A high marking (A*) essay detailing Stalin's foreign policy from his rise to power in 1929 to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. This essay details Stalin's aims of industrialisation, spreading socialism and gaining security for the USSR, and the means by which he attempted to achieve th...
“The Signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939 reflected
the total failure of Stalin’s foreign policy” Assess the
validity of this view.
On 30th August 1939, the Ribbentrop Molotov Pact was signed between the USSR and Nazi
Germany. This pact marked 10 years of foreign policy under Stalin’s rule. For foreign policy during
this time to have been a success, it must have achieved Stalin’s aims of industrialisation and
spreading socialist ideology. Therefore, although there were some elements of failure within Stalin’s
foreign policy, it was largely a success.
As the lone communist power in Europe, Stalin sought to spread socialist ideologies
throughout Europe. On the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the USSR aided the
communist faction by providing tanks, weapons and advisors. However, Franco’s Nationalists won
the war. This demonstrates the failure of the USSR to spread communist ideology as the aid given by
Stalin was limited. The limited aid enabled Franco’s faction to win, thereby spreading fascism rather
than socialism throughout Spain. This represents a failure of Soviet foreign policy as Stalin had the
opportunity to fulfil his aim but did not fully exploit this. The failure to spread socialist ideology can
further be seen from the change in Comintern policy in 1935. It no longer attacked Western Social
Democrats and instead attempted to prevent the spread of fascism. This demonstrates a failure in
Stalin’s foreign policy as it shows Comintern was unable to effectively promote socialism in the
West. Therefore, Stalin’s aim of promoting socialism in the West was entirely unfulfilled, thus
showing that Stalin’s foreign policy was a failure.
However, Stalin’s foreign policy was successful in achieving his objective of gaining security
for the USSR. The Nazi-Soviet Pact, although not entirely a success did remove the possibility of the
USSR facing a war on two fronts and brought the USSR peace until the Nazi invasion in 1941. This
demonstrates the success of Soviet foreign policy as it meant that the USSR had time to build their
army, but it also shows the ability of Stalin to fulfil his own aims as he secured peace for the USSR.
Stalin’s success can further be seen by the USSR’s entry to the League of Nations in 1934. This was a
success as the League of Nations had a policy of collective security to deter any potential aggressors
of member states. This would have reduced the likelihood of an attack on the USSR and thus
increased its security. Therefore, the Nazi-Soviet Pact and the USSR’s entry to the League of Nations
demonstrate the success of Stalin’s foreign policy as he successfully fulfilled his aim of gaining
security for the USSR.
Another area in which Stalin’s foreign policy was a success was its aiding of the
industrialisation of the USSR. The 1926 Treaty of Berlin was agreed to be continued in 1931, and
from 1929 to 1931 there was a period of intense military collaboration between the USSR and
Germany with a training school for pilots in Lipetsk just one example. This shows the success of
Society policy as it shows how foreign policy was used to develop the economy and military of Russia
– without the Treaty of Berlin, military developments would have been significantly harder to make.
This idea is furthered when the foreign ‘experts’ used to help build projects as a part of the Five Year
Plans are considered. Foreign ‘experts ‘were used to aid the construction of projects such as the
Dneipinostrei Dam and the Volga-White Sea Canal. This shows the success of Stalin’s foreign policy
as the construction of these projects heavily relied on the expertise of foreign individuals. Therefore,
Stalin was able to fulfil his aim of using foreign policy for industrialisation thereby showing his
success.
Overall, Stalin’s foreign policy was largely a success. This is because, despite his inability to
spread socialism throughout Europe, he was able to fulfil what he saw as the most important aim –
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