The historical and geographical significance of the Baltic Sea as a Russian gateway to the West has sometimes overshadowed its reciprocal significance as a German window on the East, but in the period after the First World War the Baltic was to become of critical importance to a German state then shorn of much international authority. This study shows in detail how the Weimar Republic sought to develop its economic influence in the newly independent Baltic states, to ensure the retention of a vital 'springboard' into Russia after 1918. At one level this book therefore presents a fresh chapter in the chronicle of Weimar–Soviet relations. In addition, however, Germany's highly successful trade policy involved competition with other Western powers, notably Britain, and necessarily had important implications for inter-war international politics: analysis of Polish and French diplomatic intentions in the region leads Dr Hiden to a wider evaluation of the whole relationship between trade and foreign policy in Weimar Ostpolitik.

‘This thoughtful, provocative study of Weimar Germany’s relations with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is an example of revisionist scholarship at its best. It does not simply challenge commonly held views but widens the scope of historical enquiry by introducing fresh evidence to support a reassessment of Weimar foreign policy’.

Source: Revue Canadienne des Slavistes

‘This long awaited book will appeal to all Baltic specialists. Here, at last, is a comprehensive study of an important chapter in the European politics of the 1920s’.

Source: Slavonic and East European Review

‘The book concerns the strategy and goals of Weimar foreign policy in an area which is eminently suitable for discussing the continuity of annexationist ambitions and at the same time the relations between Germany and the Soviet Union.’

Source: Sozial und Wirtschaftsgeschichte

‘John Hiden’s admirably clear and lucid account of Weimar Germany’s relationships with the Baltic states is the first of its kind … His book is highly recommended’.

Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement

‘The author writes from a broad perspective, basing his work on available German, British, French, Russian and Baltic sources and meticulously footnoting everything he states. A model study.’

Source: Choice

‘A significant contribution from a scholar with an imposing grasp of the complex international history of the interwar period.’

Source: Nyt Fra Historien

‘The book is one which no scholar of the subject, or more widely, of the debate about continuities in German policy or of the antecedents of Rapallo, will be able to overlook.’

Source: International Relations

‘Anybody wishing to inform himself fully about German policy towards the Baltic states from the end of the First World War until the outbreak of the World economic crisis, whilst focusing on the essential developments, at last has just the book to hand, with John Hiden’s thoughful, careful study, based on prolonged research and detailed knowledge of the sources.’

Source: Historische Zeitschrift

‘Dr Hiden’s pioneer study of relations between Weimar Germany and the Baltic states based on much little-used material in German and British archives throws new light on a neglected and misunderstood area.’

Source: History

‘The strength of the work lies in its skilful interweaving of political and economic issues with the fate of the German minority and the strong native nationalism which emerged in the Baltic states after the German occupation and exploitation of the war years and their aftermath. The book rightly treats the Weimar period as sui generis, and not as an aftermath of Wilhelmine Germany or as a prelude to Hitler, as so many other historians have done.’

Source: Cambridge Historical Journal

‘A study, which with its clear and at the same time carefully balanced argument, attracts the reader and leaves hardly any openings for the critic.’

Source: Jahrbücher für die Geschichte Osteuropas