovakia is divided by Germany.
1938 - Munich Treaty between France and England, on the one hand, and Germany, on the other.

Summer 1939 - Moscow meeting with the participation of representatives of England, France and Poland.
August 23, 1939 - between the USSR and Germany.
September 1, 1939 - the beginning of World War II.

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This is a great and powerful country that existed in the twentieth century. It has left its mark in world history as a leading country. But there was a time when the USSR also sought recognition of European states, starting to develop from the very bottom.

Background

The beginning of the twentieth century was marked for Russian Empire nearby historically important events: First World War, February October Revolution, the overthrow of the House of Romanov and the formation of a new state. From this moment a new page in history begins Russian state- history of the USSR. The government led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin laid the basis for the development of the newly formed state on the idea of achieving socialism.

World recognition of the USSR in the 20-30s of the XX century

Despite the fact that the overthrow of the monarchy and the transformation of the state occurred in 1917, the country received international recognition after the 20s. The foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s was primarily aimed at recognizing the newly formed state throughout the world.

After a premature exit from the First World War and refusal to pay tsarist debts, the USSR fell out of favor with the world's leading states. However, in 1922, after the official unification of Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasia and Russia into a single Union, a period of diplomatic recognition of the USSR began. It was possible to achieve European predisposition and lift the economic blockade thanks to the first To the People's Commissars foreign affairs This position was held at that time by G.V. Chicherin and M.M. Litvinov.

The introduction of the NEP played an important role. The famine of 1921 caused discontent among peasants and workers, which developed into the Kronstadt rebellion. The political system of the USSR in the 20-30s needed to change its direction and transformed from military communism to a new economic policy. Such changes in internal board countries softened the attitude of Western states towards Russia and contributed to their rapprochement in the future.

Estonia was the first to conclude an international treaty with the Soviet Union, after which, within three years Agreements were concluded with 13 more European countries. In 1922, during the Genoa Conference, where the USSR was invited to resolve the conflict between Western countries and Russia, the Treaty of Rapallo was signed with Germany. Later agreements were signed decisive issues borders and economic relations with neighboring countries: Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran. During 1921-22, the Soviet Union signed trade agreements with Norway, England, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Italy. The foreign policy of the USSR began its active development in the 20-30s.

First exacerbations

However, this upswing in foreign policy did not last long, and new conflicts soon emerged. After the death of V.I. Lenin in 1923, internal political clashes occurred between his associates for the vacant position of leader. It was taken over by the determined and ambitious Joseph Stalin. He used any means to achieve his goals. The Generalissimo adhered to such a harsh policy in international relations.

In 1927, a miners' revolt broke out in England. The USSR came out in support of them and planned to provide material assistance. This behavior of the state turned away from the government of England and served as an impetus for the severance of all diplomatic relations. Following England, Canada, the USA, France and Belgium imposed a ban on the supply of goods from the Soviet Union.

After 2 years, a political liberation movement broke out in China, which was also supported by the USSR, but in the end it all ended in defeat and aggravation of relations with China. They were restored only in 1930 in order to counter the growing aggression from Japan.

Period of global economic crisis

In 1929, an incredible event occurred that led to the development of a global crisis. It went down in history under the name “Black Tuesday”. Suddenly there was a stock market crash on Wall Street. The fall in stocks began on Thursday, but the complete collapse came on Tuesday, October 29, 1929. Since most European countries that suffered losses during the First World War survived on cash loans from the United States, the fall of the dollar immediately plunged these states into an economic crisis. Mass protests began, the unemployment rate increased, and the living conditions of the population worsened. Such problems have contributed to domestic political changes in many countries.

What was the Government of the Soviet Union doing at this time? In the USSR in the 20-30s of the twentieth century, a period of economic growth began. Plans for the first “five-year plans” appeared, and agreements were re-concluded with leading European countries. During the period of the global crisis in the USSR, the export of food products increased significantly: bread, grain, meat and other products. The foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s experienced a new rise.

