ipl-logo

The Pros And Cons Of The Non-Aggression Pact

979 Words4 Pages

Most of Europe was aware of the singing of the Non-Aggression Pact. However, what they did not realize, was that there was a secret pact established between both nations. This secret pact was utilized to help persuade the Soviet Union into signing the pact in which Germany bargained imperialistic ambitions that the Soviets had. The Soviet Union ended up singing the Non-Aggression pact because Germany promised that the Soviets could take back lost land from previous years such as the Balkan States as well as take half of Poland once it is conquered. Stalin then invaded Poland in September 17 1939, two weeks after the Germans Blitzkrieg had started from the west. The conquering aspect of Poland was fairly easy. The Polish air force was no match …show more content…

Lee states: “ (...) the pact was not necessary for Russia.” Laqueur, an American historian, argue that “it should not be assumed that without the pact Germany would have attacked Russia.” During 1939 Stalin focused on the Balkan States. In the end of 1939, Stalin launched about 20 Soviet divisions against 15 Finish. However, the Soviets experienced humiliating casualties before they were actually successful in taking the land in the beginning of 1940. From 1940 and the first half of 1941, the relationship between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany was becoming evidently worse. Hitler, expressed his view on the Winter War (the attack launched against the Finish) and regarded it “entirely unnecessary”. In fact they made their opinions even more clear when they actually sympathized with the Finnish and ended up allying with them. Obviously Stalin was very displeased and kept adding pressure on Hitler to expand further …show more content…

He believed that if he did contact them it would divert German troops eastwards. This obviously was proven to be incorrect since Hitler was already planning on focusing his troops towards the East in an attempt to take Russia. Stalin also made the mistake in putting too much faith the in the diplomatic aspect of the pact, believing that if tensions were to rise between both nations, Hitler would inform Stalin the breaking of the pact before war, in which Stalin would be able to take the appropriate methods to prepare for war. Finally, Stalin remained fairly ignorant to the warning signs given to him by Russian spies about the Nazi plans as well as the deteriorating relations between both nations. According to Churchill Stalin proved to be “the most completely outwitted bungler of the Second World

Open Document