Nazi-Soviet Pact
Throughout the summer of 1939, Britain and France had attempted to reach an agreement with Stalin. However, these talks failed for a number of reasons:
- the Soviets were suspicious of Britain and France
- the USSR has been left out of the Munich AgreementAgreement between Chamberlain and Hitler in September 1938 that Germany would not take over any more independent countries.
- since then, the USSR believed that the Western powers were trying to encourage Hitler to head eastwards
- Chamberlain was suspicious of the Communists' intentions
- He also questioned the effectiveness of the Red ArmyArmy of the USSR.
- 厂迟补濒颈苍鈥檚
purges
of the armed forces had led to the imprisonment or execution of many of its best officers
August 1939
The British sent a naval admiral to the USSR to lead talks in August 1939. The Soviets noted that it was not a Government minister. They demanded that in event of a conflict, they should be able to enter Polish or Romanian territory.
The Poles refused to allow Soviet troops on to Polish soil. This was the major stumbling block. This drew the Soviet leader towards Hitler's offer of security.
German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop met with the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov in Moscow. On 23 August 1939 they agreed a Non-Aggression Pact between their two countries.
This ended any chance of the USSR siding with the British and French in 1939. This was a major success for Hitler and it allowed him to begin the attack on Poland.
It also allowed the USSR the time to build up their military strength. Furthermore, Stalin saw both the liberal capitalist states (like Britain and France) and the fascist dictatorships (like Germany and Italy) as potential enemies.
Through the pact he thought to play them off against each other by giving Hitler a free hand to invade Poland and go to war against its Western allies without intervention by the Soviet Union.
We are not opposed to war [between Germany and the Western states] if they have a good fight and weaken each other
The Pact also had secret clauses. These allowed the USSR to occupy part of Poland after the German attack. It also allowed the Soviets to occupy Latvia and Estonia.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact came as a shock to many who could not believe that the two bitter enemies could reach an agreement.
In August 1939, Russia made a pact with Germany, agreeing not to go to war with each other and to split Poland between them.