Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance
| Events leading to World War II |
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The Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance was a 1935 bilateral treaty between France and the Soviet Union with the aim of enveloping Nazi Germany and reduce the military threat from Central Europe. It was pursued by Maxim Litvinov, the Soviet foreign minister, and Louis Barthou, the French foreign minister, who was assassinated in October 1934, before negotiations had been finished.
His successor, Pierre Laval, was sceptical of the desirability and of the value of an alliance with the Soviet Union. However, after the declaration of German rearmament in March 1935, the French government forced the reluctant foreign minister to complete the arrangements with Moscow that Barthou had begun.