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the
german surprise attack on russia reversed overnight the direction of
soviet foreign policy. the recent 揻riend?was now a deadly enemy,
while its enemies became the soviet union抯 allies in the common
struggle. many in the west equally sympathized with the newly
emerged force of resistance to the nazi scourge. on the day of the
undeclared assault by hitler on the soviet union, political and
public leaders in many countries voiced their support of the ussr.
british prime minister winston churchill pledged his country抯 firm
backing of the russian war effort. president franklin d. roosevelt
of the united states said that the american government was prepared
to provide necessary assistance. the soviet pact with hitler and the
manifest blemishes of stalin抯 regime were quickly forgotten,
replaced by the growing admiration for soviet military achievements.
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german conquests and allies in europe: 1941-42 (click
to enlarge)
obviously, the war did not resolve the contradictions that existed
between the ussr and its capitalist allies, such as britain and the
united states. but for the moment all differences receded in the
face of the fascist threat. motivated by the common resolve to
attain the full and unconditional defeat of nazi germany, the 揵ig
three?allied powers set about creating and consolidating the
antifascist coalition of states. one of the first steps was the
anglo-soviet agreement of 12 july 1941, pledging the two countries
to assist one another and to abstain from making any separate peace
with germany. the creation of the wartime coalition of the 揵ig
three?was finalized by the agreement on an anglo-soviet alliance of
26 may 1942 and the similar soviet-american agreement of 11 june
1942. more generally, the allies included all twenty-six signatories
to the declaration of the united nations of 1 january 1942 (the
number of signers would grow as the war went on).
the ussr played a key role in the antifascist coalition as the
country, which withstood the most powerful onslaught of the german
military machine and made a decisive contribution toward victory
over nazism.
