HITLER-STALIN PACT(GERMAN-SOVIET NON-AGGRESSION TREATY)

TREATY AT A GLANCE

CompletedAugust 23, 1939, at Moscow

SignatoriesGermany and the Soviet Union

OverviewCulminating a period in which the Soviet Union concluded a seriesof nonaggression treaties with its neighbors, the German-Sovietnonaggression pact, apparently reconciling the two great ideologi-cal poles of world politics, sent shock waves across the globe, set-ting the stage for Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland and thebeginning of World War II.

Historical BackgroundAs Adolf Hitler came to dominate more and more ofEurope in the late 1930s, Stalin lost all desire to opposethis ideological antithesis of communism, especiallyafter the Great Powers' appeasement of Hitler atMunich. When Britain guaranteed Polish security,which meant that Hitler-facing the possibility of warfrom the West if he invaded Poland-now had a reasonfor treating with the USSR in the east, Stalin replacedhis Jewish and pro-Western foreign minister LitvinovWith Vyacheslav Molotov. Stalin approached Hitler,proposing and concluding a Nazi-Soviet nonaggressionpact, guaranteeing that neither nation would actagainst the other.

The pact stunned Stalin's apologists in the West,mostly intellectuals and others who forgave Stalin hisexcesses-the deadly consequences of forced collec-tivization of Soviet farmlands, the purges of 1936-38-because he was leader of the only ideology actively andaggressively opposed to fascism. Now, it seemed, Stalinhad shirked his historical duty and indeed had climbedinto bed with the enemy. In many ways, however,Stalin was merely following a Soviet foreign policy tra-ditional since the day Lenin formed the Soviet Unionin 1922: preach revolution, led by the USSR, and com-munist unity for the world at large, but work diplo-matically to further Russian expansion.

But it was not merely Western communists and fel-low travelers but virtually the whole world that reeled

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in shock that the vehemently anticommunist Germanyhad come to terms with the resolutely antifascist USSR.It was as if the scales had fallen away from eyesbeclouded since 1933 with the rise of Hitler and thebirth of the notion of appeasement. The truth was, ofcourse, that ideology was yielding to pragmaticmaneuver on the eve of World War II: Hitler sawnonaggression with the Soviet Union as a necessarypreliminary to attacking Poland. Stalin, having beenrebuffed in his attempt to achieve a working relation-ship with Britain and France, had no desire to be iso-lated in the war he knew would come. Made the arbiterof Europe by the British guarantee of Poland, he there-fore chose to wing a deal with the Nazis.

TermsUnlike the nonaggression treaties the Soviet Union hadsigned with other powers, this one went beyond themere declaration of nonaggression. It was associatedwith a trade agreement concluded a few days earlier, onAugust 19 (see TRADE AGREEMENTS BETWEEN THE SOYlET

UNION AND GERMANY), which effectively exchanged Ger-man industrial products for Soviet raw materials. Aspart of the August 23 treaty, a secret protocol providedfor a German-Soviet partition of Poland and clearedthe way for the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.

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534 ENCYCLOPEDIAOF HISTORICALTREATIESANDALLIANCES

The Government of the German ReichandThe Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist

RepublicsDesirous of strengthening the cause of peace

between Germany and the U.s.s.R., and proceedingfrom the fundamental provisions of the NeutralityAgreement concluded in April 1926 between Germanyand the U.S.S.R., have reached· the following Agree-ment:

Article IBoth High Contracting Parties obligate themselves todesist from any act of violence, any aggressive action,and any attack on each other, either individually orjointly with other Powers.

Article IIShould one of the High Contracting Parties becomethe object of belligerent action by a third Power, theother High Contracting Party shall in no manner lendits support to this third Power.

Article IIIThe Governments of the two High Contracting Partiesshall in the future maintain continual contact with oneanother for the purpose of consultation in order toexchange information on problems affecting theircommon interests.

Article IVNeither of the two High Contracting Parties shall par-ticipate in any grouping of Powers whatsoever that isdirectly or indirectly aimed at the other party.

Article VShould disputes or conflicts arise between the HighContracting Parties over problems of one kind oranother, both parties shall settle these disputes or con-flicts exclusively through friendly exchange of opinionor, if necessary, through the establishment of arbitra-tion commissions.

Article VIThe present Treaty is concluded for a period of tenyears, with the proviso that, .in so far as one of theHigh Contracting Parties does not denounce it oneyear prior to the expiration of this period, the validityof this Treaty shall automatically be extended foranother five years.

Article VIIThe present Treaty shall be ratified within the shortestpossible time. The ratifications shall be exchanged inBerlin. The Agreement shall enter into force as soon asit is signed.

Secret Additional ProtocolOn the occasion of the Signature of the NonaggressionPact between the German Reich and the Union ofSocialist Soviet Republics the undersigned plenipoten-tiaries of each of the two parties discussed in strictly

confidential conversations the question of the bound-ary of their respective spheres of influence in EasternEurope. These conversations led to the following con-clusions:

Article 1In the event of a territorial and political rearrangementin the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland,Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary ofLithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheresof influence of Germany and the U.S.s.R. In this con-nection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area isrecognized by each party.

Article 2In the event of a territorial and political rearrangementof the areas belonging to the Polish State the spheresof influence of Germany and the U.S.s.R. shall bebounded approximately by the line of the riversNarew, Vistula, and San.

The question of whether the interests of both par-ties make desirable the maintenance of an indepen-dent Polish State and how such a State should bebounded can only be definitely determined in thecourse of further political developments.

In any event both Governments will resolve thisquestion by means of a friendly agreement.

Article 3With regard to south-eastern Europe attention iscalled by the Soviet side to its interest in Bessarabia.The German side declares its complete political disin-terestedness in these areas.

Article 4This Protocol shall be treated by both parties as strictlysecret.

Moscow, August 23, 1939

For the Government of the German Reich:V RlBBENTROP

Plenipotentiary of the Government of the U.S.s.R.V MOLOTOV

ConsequencesThe nonaggression pact gave Hitler license to invadePoland, actively abetted by Soviet forces invading fromthe east, on September 1, 1939. Stalin also decided toincrease Soviet influence in the west by invading fin-land, which had been "lost" to mother Russia duringWorld War I, on November 30, 1939. This ignited ashort but costly war that resulted in securing Finland'ssurrender on March 12, 1940.

For the Soviet Union, the nonaggression treatyproved to be a pact made with the devil. On June 22,1941, Hitler's armies invaded Soviet territory, abrogat-ing the treaty and bringing to Stalin's people the worstdevastation they had ever known.