1995/01/01 by Geoffrey Roberts · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1007/978-1-349-24124-8_7
openalex publication_date 1995/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
The year following the Nazi-Soviet pact and the partition of Poland was a period of further Russian territorial, political and military expansion into Eastern Europe. In September–October 1939 mutual assistance treaties and Soviet military bases were forced on the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In summer 1940 the Baltic governments were deposed by Soviet fiat, the countries occupied by the Red Army, and their internal regimes subject to ‘sovietisation’. In early August 1940 all three states were incorporated into the USSR. At the end of November 1939 Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union and following the Winter War of December 1939–March 1940 was forced to cede large tracts of territory to the USSR. In July 1940 the Romanian territories of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina were summarily annexed by the Soviets. On a less dramatic note Moscow also during this period mounted a major diplomatic offensive to extend Soviet influence and enhance Soviet security in the Balkans.