qnli question: Why did the Soviet government fear the governments of France and Britain? sentence: The Soviet Union, which feared Western powers and the possibility of "capitalist encirclements", had little faith either that war could be avoided, or faith in the Polish army, and wanted nothing less than an ironclad military alliance with France and Britain that would provide a guaranteed support for a two-pronged attack on Germany; thus, Stalin's adherence to the collective security line was purely conditional.