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that was in Soviet eyes in any case illusory in view of thelikelihood of another coalition against the revolutionaryrepublic of the proletariat.The treaty of Lausanne was both a complete reversalof previous international regulations governing theStraits, and a settlement that was as displeasing toTurkey as to the Soviet Union. By 1936 the internationaland internal position of both states had changedfundamentally. Germany was Nazi; Italy Fascist andbent on empire. France (by now in alliance with theU.S.S.R.) and Great Britain were ready enough to winTurkish and Soviet support by radical changes in theLausanne treaty. The result was the Montreux conventionof 1936 which still juridically governs the Straits.At the Montreux conference Turkey regained herfull right to the fortification of the Straits and theConstantinople district, while Litvinov in effect gainedwhat Izvolsky so resoundingly failed to obtain in 1908.Non-Black-Sea states were narrowly limited in thetonnage of light warships they could send through theStraits in time of peace, and they could not sendany large vessels, submarines, or aircraft carriers. Ifbelligerents, they were in most contingencies excludedaltogether. On the other hand, all types of Sovietwarships, except submarines and aircraft carriers, wereallowed through the Straits while non-belligerent: ifbelligerent, they were in most contingencies excluded.Turkey, if she were a belligerent or believed war involvingher to be imminent, was to act as she chose. As hadalways been the rule, commercial vessels, whether ofbelligerents or non-belligerents, were to enjoy freepassage, so long as Turkey herself was not at war.At present (June 1943) the Straits are closed to theUnited Nations though not to the Axis states. But thegreat fact stands out that this is due to Axis command ofthe AEgean not, as in the First World War, to the hostilityof Turkey. In addition to the treaty of Turkey withGreat Britain (October 1939), the great fact stands outthat this is the only war (save one) which Russia hasfought in the past two hundred and fifty years in whichTurkey has not been either fighting against her or atT—R.H. 289