80: Pact (Part 1)

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Russian: Договор о ненападении между Германией и Союзом Советских Социалистических Республик) and (German: Nichtangriffsvertrag zwischen Deutschland und der Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken)

Signed:  August 23, 1939 (80 Years Ago)

Location:  Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union

Expiration: August 23, 1949 (planned)     June 22, 1941 (terminated)   July 30, 1941 (officially declared null and void)

Signatories:  Soviet Union and Nazi Germany

Languages: German and Russian

Events leading to World War II:

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact,  officially known as the Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939 by foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, respectively.  The clauses of the Nazi–Soviet Pact provided a written guarantee of peace by each party towards the other, and a declared commitment that neither government would ally itself to, or aid an enemy of the other party. In addition to stipulations of non-aggression, the treaty included a secret protocol that defined the borders of Soviet and German "spheres of influence" in the event of possible rearrangement of the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. The secret protocol also recognized the interest of Lithuania in the Vilno region; in addition, Germany declared complete disinterest in Bessarabia. The Secret Protocol was just a rumor until it was made public at the Nuremberg trials.

Thereafter, Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet invasion of Poland on September 17, one day after a Soviet–Japanese ceasefire at the Khalkhin Gol came into effect. After the invasion, the new border between the two powers was confirmed by the supplementary protocol of the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty. In March 1940, parts of the Karelia and Salla regions in Finland were annexed by the Soviet Union after the Winter War. This was followed by Soviet annexations of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Romania (Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertza region). Advertised concern about ethnic Ukrainians and Belarusians had been proffered as justification for the Soviet invasion of Poland. Stalin's invasion of Bukovina in 1940 violated the pact, as it went beyond the Soviet sphere of influence agreed with the Axis.

The territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union after the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland (east to the Curzon Line) remained in the USSR at the end of World War II, and currently are parts of Ukraine and Belarus. The former Polish Vilno region is currently a part of Lithuania, and the city of Vilnius is its capital. Only the region around Białystok and a small part of Galicia east of the San river around Przemyśl were returned to the Polish state. Of all other territories annexed by the USSR in 1939–40, the ones detached from Finland (Western Karelia, Petsamo), Estonia (Estonian Ingria and Petseri County) and Latvia (Abrene) remain part of the Russian Federation, the successor state of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The territories annexed from Romania had also been integrated into the Soviet Union (as the Moldavian SSR, or oblasts of the Ukrainian SSR); nowadays, the core of Bessarabia forms Moldova, while the northern part of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and Hertza form the Chernivtsi Oblast of Ukraine, and Southern Bessarabia is part of the Odessa Oblast, also in Ukraine.

The Pact was terminated on June 22, 1941, when the Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa and invaded the Soviet Union (thus as well executing the ideological goal of Lebensraum). After the war, von Ribbentrop was convicted of war crimes and executed. Molotov died aged 96 in 1986, five years before the USSR's dissolution. Soon after World War II, the German copy of the secret protocol was found in Nazi archives and published in the West, but the Soviet government denied its existence until 1989, when it was finally acknowledged and denounced. Vladimir Putin, while condemning the pact as "immoral", has also defended the pact as a "necessary evil",  a U-turn following his earlier condemnation.

Background:

