6. Foreign Policy and the Approach of War

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about Stalin's foreign policy in the run up to the German invasion of Russia in 1941, focusing in particular on the changeability of Soviet foreign policy in the period 1917-41, the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact in August 1939, and the outbreak of the Second World War.

Course

In this course, Dr Arfon Rees (University of Birmingham) thinks about Stalinist Russia in the period 1917-41. We begin by providing an overview of Russian history from the late 19th century up to the end of the Russian Civil War in 1922. After that, we turn to the economic policies of the period 1917-28, from the war communism of 1917-22 to Lenin's New Economic Policy of 1922-28. In the third module, we think about Stalin's rise to power after Lenin's death in 1924, before turning in the fourth module to the key policies of industrialisation and collectivisation, and the theory of Revolution from Above. In the fifth module, we think about the growth of increasingly autocratic, repressive policies in the 1930s, before moving on in the sixth and final module to focus on Russian foreign policy – especially in the context of the Second World War.

Lecturer

Dr Arfon Rees was a Reader in Soviet and Russian History at the University of Birmingham. He was the author of three monographs and ten edited volumes on the development of the Soviet political system, including studies of the formation of the Stalinist system, the study of economic policy making, the study of centre-local relations, the study of the role of individuals, and the function of the leader cult.