Analysis: Mutual Aid Agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union
The Mutual Aid Agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union, signed in June 1942, was a critical component of Allied cooperation during World War II. The backdrop of this agreement was the intense conflict on the Eastern Front, where the Soviet Union had already endured significant military losses against Nazi Germany. The U.S. aimed to support the Soviet war effort, recognizing that a Soviet defeat could shift German focus towards the Western Front, threatening Allied nations like Britain and the U.S. This agreement mirrored previous arrangements with Britain, reinforcing a commitment to mutual aid in military supplies and resources.
The underlying principles of the agreement reflected shared goals for postwar cooperation and peace, aligning with ideals outlined in the Atlantic Charter. Both nations agreed to supply each other with necessary materials, asserting a partnership not only for wartime efforts but also for future economic relations. The agreement marked a significant moment of solidarity between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, despite the ideological differences that would later emerge in the Cold War. Overall, this agreement was a strategic move aimed at bolstering the Allied fight against Germany while laying a foundation for postwar collaborations.
Analysis: Mutual Aid Agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union
Date: June 11, 1942
Authors: Cordell Hull; Maxim Litvinov
Genre: government document
Summary Overview
In June 1942, the Soviet Union had been at war with Germany for a year and had suffered tremendous losses. Four million Soviet troops had been killed, captured, or wounded. Germany had suffered high casualties as well, but only a quarter of the number of soldiers had been lost. German troops had come within sight of Moscow in December 1941 and had been turned back by fierce Soviet resistance and the bitterly cold Russian winter. By the spring of 1942, the Soviet army began to mount counteroffensives against the Germans. Meanwhile, the United States and England relied on the Eastern Front to keep bleeding Germany of troops and equipment while they fought in the Pacific and considered their options for an offensive in Western Europe. Though the German advance had been halted, they were far from defeated, and two months after this agreement, they launched a major offensive to take the city of Stalingrad. If the Soviet Union were defeated, Hitler would inevitably turn his full attention to the Western Front and a planned invasion of England. It was in the best interest of both England and the United States to continue to bolster the Soviet defense with whatever materials could be spared. This agreement is virtually identical to the Master Lend-Lease Agreement signed with England in February and reiterates the Allies' commitment to support the Soviet Union in its fight against Germany.
Defining Moment
On June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union and opened up a front spanning more than one thousand miles, from Leningrad to the Black Sea. The reasons for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union were practical as well as ideological. Military success on the Western Front meant that resources could be spared to fight in the Soviet Union. Hitler believed that Russians were an inferior race and could be defeated quickly, freeing him to devote his full attention to subjugating Britain. In addition, Germany desperately needed raw materials and resources to fight the war on the Western Front. Germany made astounding progress in the summer and early fall of 1941, and despite being slowed by fall rains and freezing temperatures, the German army reached the outskirts of Moscow in early December. Unable to take the city and paralyzed by bitter winter cold, cut off from supply lines, and relentlessly attacked by the Soviet army, the Germans began a slow retreat. In the spring, the German army regrouped and took the offensive again, and in June of 1942 when this agreement was signed, they were marching toward Stalingrad. Though the German army never regained all of the territory they had won in 1941, it was unclear how much longer the Soviet Union could withstand the German invasion.
After the initial invasion of the Soviet Union, British prime minister Winston Churchill and United States president Franklin Roosevelt promised aid. British and Soviet diplomats began working on mutual assistance agreements, and on July 13, 1941, the Anglo-Russian Mutual Aid Treaty was signed, providing for military aid for the Soviet Union and prohibiting either nation from making peace with Germany separately. On August 14, Churchill and Roosevelt announced their postwar aims as part of the Atlantic Charter Declaration. The following day, they assured Soviet leader Joseph Stalin of their support. In September 1941, the Three-Power Moscow Conference met, and British, American, and Soviet leaders agreed to the terms of the proposed allied aid and signed a treaty providing much-needed military assistance to the Soviet Union. On January 1, 1942, the Soviet Union also signed the Declaration by United Nations, which laid out the broad goals of peacekeeping and economic cooperation after the war.