The outcome of World War I was disastrous for both the German Reich and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. During the war, the Bolsheviks struggled for survival, and Vladimir Lenin recognised the independence of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Moreover, facing a German military advance, Lenin and Trotsky were forced to enter into the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ceded massive western Russian territories to the German Empire. After Germany's collapse, a multinational Allied-led army intervened in the Russian Civil War (1917–22). On April 16, 1922, Germany and the Soviet Union entered the Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which they renounced territorial and financial claims against each other.  Each party further pledged neutrality in the event of an attack against the other with the 1926 Treaty of Berlin. While trade between the two countries fell sharply after World War I, trade agreements signed in the mid-1920s helped to increase trade to 433 million Reichsmarks per year by 1927.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the Nazi Party's rise to power increased tensions between Germany and the Soviet Union along with other countries with ethnic Slavs, who were considered "Untermenschen" (inferior) according to Nazi racial ideology.  Moreover, the anti-Semitic Nazis associated ethnic Jews with both communism and financial capitalism, both of which they opposed.  Nazi theory held that Slavs in the Soviet Union were being ruled by "Jewish Bolshevik" masters. In 1934, Hitler himself had spoken of an inescapable battle against both Pan-Slavism and Neo-Slavism, the victory in which would lead to "permanent mastery of the world", though he stated that they would "walk part of the road with the Russians, if that will help us."  The resulting manifestation of German anti-Bolshevism and an increase in Soviet foreign debts caused German–Soviet trade to dramatically decline.[c] Imports of Soviet goods to Germany fell to 223 million Reichsmarks in 1934 as the more isolationist Stalinist regime asserted power and the abandonment of post–World War I Treaty of Versailles military controls decreased Germany's reliance on Soviet imports.  In 1936, Germany and Fascist Italy supported Spanish Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, while the Soviets supported the partially socialist-led Second Spanish Republic. Thus the Spanish Civil War became a proxy war between Germany and the USSR. In 1936, Germany and Japan entered the Anti-Comintern Pact, and were joined a year later by Italy.  On March 31, 1939, Great Britain extended a guarantee to Poland, "if any action clearly threatened Polish independence, and if the Poles felt it vital to resist such action by force, Britain would come to their aid." Hitler was furious by this. It meant that the British were committed to political interests in Europe and that Hitler's land grabs such as the takeover of Czechoslovakia would not be taken lightly anymore. Hitler's response to the political checkmate would later be heard at a rally in Wilhelmshaven, "No power on earth would be able to break German might, and if the Western Allies thought Germany would stand by while they marshaled their "satellite states" to act in their interests, then they were sorely mistaken." Ultimately, Hitler's discontent with a British-Pole alliance lead to a restructuring of strategy towards Moscow. Alfred Rosenberg wrote that he had spoken to Hermann Goering of this potential alliance with Russia, "When Germany's life is at stake, even a temporary alliance with Moscow must be contemplated." Sometime in early May 1939 while at the infamous Berghof, Ribbentrop showed Hitler a film of Stalin viewing his military in a recent parade. Hitler became intrigued with the idea and Ribbentrop recalled Hitler saying that Stalin "looked like a man he could do business with." Thereafter, Joachim von Ribbentrop was given the nod to pursue negotiations with Moscow.

August Negotiations:

In early August, Germany and the Soviet Union worked out the last details of their economic deal, and started to discuss a political alliance. They explained to each other the reasons for their foreign policy hostility in the 1930s, finding common ground in the anti-capitalism[clarification needed] of both countries.  At the same time, British, French, and Soviet negotiators scheduled three-party talks on military matters to occur in Moscow in August 1939, aiming to define what the agreement would specify should be the reaction of the three powers to a German attack.  The tripartite military talks, started in mid-August, hit a sticking point regarding the passage of Soviet troops through Poland if Germans attacked, and the parties waited as British and French officials overseas pressured Polish officials to agree to such terms. Polish officials refused to allow Soviet troops into Polish territory if Germany attacked; Polish foreign minister Józef Beck pointed out that the Polish government feared that once the Red Army entered their territory, it might never leave. On August 19, the 1939 German–Soviet Commercial Agreement was finally signed. On August 21, the Soviets suspended the tripartite military talks, citing other reasons. That same day, Stalin received assurance that Germany would approve secret protocols to the proposed non-aggression pact that would place half of Poland (east of the Vistula river), Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Bessarabia in the Soviets' sphere of influence. That night, Stalin replied that the Soviets were willing to sign the pact and that he would receive Ribbentrop on August 23.

News Leaks:

On August 25, 1939, the New York Times ran a page-one story by Otto D. Tolischus called "Nazi Talks Secret" whose subtitle included "Soviet and Reich Agree on East." On August 26, 1939, the Times report Japanese anger and French Communist surprise over the pact. The same day, however, Tolischus filed a story that noted Nazi troops on the move near Gleiwitz (now Gliwice)—which led to the false flag Gleiwitz incident on August 31, 1939. On August 28, 1939, the Times was still reporting on fears of a Gleiwitz raid.[99] On August 29, 1939, the Times reported that the Supreme Soviet had failed on its first day of convening to act on the pact. On the same day, the Times also reported from Montreal, Canada, that American professor Samuel N. Harper of the University of Chicago had stated publicly his belief that "the Russo-German non-aggression pact conceals an agreement whereby Russia and Germany may have planned spheres of influence for Eastern Europe. “On August 30, 1939, the Times reported a Soviet build-up on its Western frontiers by moving 200,000 troops from the Far East.

