{{distinguish, Easter Pact The Eastern Pact was a proposed mutual-aid

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

, intended to bring

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

together in opposition to

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 ...

. The idea of the Eastern Pact was advanced early in 1934 by the

French minister of foreign affairs The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (, MEAE) is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The ter ...

Louis Barthou Jean Louis Barthou (; 25 August 1862 – 9 October 1934) was a French politician of the French Third Republic, Third Republic who served as Prime Minister of France for eight months in 1913. In social policy, his time as prime minister saw the ...

, and was actively supported by the Soviet government. In May and June 1934, the Soviet Union and France agreed to conclude a bilateral treaty providing for

's guaranteeing of the Eastern Pact and the guaranteeing of the

Locarno Treaties The Locarno Treaties, known collectively as the Locarno Pact, were seven post-World War I agreements negotiated amongst Germany, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Second Polish Republic, Poland and First Czechoslovak Republic, Czechoslovak ...

of 1925 by the Soviet Union. On 14 June 1934 the Soviet government invited all interested states to participate in the Eastern Pact. Czechoslovakia (2 July), Latvia and Estonia (29 July), and Lithuania (3 August) declared their readiness to adhere to the pact. However, Estonia and Latvia made the adherence of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and Poland a condition of their own participation. The government of

avoided expressing its attitude toward the Eastern Pact. Barthou appealed to the British government in the name of the French government, but the British, while formally approving the idea of the Eastern Pact, made their support conditional on Germany's inclusion both in the regional mutual-aid treaty and in the Franco-Soviet Treaty so that Soviet and French guarantees would be extended to Germany. The Soviet and the French governments agreed, but the German government (11 September 1934) and subsequently the Polish government (27 September 1934) refused to participate in the Eastern Pact. After Barthou was accidentally killed by French police during the arrest of

Vlado Chernozemski Vlado Chernozemski (Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: Владо Черноземски; born Velichko Dimitrov Kerin, ; 19 October 1897 – 9 October 1934) was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian revolutionary and assassin. He is also known as "Vlado the Cha ...

on 9 October 1934, British and French diplomacy turned away from the Soviets and adopted the

appeasement Appeasement, in an International relations, international context, is a diplomacy, diplomatic negotiation policy of making political, material, or territorial concessions to an aggressive power (international relations), power with intention t ...

policy towards Germany. The proposed Eastern Pact was thus never implemented.

References

* The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979);
JSTOR: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 55, No. 1 (Jan., 1977), pp. 45-64
1934 in international relations Treaties of the Soviet Union Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Proposed treaties France–Soviet Union relations

See also

References