The situation of the USSR at the end of the 30s

The crisis was suppressed only in mid-1933. At the same time, an important change occurred that significantly influenced the course of history - Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. While the world's leading countries were busy solving internal political problems, the development of the military industry began in Germany, bypassing the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Union again managed to regain the favor of European states and strengthen its position. The foreign policy of the USSR in the 20-30s moved to a new level of European relations. This is evidenced by the Union's entry into the League of Nations in 1934. In connection with the events taking place in Germany, the USSR came up with a proposal to create a system of general security in Europe.

A year later, mutual assistance agreements were signed with France and Czechoslovakia in the event of an attack by one of the European states, which tacitly meant Germany. One by one, China, Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia began to conclude similar documents with the Union.

In turn, Germany creates an alliance with Japan and later with Italy. Gradually, aggressive actions on the part of Germany began in relation to nearby countries.

Active foreign policy activities of the USSR

From 1936 to 1941, the Soviet Union was active in foreign policy, supporting the Spanish government in the fight against rebels sponsored by Germany and Italy. The USSR helped China in the confrontation with Japan. At the same time, in 1933, the Soviet Union attacked Finland. As a result, the northern part of Karelia was annexed to the state. This behavior outraged the governments of European countries. As a result, the USSR was expelled from the League of Nations.

The situation in Europe changed dramatically, as did the foreign policy of the USSR. M. Litvinov was replaced by V.M. Molotov. In light of recent events, the Soviet Union decided to take a serious step - signing a secret non-aggression pact with Germany, known in the history of the USSR as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. A week later, German troops entered Polish territory, starting World War II.

