The Soviet Union’s View of the Pre-war Period (1933-1939): Who is the Responsible for the Nazi Occupation of Europe?

Abstract

In the present study, the Soviet Union’s view of the period prior to the outbreak of the World War II and how it assessed the process leading to war are examined. Aggressive and expansionist foreign policy of the Nazi Party which came into power under the leadership of Hitler in Germany is of great importance in understanding this period. In this context, the main problematic of the study is that the Soviet Union took the gradually growing Nazi threat extremely seriously, while western capitalist countries especially two leading actors of the League of Nations, England and France were looking moderately upon Nazi Germany, during the said period. According to the Soviet Union, the possibility/expectation of the Nazi-Soviet War lay at the root of this. Also the Nazi-Soviet Pact was not the cause of the Nazi occupation of Europe, but the consequence of the implemented foreign policies of England and France.

Keywords

Soviet Union, Germany, World War II, Nazi-Soviet Pact, Appeasement Policy

Citation

Bekcan, Umut, “The Soviet Union’s View of the Pre-war Period (1933-1939): Who is the Responsible for the Nazi Occupation of Europe?”, International Relations, Volume 13, Issue 50, 2016, pp. 101-118.

Affiliations

• Umut BEKCAN, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Pamukkale University, Denizli.