At the beginning of the 1930s, the Nazi Party's rise to power increased tensions between Germany, the Soviet Union and other countries with ethnic Slavs, which were considered "Untermenschen" according to Nazi racial ideology.[9] Moreover, the anti-Semitic Nazis associated ethnic Jews with both communism and financial capitalism, both of which they opposed.[10][11] Consequently, Nazi theory held that Slavs in the Soviet Union were being ruled by "Jewish Bolshevik" masters.[12] In 1934, Hitler himself had spoken of an inescapable battle against both Pan-Slavism and Neo-Slavism, the victory in which would lead to "permanent mastery of the world", though he stated that they would "walk part of the road with the Russians, if that will help us."[13] The resulting manifestation of German anti-Bolshevism and an increase in Soviet foreign debts caused German–Soviet trade to dramatically decline.[14] Imports of Soviet goods to Germany fell to 223 million Reichsmarks in 1934 as the more isolationist Stalinist regime asserted power and the abandonment of post-World War I Treaty of Versailles military controls decreased Germany's reliance on Soviet imports.[8][15]
In 1936, Germany and Fascist Italy supported Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, while the Soviets supported the partially socialist-led Second Spanish Republic under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña.[16] In 1936, Germany and Japan entered the Anti-Comintern Pact,[17] and were joined a year later by Italy.[16][18] Thus, in a sense, the Spanish Civil War became also the scene of a proxy war between Germany and the USSR.[19]
Hitler's fierce anti-Soviet rhetoric was one of the reasons why the UK and France decided that Soviet participation in the 1938 Munich Conference regarding Czechoslovakia would be both dangerous and useless.[20] The Munich Agreement that followed[21] marked a partial German annexation of Czechoslovakia in late 1938 followed by its complete dissolution in March 1939,[22] which is seen as part of an appeasement of Germany conducted by Chamberlain's and Daladier's cabinets.[23] This policy immediately raised the question of whether the Soviet Union could avoid being next on Hitler's list.[24] The Soviet leadership believed that the West may want to encourage German aggression in the East[25] and that France and Britain might stay neutral in a war initiated by Germany, hoping that the warring states would wear each other out and put an end to both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.[26]
For Germany, because an autarkic economic approach or an alliance with Britain were impossible, closer relations with the Soviet Union to obtain raw materials became necessary, if not just for economic reasons alone.[27] Moreover, an expected British blockade in the event of war would create massive shortages for Germany in a number of key raw materials.[28] After the Munich agreement, the resulting increase in German military supply needs and Soviet demands for military machinery, talks between the two countries occurred from late 1938 to March 1939.[29] The third Soviet Five Year Plan required massive new infusions of technology and industrial equipment.[27][30]
On 31 March 1939, in response to Nazi Germany's defiance of the Munich Agreement and occupation of Czechoslovakia,[31] the United Kingdom pledged the support of itself and France to guarantee the independence of Poland, Belgium, Roumania, Greece, and Turkey.[32] On 6 April Poland and the UK agreed to formalize the guarantee as a military alliance, pending negotiations.[33] On 28 April 1939, Hitler denounced the 1934 German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact and the 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement.[34]
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