In the late 20s and early 30s, the international situation changed significantly. The deep global economic crisis that began in 1929 caused serious internal political changes in all capitalist countries. In some (England, France, etc.) he brought to power forces that sought to carry out broad internal reforms of a democratic nature. In others (Germany, Italy), the crisis contributed to the formation of anti-democratic (fascist) regimes that used social demagoguery in domestic politics simultaneously with the unleashing of political terror, the intensification of chauvinism and militarism. It was these regimes that became the instigators of new military conflicts (especially after A. Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933). Hotbeds of international tension began to form at a rapid pace. One developed in Europe due to the aggressiveness of fascist Germany and Italy. The second is in the Far East due to the hegemonic claims of the Japanese militarists. Taking these factors into account, in 1933 the Soviet government defined new objectives for its foreign policy: refusal to participate in international conflicts, especially those of a military nature; recognition of the possibility of cooperation with democratic Western countries to curb the aggressive aspirations of Germany and Japan (the policy of “appeasement”); the struggle for the creation of a system of collective security in Europe and the Far East. In the first half of the 1930s, the USSR achieved further strengthening of its position in the international arena. At the end of 1933, the United States recognized the Soviet Union and diplomatic relations were established between the two countries. Normalization political attitude between the USA and the USSR had a beneficial effect on their trade and economic ties. In September 1934, the Soviet Union was admitted to the League of Nations and became a permanent member of its Council. In 1935, Soviet-French and Soviet-Czechoslovak treaties on mutual assistance were signed in the event of any aggression against them in Europe. However, in the mid-30s in foreign policy activities The Soviet leadership began to move away from the principle of non-interference in international conflicts. In 1936, the USSR provided assistance to the government of the Popular Front of Spain with weapons and military specialists to fight General F. Franco. He, in turn, received broad political and military support from Germany and Italy. France and England adhered to neutrality. The United States shared the same position, prohibiting the Spanish government from purchasing American weapons. Civil war in Spain ended in 1939 with the victory of the Francoists. The policy of “appeasement” pursued by the Western powers towards Germany, Italy and Japan did not produce positive results. International tensions increased. In 1935, Germany sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland; Italy attacked Ethiopia. In 1936, Germany and Japan signed an agreement directed against the Soviet Union (Anti-Comintern Pact). Relying on German support, Japan launched a large-scale military operation against China in 1937. Territorial claims were especially dangerous for maintaining peace and security in Europe. Hitler's Germany . In March 1938, Germany carried out the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria. Hitler's aggression also threatened Czechoslovakia. Therefore, the USSR came out in defense of its territorial integrity. Based on the 1935 treaty, the Soviet government offered its assistance and moved 30 divisions, aircraft and tanks to the western border. However, the government of E. Benes refused it and complied with A. Hitler’s demand to transfer to Germany the Sudetenland, populated mainly by Germans. The Western powers pursued a policy of concessions to Nazi Germany, hoping to create a reliable counterweight against the USSR and direct its aggression to the east. The culmination of this policy was the Munich Agreement (September 1938) between Germany, Italy, England and France. It legally formalized the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia. Feeling its strength, Germany occupied all of Czechoslovakia in 1930. In the Far East, Japan, having captured most of China, approached the Soviet borders. In the summer of 1938, an armed conflict occurred on the territory of the USSR in the area of Lake Khasan. The Japanese group was repulsed. In May 1939, Japanese troops invaded Mongolia. Units of the Red Army under the command of G.K. Zhukov defeated them in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River. At the beginning of 1939, the last attempt was made to create a system of collective security between England, France and the Soviet Union. However, Western states did not believe in the potential ability of the USSR to resist fascist aggression. Therefore, they delayed the negotiations in every possible way. In addition, Poland categorically refused to guarantee the passage of Soviet troops through its territory to repel the expected fascist aggression. At the same time, Great Britain established secret contacts with Germany in order to reach agreement on a wide range of political problems (including the neutralization of the USSR in the international arena). The Soviet government knew that the German army was already in full readiness to attack Poland. Realizing the inevitability of war and its unpreparedness for it, it sharply changed its foreign policy orientation and moved towards rapprochement with Germany. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was concluded in Moscow, which entered into force immediately and lasted for 10 years (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Attached to it was a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The interests of the Soviet Union were recognized by Germany in the Baltic states (Latvia, Estonia, Finland) and Bessarabia. On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland. Poland's allies, Great Britain and France, declared war on Germany on September 3. However, they did not provide real military assistance to the Polish government, which ensured A. Hitler a quick victory. The Second World War began. In the new international conditions, the leadership of the USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements of August 1939 on September 17, after the Germans defeated the Polish army and the fall of the Polish government. The Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. On September 28, the Soviet-German Treaty “On Friendship and Border” was concluded, securing these lands as part of the Soviet Union. At the same time, the USSR insisted on concluding agreements with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, receiving the right to station its troops on their territory. In these republics, in the presence of Soviet troops, legislative elections were held, in which communist forces won. In "1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR. In November 1939, the USSR began a war with Finland in the hope of its quick defeat and the creation of a pro-communist government in it. There was also a military-strategic need to ensure the security of Leningrad, moving away from the Soviet-Finnish border in the area of the Karelian Isthmus. Military operations were accompanied by huge losses on the part of the Red Army. They demonstrated its poor preparedness. The stubborn resistance of the Finnish army was ensured by the deeply echeloned defensive “Mannerheim Line”. Western states provided political support to the USSR. his aggression was excluded from the League of Nations. At the cost of enormous efforts, the resistance of the Finnish armed forces was broken. In March 1940, the Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed, according to which the USSR received the entire Karelian Isthmus. In the summer of 1940, as a result of political pressure, Romania ceded to the Soviet Union. Union of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. As a result, large territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the USSR. The country's border has moved to the west different places over a distance of 300 to 600 km. The foreign policy agreements of 1939 helped delay the German attack on the Soviet Union for almost two years. The Soviet leadership agreed to an agreement with Nazi Germany, whose ideology and policies it had previously condemned. Such a turn could be carried out under the conditions of the state system, all internal means of propaganda of which were aimed at justifying the actions of the government and forming a new attitude of Soviet society towards the Hitler regime. If the Non-Aggression Pact, signed in August 1939, was to a certain extent a forced step for the USSR, then the secret protocol, the Treaty on Friendship and Borders, and other foreign policy actions of the Stalinist government carried out on the eve of the war did not take into account the interests of different states and peoples Eastern Europe.

