Treaty of Rapallo

The Treaty of Rapallo was signed at the Italian resort of Rapallo by Germany and Soviet Russia, represented by Walther Rathenau and Georgy Chicherin, during the Genoa Conference of 1922. By it the two countries restored diplomatic relations, renounced all claims against each other arising from the First World War, and promised cooperation in trade. It ended the isolation of both states, which were outsiders in the postwar order, and it alarmed Britain and France, who feared a German-Soviet alliance. Later, secret military cooperation followed, with German forces testing weapons and training on Soviet soil in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was succeeded by the Treaty of Berlin in 1926 and lost its significance after the Nazis took power.

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