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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. Bu calismada, Sovyetler Birligi'nin II. Dunya Savasi oncesi doneme bakisi, savasa giden sureci nasil degerlendirdigi incelenmistir. Bu doneme Almanya'da iktidara gelen Hitler liderligindeki Nazi Partisi'nin saldirgan ve yayilmaci dis politikasi damgasini vurmustur. Bu baglamda calismanin temel sorunsali, Sovyetler Birligi soz konusu donem boyunca tedricen artan Nazi tehdidini son derece ciddiye alirken, Batili kapitalist devletler ozellikle Milletler Cemiyeti'nin onde gelen iki aktoru Ingiltere ve Fransa Nazi Almanya'sina ilimli yaklasmistir. Sovyetler Birligi'ne gore bunun altinda Nazi-Sovyet savasi ihtimali/beklentisi yatmaktadir. Nazi-Sovyet Pakti ise, Nazilerin Avrupa'yi isgalinin sebebi degil, savas oncesi donemde Ingiltere ve Fransa'nin guttugu dis politikanin bir sonucudur. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sovyetler Birligi, Almanya, II. Dunya Savasi, Nazi-Sovyet Pakti, Yatistirma Politikasi, Giris Rusya Devlet Baskani Vladimir Putin, 5 Kasim 2014'te Moskova'da genc tarihcilerle bir araya geldigi Cagdas Rusya Tarihi Muzesi'nde yapilan bir toplantida, savasin kacinilmaz oldugunun bilincindeki Sovyetler Birligi'nin zaman kazanmak [...]

The collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s raised concerns about the security of its nuclear weapons. (1) In response, the United States joined forces with countries of [...]

DURING THE COLD WAR, the U.S. embassy in Moscow occasionally released an end-of-the-year cable to break up the usual routine of political assessments and military analyses. Instead, it quoted the [...]

Early in the Cold War, in 1946, the United States had begun conducting military reconnaissance flights near the borders of the Soviet Union and its satellites. These missions, known as [...]

The experiences of the Soviet Army at the Nazi death camp is discussed highlighting the interacting currents of official, public and private efforts to grapple with the legacy of the Soviet terror and the lessons the world should learn from the Holocaust. It is argued that Vladimir Putin's governance of 'managed democracy', though relatively less authoritarian and more democratic than Stalinism, it has not been able to provide Russians with material prosperity, public safety and restoration of pride and power enjoyed by the Soviet empire.

The reconstruction and modernization of the Soviet Union's Navy Fleet began in the mid-1920s. In accordance with Soviet defensive doctrine of that time, the fleet's goal was to protect its [...]

One of the 20th-century armed conflicts involving our Armed Forces was the so-called Afghan crisis that started in the 1970s and lasted till the 1990s. Many politicians, diplomats and military [...]

Relations between the Soviet Union and China in 1969 became strained when border forces clashed on Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River. Historians differ on which country started the fight, and why, while this author claims that China instigated the conflict.

This article discusses the military strategy employed during the Great Patriotic War during the reign of Joseph Stalin. The author maintains in the beginning the troops were disorganized, but within time the commanders began to instill the ideology of patriotism to motivate the soldiers.

This article examines the Soviet Union's attempt to conquer Chechnya in the 1920s and 1930s. The author provides excerpts of government documents discussing the military operations of the Soviet Union and their efforts to quell the uprisings of the Chechens.

The dissipation of the Soviet military-industrial complex, due to the dismantling of the Soviet Union, has become a great concern for the international community. The author discusses the threat faced by the unlawful transfer of mass weapons of destruction from Russia into the wrong hands.

The factors responsible for the reconceptualization of the Soviet foreign, security and defense policy during the latter part of the 1980s were qualitatively analyzed by focusing on the role of innovation in the policy formulations. The defensive change was a result of three factors, namely, transnational relations, changing tendencies of articulation and institutional change. The combination of the three factors resulted in the partial realization of an innovative principle in Soviet military-strategic policy and the absence of consolidation which led to the concept's failures., The changes in Soviet foreign, security and defence policy in the second part of the 1980s, momentous as they were, challenged the common wisdom of Sovietology, international relations research, and [...]