Patriotic War 1812.

The cause of the war was the violation by Russia and France of the terms of the Tilsit Treaty. Russia actually abandoned the blockade of England, accepting ships with British goods under neutral flags in its ports. France annexed the Duchy of Oldenburg, and Napoleon considered Alexander’s demand for the withdrawal of French troops from Prussia offensive and on June 12, 1812, Napoleon led an army of 600,000, crossing the river. Neman invaded Russia. Having an army of about 240 thousand people, Russian troops were forced to retreat before the French Armada. On August 3, the 1st and 2nd Russian armies united near Smolensk, and a battle was fought. Napoleon failed to achieve complete victory. In August, M.I. was appointed commander-in-chief. Kutuzov. Duchy of Warsaw. A military clash between the two great powers was becoming inevitable. Kutuzov decided to give battle in the area of the village of Borodino. The right flank was protected by the Koloch River, the left was protected by earthen fortifications - flashes, they were defended by the troops of P.I. Bagration. The troops of General N.N. stood in the center. Raevsky and artillery. Their positions were covered by the Shevardinsky redoubt. The battle ended late in the evening. The troops suffered huge losses: the French - 58 thousand people, the Russians - 44 thousand. On September 1, 1812, at a meeting in Fili, Kutuzov decides to leave Moscow. The retreat was necessary to preserve the army and further fight for the independence of the Fatherland.

Napoleon entered Moscow on September 2 and stayed there until October 7, 1812, awaiting peace proposals. During this time, most of the city was destroyed by fires. Bonaparte's attempts to make peace with Alexander I were unsuccessful. Having left Moscow in October, Napoleon tried to go to Kaluga and spend the winter in a province not devastated by the war. On October 12, near Maloyaroslavets, Napoleon’s army was defeated and began to retreat along the devastated Smolensk road, driven by frost and hunger. Pursuing the retreating French, Russian troops destroyed their formations in parts. The final defeat of Napoleon's army took place in the battle of the river. Berezina November 14-16. Only 30 thousand French soldiers were able to leave Russia. On December 25, Alexander I issued a manifesto on the victorious end of the Patriotic War.

Russian culture 18

In the 18th century The pace of cultural development has accelerated, which is associated with the development of the country’s economy. The secular direction in art became the leading one, and the dictatorship of the church in determining the direction, forms and character of Russian culture came to an end. Although the church in the 18th century. and was subordinated to the state, its role in the life of the country remained significant. In the 18th century Scattered knowledge in various fields, collected by many generations of people, began to turn into science: the accumulation of knowledge made it possible to move on to the discovery of the laws of development of nature and society. In the second half of the 18th century. for the first time criticism of certain aspects of the serfdom system was voiced, and at the end of the century the first Russian revolutionary A.N. Radishchev called for the destruction of slavery and autocracy. The connections between Russian culture and foreign ones began to take on a new character. The “Window to Europe” through the Baltic, access to the Black Sea, and the growth of Russia’s international authority entailed the establishment of “permanents.” contacts with European countries. Thus, in place of the medieval, traditionalist, religiously permeated culture of the 9th-17th centuries. in the 18th century a “new culture” comes. Her distinctive features- secularism, rationalistic (from the word rational - reason) worldview, greater democracy and openness in contacts with the cultures of other countries and peoples. Culture of the 18th century is largely determined by educational philosophy with its idea of the primacy of knowledge and reason in people's lives, attention to the human personality. The idea of equality of all people was understood in Russia as the need to regulate the life of each social layer. Within the history of Russian culture of the 18th century, it is usually customary to distinguish two periods: the end of the 17th - the first quarter of the 18th century, characterized by the formation of a new Russian culture; the middle - second half of the century, when the process of formation and flowering of the class, mainly secular, culture of the nobility and peasant culture, which continued to be mainly of a traditional character, took place. The pinnacle of Russian aristocratic culture was the attempt to create an ideal world within the framework of a noble estate, where it established harmonious relations between people, between man and nature. In Russian art of the first half of the 18th century - the middle of the 18th century. The Baroque style dominated, and in the second half of the century - Classicism. At the end of the 18th century. the cult of reason (classicism) was replaced by the cult of feelings (sentimentalism).

