The Anglo-Soviet Agreement was a declaration signed by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on 12 July 1941, shortly after the beginning of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. In the agreement, the UK and the Soviet Union pledged to cooperate in the war against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and not to make a separate peace with Germany. The agreement was to be valid until the end of war against Nazi Germany. The two principles of the agreement, a commitment to mutual assistance and renunciation of a separate peace, were similar to those in the earlier Declaration of St James's Palace and the later Declaration by United Nations.

Background

The Soviet Union and the Third Reich signed the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

, a non-aggression pact between the two nations, on 23 August 1939. A secret part of the agreement defined the areas of Eastern Europe that fell into their respective spheres of influence. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and, on 17 September, the USSR invaded Poland from the east. The UK had declared war on Germany on 3 September. The Soviet Union declared itself neutral in the war between the UK and Germany. On 22 June 1941 Germany began an attack along the whole length of its border with the USSR from the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The Soviet forces were unprepared and the attacks paralysed the Soviet command system and German forces advanced rapidly into Soviet territories.

Negotiations

Initial discussions about an alliance were characterised by mutual suspicion between the UK and the Soviet Union. Three weeks of difficult negotiations followed before the two countries reached an agreement to cooperate against Germany. The UK consulted with the US, Canada, Australia and South Africa before concluding the agreement. The military alliance was to be valid until the end of the war against Germany. The agreement was signed on 12 July 1941 by Sir

Stafford Cripps Sir Richard Stafford Cripps (24 April 1889 – 21 April 1952) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician, barrister, and diplomat. A wealthy lawyer by background, Cripps first entered Parliament at a 1931 Bristol East by-election ...

, British Ambassador to the Soviet Union and

Vyacheslav Molotov Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov (; – 8 November 1986) was a Soviet politician, diplomat, and revolutionary who was a leading figure in the government of the Soviet Union from the 1920s to the 1950s, as one of Joseph Stalin's closest allies. ...

, the Soviet People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs, and it did not require ratification.

Text

The agreement contained two clauses: :(1) The two Governments mutually undertake to render each other assistance and support of all kinds in the present war against Hitlerite Germany. :(2) They further undertake that during this war they will neither negotiate nor conclude an armistice or treaty of peace except by mutual agreement.

Effect

With the signing of the agreement, the UK and Soviet Union formally became allies against Germany. Winston Churchill stated, "It is of course an alliance and the Russian people are now our allies." The Arctic convoys from Britain to the Soviet Union began the following month as did the joint

Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran The Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, also known as the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Persia, was the joint invasion of the neutral Imperial State of Iran by the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union in August 1941. The two powers announced that they w ...

which opened up a supply route to the USSR. In Iran, Rezā Shāh was removed from power and the new Shah,

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (26 October 1919 – 27 July 1980) was the last List of monarchs of Iran, Shah of Iran, ruling from 1941 to 1979. He succeeded his father Reza Shah and ruled the Imperial State of Iran until he was overthrown by the ...

, signed a Tripartite Treaty Alliance with Britain and the Soviet Union in January 1942 to aid the allied war effort in a non-military way. The two principles of the agreement, a commitment to mutual assistance and renunciation of a separate peace, mirrored the first two resolutions of the Declaration of St James's Palace with other Allies, which formed the basis of the Declaration by United Nations signed in January 1942. The agreement was broadened by the

Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942 The Anglo-Soviet Treaty, formally the Twenty-Year Mutual Assistance Agreement Between the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, established a military alliance, military and political alliance between the Soviet Union and th ...

to include a political alliance lasting 20 years.

Reactions

According to Lynn Davis, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

perceived the agreement to mean that the Soviet Union intended to support the postwar re-establishment of independence of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Notes

References

{{reflist

External links

Agreement Between the United Kingdom and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics : July 12, 1941
via Avalon Project World War II treaties Military alliances involving the Soviet Union Military alliances involving the United Kingdom Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations 1941 in the Soviet Union 1941 in the United Kingdom United Kingdom in World War II 20th-century military alliances Treaties concluded in 1941 Treaties of the Soviet Union