Download The Nazi – Soviet Pact

The Nazi – Soviet NonAggression Pact
August 23, 1939
Background
• In 1939, Hitler was preparing for war. Though he
was hoping to acquire Poland without force (as
he had annexed Austria the year before), Hitler
was planning against the possibility of a two
front war.
• Since fighting a two front war in World War I had
split Germany's forces, it had weakened and
undermined their offensive; thus, played a large
role in Germany losing the First World War.
• Hitler was determined not to repeat the same
mistakes. So, he planned ahead and made a
pact with the Soviets - the Nazi-Soviet NonAggression Pact.
• In the 1930s Joseph Stalin became
increasingly concerned that the Soviet
Union would be invaded by Germany.
Stalin believed the best way to of dealing
with Germany was to form an anti-fascist
alliance with countries in the west.
• Stalin argued that even Adolph Hitler
would not start a war against a united
Europe.
• Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister,
was not enthusiastic about forming an alliance
with the Soviet Union. He wrote to a friend: "I
must confess to the most profound distrust of
Russia. I have no belief whatever in her ability to
maintain an effective offensive, even if she
wanted to. And I distrust her motives, which
seem to me to have little connection with our
ideas of liberty, and to be concerned only with
getting everyone else by the ears."
• Winston Churchill, an outspoken critic of British
foreign policy, agreed with Joseph Stalin:
• "There is no means of maintaining an eastern
front against Nazi aggression without the active
aid of Russia. Russian interests are deeply
concerned in preventing Herr Hitler's designs on
eastern Europe. It should still be possible to
range all the States and peoples from the Baltic
to the Black sea in one solid front against a new
outrage of invasion. Such a front, if established
in good heart, and with resolute and efficient
military arrangements, combined with the
strength of the Western Powers, may yet
confront Hitler, Goering, Himmler, Ribbentrop,
Goebbels and co. with forces the German
people would be reluctant to challenge."
• Stalin's own interpretation of Britain's rejection of
his plan for an antifascist alliance, was that they
were involved in a plot with Germany against the
Soviet Union.
• This belief was reinforced when Neville
Chamberlain met with Adolph Hitler at Munich in
September, 1938, and gave into his demands
for the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia.
• Joseph Stalin now believed that the main
objective of British foreign policy was to
encourage Germany to head east rather than
west.
David Low, What, no chair for me? (30th September, 1938)
Russian cartoon about
Munich: Chamberlain and
Daladier act as traffic
policemen; the sign-post
reads 'Left - Western
Europe, Right - USSR'
• Stalin realized that war with Germany was
inevitable. However, to have any chance of
victory he needed time to build up his armed
forces.
• The only way he could obtain time was to do a
deal with Hitler. Stalin was convinced that Hitler
would not be foolish enough to fight a war on
two fronts. If he could persuade Hitler to sign a
peace treaty with the Soviet Union, Germany
was likely to invade Western Europe instead.
• Stalin was also concerned about Japan invading
from Manchuria
• On August 14, 1939, German Foreign
Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop
contacted the Soviets to arrange a deal.
• Ribbentrop met with the Soviet Foreign
Minister Vyacheslav Molotov in Moscow
and together they arranged two pacts - the
economic agreement and the Nazi-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact.
The Economic Agreement
• The first pact was an economic agreement,
which Ribbentrop and Molotov signed on August
19, 1939.
• The economic agreement committed the Soviet
Union to provide food products as well as raw
materials to Germany in exchange for furnished
products such as machinery from Germany.
• During the first years of the war, this economic
agreement helped Germany bypass the British
blockade.
• On August 23, 1939, four days after the economic
agreement was signed and a little over a week before
the beginning of World War II, Ribbentrop and Molotov
signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact.
• (The pact is also referred to as the German-Soviet NonAggression Pact and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.)
• Publicly, this agreement stated that the two countries Germany and the Soviet Union - would not attack each
other. If there were ever a problem between the two
countries, it was to be handled amicably.
• The pact was supposed to last for ten years; it lasted for
less than two.
• What was meant by the terms of the pact was
that if Germany attacked Poland, then the Soviet
Union would not come to its aid.
• So, if Germany went to war against the West
(especially France and Great Britain) over
Poland, the Soviets were guaranteeing that they
would not enter the war, not opening a second
front for Germany.
• In addition to this agreement, Ribbentrop and
Molotov added a secret protocol onto the pact a secret addendum whose existence was denied
by the Soviets until 1989.
The Secret Protocol
• The secret protocol held an agreement between
the Nazis and Soviets that greatly affected
Eastern Europe.
• For the Soviets for agreeing to not join the
possible future war, Germany was giving the
Soviets the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and
Lithuania).
• Poland was also to be divided between the two along the Narew, Vistula, and San rivers.
• The new territories gave the Soviet Union the
buffer (in land) that it wanted to feel safe from an
invasion from the West. It would need that buffer
in 1941.
Impacts of the Pact
• When the Nazis attacked Poland in the morning on
September 1, 1939, the Soviets stood by and watched.
Two days later, the British declared war on Germany and
World War II had begun.
• On September 17, the Soviets rolled into eastern Poland
to occupy their "sphere of influence" designated in the
secret protocol.
• Because of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, the
Soviets did not join the fight against Germany, thus
Germany was successful it its attempt to safeguard itself
from a two-front war.
• The Nazis and the Soviets kept the terms of the pact and
the protocol until Germany's surprise attack and invasion
of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941.