Internal political and economic development The USSR at the end of the 30s remained complex and contradictory. This was explained by the strengthening of the personality cult of I.V. Stalin, the omnipotence of the party leadership, the further strengthening of the centralization of management. At the same time, the people's faith in the ideals of socialism, labor enthusiasm and high citizenship grew.

The economic development of the USSR was determined by the tasks of the third five-year plan (1938 - 1942). Despite the successes (in 1937, the USSR took second place in the world in terms of production), the industrial gap from the West was not overcome, especially in the development of new technologies and in the production of consumer goods. The main efforts in the 3rd Five-Year Plan were aimed at developing industries that ensure the country's defense capability. In the Urals, in Siberia, Central Asia The fuel and energy base developed at an accelerated pace. “Double factories” were created in the Urals, Western Siberia, and Central Asia.

IN agriculture The tasks of strengthening the country's defense capability were also taken into account. Plantings of industrial crops (cotton) expanded. By the beginning of 1941, significant food reserves had been created.

Particular attention was paid to the construction of defense factories. However, the creation of modern types of weapons for that time was delayed. New aircraft designs: the Yak-1, Mig-3 fighters, and the Il-2 attack aircraft were developed during the 3rd Five-Year Plan, but they were not able to establish widespread production before the war. The industry also had not mastered the mass production of T-34 and KV tanks by the beginning of the war.

Major events were carried out in the field of military development. The transition to a personnel system for recruiting the army has been completed. Universal Law military duty(1939) made it possible to increase the size of the army to 5 million people by 1941. In 1940, the ranks of general and admiral were established, and complete unity of command was introduced.

Social events were also driven by defense needs. In 1940, a program for the development of state labor reserves was adopted and the transition to an 8-hour working day and a 7-day working week was implemented. A law was passed on judicial liability for unauthorized dismissal, absenteeism and lateness to work.

At the end of the 1930s, international tensions increased. The Western powers pursued a policy of concessions to Nazi Germany, trying to direct its aggression against the USSR. The culmination of this policy was the Munich Agreement (September 1938) between Germany, Italy, England and France, which formalized the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

In the Far East, Japan, having captured most of China, approached the borders of the USSR. In the summer of 1938, an armed conflict occurred on the territory of the USSR in the area of Lake Khasan. The Japanese group was repulsed. In May 1938, Japanese troops invaded Mongolia. Units of the Red Army under the command of G.K. Zhukov defeated them in the area of the Khalkhin Gol River.

At the beginning of 1939, the last attempt was made to create a system of collective security between England, France and the USSR. The Western powers delayed negotiations. Therefore, the Soviet leadership moved towards rapprochement with Germany. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years (Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) was concluded in Moscow. Attached to it was a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. The interests of the USSR were recognized by Germany in the Baltic states and Bessarabia.

On September 1, Germany attacked Poland. Under these conditions, the leadership of the USSR began to implement the Soviet-German agreements of August 1939. On September 17, the Red Army entered Western Belarus and Western Ukraine. In 1940, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became part of the USSR.

In November 1939, the USSR started a war with Finland in the hope of its quick defeat, with the goal of moving the Soviet-Finnish border away from Leningrad in the area of the Karelian Isthmus. At the cost of enormous efforts, the resistance of the Finnish armed forces was broken. In March 1940, a Soviet-Finnish peace treaty was signed, according to which the USSR received the entire Karelian Isthmus.

In the summer of 1940, as a result of political pressure, Romania ceded Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the USSR.

As a result, large territories with a population of 14 million people were included in the USSR. Foreign policy agreements of 1939 delayed the attack on the USSR for almost 2 years.