Treaty of Rapallo

The Entente countries proposed in 1921 to participate in an international conference aimed at resolving disputes over the economic claims of Western countries to the Russian state. If these claims were accepted, European countries would formally accept Soviet Russia. The conference was opened in Genoa in early April. Twenty-nine countries took part in the event. Among them were England, Russia, Germany, France and other states.

The joint demands of the Western powers for Russia consisted in compensating the debts of the Provisional and Tsarist governments (eighteen billion rubles in gold), returning the property of the western region of the former Russian Empire nationalized by the Bolsheviks. In addition, the Western countries demanded the abolition of the monopoly on foreign trade, the opening of the road to foreign capital, and the cessation of revolutionary propaganda in their states.

In response, the Soviet government demanded compensation for the damage caused by foreign intervention during the civil war (thirty-nine billion rubles), ensuring broad economic cooperation based on long-term loans from the West. Among the conditions put forward was the adoption of the Soviet program for general reduction in armaments and the prohibition of the most barbarous methods of military operations.

Thus, due to mutual unpreparedness to make a political compromise, the negotiations have reached a deadlock. At the same time, there was a certain split among the powers of the West during the conference. The irritation of the Entente states over the lack of results at the meetings was aggravated by the success of the tactics of the "Bolshevik tactics used by the" game on the contradictions between the imperialists ".

Between April 14, 1922, in the suburbs of Genoa, the German Foreign Minister Rathenau and the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of Soviet Russia, Chicherin, signed a bilateral treaty (Rapallo Treaty) on the mutual termination of the nomination of claims. Refusal of claims included the refusal of reparation claims, as well as the restoration of diplomatic relations. Having signed the Treaty of Rapallo, Soviet Russia was recognized as de jure by Germany (legally).

Due to its difficult economic and political situation, Germany was forced to cooperate with Russia. In addition, the Treaty of Rapallo fulfilled the task set by Lenin to split the ranks of capitalist countries.

Later, in 1924, extremely interested in trade relations with Russia, England was the first to officially recognize the existence of the Soviet state. Her example was later followed by France, Italy and other world powers.

Undoubtedly, the Rapallo Treaty has become a successful diplomatic step of Soviet Russia. As a result of the signing of the rejection of claims by Germany, the Western countries could not form a unified position on the issue of the return of nationalized property to Russia. At the same time, the refusal of the Moscow government from the reparation share of Germany, which was supposed to be under the Versailles Agreement , undermined the positions of the French government, which demanded reparation payments from Berlin.

Along with this, the Treaty in Rapallo also had important negative consequences. With its signing, cooperation between Russia and Germany began on an anti-Versaillian basis. Military-technical, economic, cultural ties between the two countries began to develop rapidly. In addition, the joint Russian-German training of military specialists began. Between Germany and Russia, despite the Versailles bans, secret cooperation was established, which continued until the arrival of Nazism.

The Treaty of Rapallo in 1922 gave France grounds to fear Russian-German relations.