The Secret Protocol:

On August 22, one day after the talks broke down with France and Britain, Moscow revealed that Ribbentrop would visit Stalin the next day. This happened while the Soviets were still negotiating with the British and French missions in Moscow. With the Western nations unwilling to accede to Soviet demands, Stalin instead entered a secret Nazi–Soviet pact. On August 23 a 10-year non-aggression pact was signed with provisions that included: consultation, arbitration if either party disagreed, neutrality if either went to war against a third power, no membership of a group "which is directly or indirectly aimed at the other". The article "On Soviet–German Relations" in the Soviet newspaper Izvestia of August 21, 1939, stated: “Following completion of the Soviet–German trade and credit agreement, there has arisen the question of improving political links between Germany and the USSR.”

There was also a secret protocol to the pact, revealed only after Germany's defeat in 1945,  although hints about its provisions were leaked much earlier, e.g., to influence Lithuania. According to the protocol, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".  In the north, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere. Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its "political rearrangement": the areas east of the Pisa, Narev, Vistula and San rivers would go to the Soviet Union, while Germany would occupy the west. Lithuania, adjacent to East Prussia, would be in the German sphere of influence, although a second secret protocol agreed to in September 1939 reassigned the majority of Lithuania to the USSR. According to the protocol, Lithuania would be granted its historical capital Vilnius, which was under Polish control during the inter-war period. Another clause of the treaty stipulated that Germany would not interfere with the Soviet Union's actions towards Bessarabia, then part of Romania; as a result, not only Bessarabia, but Northern Bukovina and Hertza regions too, were occupied by the Soviets, and integrated into the Soviet Union.  At the signing, Ribbentrop and Stalin enjoyed warm conversations, exchanged toasts and further addressed the prior hostilities between the countries in the 1930s. They characterized Britain as always attempting to disrupt Soviet–German relations, stated that the Anti-Comintern pact was not aimed at the Soviet Union, but actually aimed at Western democracies and "frightened principally the City of London [i.e., the British financiers] and the English shopkeepers".

Protocol Revelation:

On August 24, Pravda and Izvestia carried news of the non-secret portions of the Pact, complete with the now infamous front-page picture of Molotov signing the treaty, with a smiling Stalin looking on. The news was met with utter shock and surprise by government leaders and media worldwide, most of whom were aware only of the British–French–Soviet negotiations that had taken place for months. The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was received with shock by Nazi Germany's allies, notably Japan, by the Comintern and foreign communist parties, and by Jewish communities all around the world. The same day, German diplomat Hans von Herwarth (whose grandmother was Jewish) informed Guido Relli, an Italian diplomat, and American chargé d'affaires Charles Bohlen on the secret protocol regarding vital interests in the countries' allotted "spheres of influence", without revealing the annexation rights for "territorial and political rearrangement". Time Magazine repeatedly referred to the Pact as the "Communazi Pact" and its participants as "communazis" until April 1941.  Soviet propaganda and representatives went to great lengths to minimize the importance of the fact that they had opposed and fought against the Nazis in various ways for a decade prior to signing the Pact. Upon signing the pact, Molotov tried to reassure the Germans of his good intentions by commenting to journalists that "fascism is a matter of taste". For its part, Nazi Germany also did a public volte-face regarding its virulent opposition to the Soviet Union, though Hitler still viewed an attack on the Soviet Union as "inevitable"Concerns over the possible existence of a secret protocol were first expressed by the intelligence organizations of the Baltic statesscant days after the pact was signed. Speculation grew stronger when Soviet negotiators referred to its content during negotiations for military bases in those countries (see occupation of the Baltic States).  The day after the Pact was signed, the French and British military negotiation delegation urgently requested a meeting with Soviet military negotiator Kliment Voroshilov. On August 25, Voroshilov told them "[i]n view of the changed political situation, no useful purpose can be served in continuing the conversation." That day, Hitler told the British ambassador to Berlin that the pact with the Soviets prevented Germany from facing a two front war, changing the strategic situation from that in World War I, and that Britain should accept his demands regarding Poland. On August 25, surprising Hitler, Britain entered into a defense pact with Poland. Consequently, Hitler postponed his planned August 26 invasion of Poland to September 1.In accordance with the defense pact, Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov–Ribbentrop_Pact