This is an account of the diplomatic relations and military steps that led to the absorption of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the USSR. Making use of recently-opened archival sources, the author traces the Baltic States" relations with one another and with the Great Powers, in particular Hitler"s Germany and Stalin"s Soviet Union, from 1917 to 1940. He offers a detailed analysis of the diplomatic manoeuvring that marked Europe"s collective slide toward war and resulted in the loss of Baltic sovereignty for the next half-century.