In late May 1942, Soviet foreign minister Vyachaslav Molotov traveled to Washington in secret to meet with Roosevelt and other political and military leaders. The Russians needed assurance that another front would soon be opened to draw resources from the German army. The Soviet Union was rapidly exhausting its military capabilities, and supplies were also greatly needed from the United States. The first lend-lease agreement that had been made with England and the United States was set to expire at the end of June. The United States, in turn, wanted assurance that the Soviet Union would embrace the principles of freedom and peace embodied in the United Nations Declaration. Molotov secured promises of greater material assistance and the pursuit of a second front at the beginning of June, and instructed his ambassador to sign the Master Lend-Lease Agreement with Secretary of State Cordell Hull, described by the State Department as “an additional link in the chain of solidarity being forged by the United Nations in their twofold task of prosecuting the war against aggression to a successful conclusion and of creating a new and better world.”
Author Biography
Cordell Hull was born in Pickett County, Tennessee, in 1871. He attended Montvale Academy at Celina, Tennessee, the Normal School at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the National Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. He received his law degree from Cumberland University in 1891. Hull briefly practiced law before running for a seat in the Tennessee legislature. Hull was state congressman from 1893 to 1897 and returned to law practice after serving briefly in the Spanish-American War. In 1903, Hull was appointed a Tennessee district judge. In 1907, Hull was elected to the US House of Representatives, where he served until 1931, when he was elected senator. He resigned in 1933 when he was appointed by Roosevelt as secretary of state. He resigned in 1944 because of ill health and was given a Nobel Peace Prize in 1945. He died in 1955 in Washington, DC.
Maxim M. Litvinov was born Max Wallach in 1876 in Russian-controlled Poland. As a young man, he joined the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which was outlawed, and after being imprisoned for over a year, he escaped and lived in exile in Switzerland until returning to Russia in 1903. A confirmed Bolshevik, Litvinov traveled through Europe until 1918, when he was appointed by Vladimir Lenin as the Soviet representative in London. In 1930 Stalin appointed Litvinov as commissar of foreign affairs. In November 1933, the Soviet government was invited to send a representative to Washington, DC, and Litvinov helped to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries, which had been estranged since the Russian Revolution. Stalin replaced Litvinov with Molotov during 1939 negotiations with Nazi Germany, where Litvinov's Jewish heritage was suspect. After Germany and the Soviet Union went to war in 1941, Litvinov served as ambassador to the United States from 1941 to 1943, then as deputy commissar for foreign affairs. Litvinov died in the Soviet Union in 1951.
Document Analysis
This agreement begins by establishing common cause between the parties involved. The United States and the Soviet Union “are engaged in a cooperative undertaking… to the end of laying the bases of a just and enduring world peace.” This was not just an agreement to provide military supplies to another country—it was an agreement that the United States and the Soviet Union would be partners in postwar cooperation as well. As proof of this, the agreement notes that the Soviet Union has agreed to the principles of the Atlantic Charter by signing the Declaration by United Nations. The Atlantic Charter had eight points: no territorial gains were to be sought; borders and territory should be determined by the people concerned; people of the world had a right to self-determination; trade barriers should be reduced; and economic and social welfare promoted. These ideas are confirmed in the eight articles of this agreement as well.
The articles of this agreement specify that the United States will supply any material aid it possibly can, as authorized by the president. The Soviet Union agrees to do the same. They both agree that any materials that were left over after the war would be returned, and American patent rights would be respected. The agreement covers the period from March 1941 until the end of the war, with the understanding that details of this arrangement would be worked out as needed.
As with the British and Chinese Lend-Lease Agreements, article 7 was the most contentious and complex. It calls for “mutually advantageous economic relations between them and the betterment of world-wide economic relations” and the “elimination of all forms of discriminatory treatment in international commerce.” The Soviet Union had tightly controlled trade prior to the war, and it was a sign of their desperation for aid that they agreed to such economic terms.
Glossary
cognizance: awareness, realization, or knowledge
pursuant: proceeding after; following
tariffs: an official list of table showing the duties or customs imposed by a government on imports or exports; the schedule or system of duties so imposed
Bibliography and Additional Reading
Beevor, Antony. The Second World War. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print.
Fenby, Jonathan. Alliance: The Inside Story of How Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill Won One War and Began Another. San Francisco: MacAdam Cage, 2006. Print.
Hartmann, Christian. Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany's War in the East, 1941–1945. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.
Kershaw, Robert. War without Garlands: Operation Barbarossa 1941–1942. Chatham: Allen, 2000. Print.