The German army launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union on Jun. 22, 1941. The resulting devastation cannot be blamed solely on Joseph Stalin's failure to heed warnings of the impending attack by the Germans. The Red Army was also partly to blame because it failed to reassess major values and preferences. The Red Army maintained an offensive orientation and neglected a strategic defense, which were both self-defeating decisions., When the German Army struck the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, Stalin and the Soviet military were staggered by the blow. The Soviet dictator went into self-imposed seclusion and [...]

The crisis that engulfed the Red Army in the late 1920s and the subsequent purging of some of its members in the late 1930s stemmed from the dissatisfaction of the ordinary rank and file soldiers. Higher officials deemed it necessary that the oppositionists be eliminated since they were concerned that some senior military officers would eventually share the oppositionists' sentiments. The opposition group was against the unified command policy and demanded better social conditions, including better housing and higher salaries., During the height of the purge of the Red Army in 1938, the then Chief of the Red Army's Main Political Administration, Lev Mekhlis, issued the following order to the [...]

The effects of downsizing military spending on the productivity of the civilian sector in the US and the USSR are measured. The period 1948-85 are the years examined in the US; 1965-87 for the Soviet Union. Increased defense expenditures boost civilian productivity for both countries. The US and the Soviet Union are presently experiencing negative effects from decreased defense expenditures. However, there is evidence that increased civilian productivity resulted from the reallocation of scientists, engineers and other high-tech professionals from the defense sector.

Only a handful of men knew the full story of the Soviet bomb's creation. Unlike the United States, the Soviet Union did not keep an historical record of the Soviet [...]

Who would have thought the KGB would want to spill the beans? Many fear that the collapse of the Soviet Union has created new opportunities for would-be nuclear proliferators. The [...]

The foundation of the former Soviet Union rested on the scientific and industrial resources behind its massive military-industrial complex. However, the collapse of the Soviet economy has transformed these military industries into suppliers of consumer markets. While this scenario offers several dangers to the international community in terms of arms proliferation, Western countries can use aid packages to influence the conversion of the military-industrial complex in the former Soviet Union. Moreover, these aid packages can also be used to control arms exports from the Soviet Union.

Statistical studies of the determinants of defense expenditures have been criticized on two counts: (a) most of them do not test the hypotheses of causality that they include, but simply use them as a point of departure, and (b) those that do test causality are restricted to conceptual models with very few explanatory variables. The objective of this paper is to study the defense expenditures of the USA and the USSR, explicitly avoiding these two limitations. This is done using elementary statistical methods in somewhat unorthodox ways. The conclusions of the analyses are carefully compared with those obtained by other authors and the differences encountered are explained as far as possible. The analyses and comparisons show that the defense expenditures of the USA are determined by their own inertia and by political factors within the country, while those of the USSR are determined by their own inertia and the conditions of relations with the USA. The interest of these results is not in their novelty, but in the fact that they are obtained with procedures designed to provide a more solid foundation.

The presidents of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) met to discuss areas of common concern regarding the former Soviet armed forces. Pres Boris Yeltsin hosted the meeting. Among the major issues discussed were the CIS's obligations to the Treaty on the Limitation and Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms, government and social policies affecting military personnel and the prohibition of chemical weapons. Seven states agreed to maintain common armed forces. Several high-ranking military officials gave their comments and concerns on the future of the former Soviet armed forces.

The Soviet military played a large part in responding to the nuclear power plant accident at Chernobyl on Apr 26, 1986. Forces involved included the Chemical Troops, the Air Force, the Engineer Troops and commanders of Civil Defense units. Problems arose with officer initiative, manager efficiency, following regulations and concern for enlisted men. When the Civil Defense responded to the Armenian earthquake in 1989, no improvement in performance had occurred. Pressure is building to apply perestroika to the military.

Russia's Arms Catalog (which you'll see advertised on the back cover) is a glitzy, high-gloss, multi-volume set of books that documents the variety of superpower arms now being hustled to [...]