Interwar period: Why was the Soviet intelligence of the 1920s and 1930s distinct - Essay Example

Nineteenth century has been a period of civil wars, World War I and World War II. In World War I and World War II hostility among nations indulged them to know about each other’s weaknesses and strength and their intentions regarding prime parameters like political, economic and military dynamics and eventually formulate strategies and execute them to take over control and supremacy on them. Soviet Russia’s intelligence has played a significant role in analyzing the threats from other nations, however was often subject to substantial criticisms considering its unparalleled loyalty towards Joseph Stalin and the gruesome methods that it has followed.

The focus is on the analysis of Critical analysis of the Soviet intelligence and counterintelligence in the interwar period during 1920s and 1930s. Soviet Russian intelligence played a significant role in overestimating the external threats during 1920s, correctly judging during 1930s and also giving rise to the great terror in the interwar period. The present paper leads a critical evaluation of its role during 1920s and 1930s. 2. . The reason, which can be attributed to this, is that several officials and diplomats who were communist sympathizers and placed in important government posts in the countries like France, Poland and Japan delivered secret information about the political and military notion concerning Soviet Russia in those countries.

Bolshevik revolution can also be held partly responsible for the ushering of the idea of the threat from the capitalist world. It was developed from Lenin’s theory of imperialism, which stated that capitalist development and market led competition was the crux of wars between nations. In fact between the period of 1918 and 1921 Soviet Union of Russia did face the entrenchment from the coalition of the capitalist’s powers. At this background came into the forefront the emergence of the development of intelligence in the Soviet Russia.

The prime focus of the intelligence services was that of the assimilation of the information against the Russians. But the information inflow in to the Soviet Union created a biased belief guided by ideological sentiments that made Stalin recognize the anti-communist invasion by the capitalist world were more or less inevitable . But this very idea of Stalin was not actually true which is subjected to further analysis. The idea of the so called capitalist embolus can be accredited to the assimilation of information and evidence against the Soviets’ Union among the capitalist countries.

Three phases can be mentioned here as war scare of 1927, 1927-32 and 1934-35 (Harris, 2008, pp.512-515). 2.1 War scare of 1927 2.1.1 Influence of the civil war The Civil War (1918-1921) can be said to be the sowing seeds which germinated with the response of the Soviet Union in 1927. The