Editing Anti-Comintern Pact (section)

=== Instability in France ===
The domestic situation in the [[French Third Republic]] was unstable. This provided the opportunity for France's rivals, especially Germany, to expand their influence, while at the same time weakening France's European partners, such as [[Poland]] and [[Czechoslovakia]].

The cabinet of [[Léon Blum]], supported by France's [[Popular Front (France)|popular front]], had taken the reins in June 1936. The social instability and political violence within France made the French government careful and ineffective in applying France's otherwise extensive diplomatic and military power.<ref name="Presseisen-1958">{{Cite book |last=Presseisen |first=Ernst L. |title=Germany and Japan: A Study in Totalitarian Diplomacy 1933–1941 |publisher=Springer-Science + Business Media |year=1958 |isbn=9789401765909 |location=Den Haag |doi=10.1007/978-94-017-6590-9}}</ref>{{Rp|88}} Hitler, who expected France's popular front to result in a situation similar to the Spanish Civil War, openly announced to the French ambassador on 6 October 1936 that a communist takeover in France would not be treated by Germany as a domestic affair.<ref name="Macmillan-1989">{{Cite book |title=Paths to War: New Essays on the Origins of the Second World War |publisher=Macmillan |year=1989 |isbn=9781349203338 |editor-last=Boyce |editor-first=Robert |location=Houndmills |editor-last2=Robertson |editor-first2=Esmonde M.}}</ref>{{Rp|150}}

In French foreign policy, the 1934 [[German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact]] had caused concerns about the stability of the French alliance system in eastern Europe, leading to a French realignment towards the Soviet Union that resulted in the 1936 [[Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance]].<ref name="Stratman-1970" />{{Rp|10}}