The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: How the USSR and the Nazis Jointly Attacked Europe

What the Pact Was

August 23, 1939 — the foreign ministers of the USSR (Molotov) and Nazi Germany (Ribbentrop) signed a Non-Aggression Treaty in Moscow.

But the key element was the secret additional protocol, which divided Eastern Europe into “spheres of influence”:

USSR’s sphere: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (later), Eastern Poland (Western Ukraine and Belarus), Bessarabia (Moldova)

Germany’s sphere: Western Poland, Lithuania (initially)

Two totalitarian regimes agreed to divide Europe between themselves.

Consequences

Joint Attack on Poland

• September 1, 1939 — Germany attacked Poland (the start of World War II)
• September 17, 1939 — the USSR attacked Poland from the east
• Poland was destroyed by two aggressors simultaneously
• September 22, 1939 — a joint Soviet-German parade in Brest (Belarus): Guderian and Krivoshein reviewed the parade together

Resource Supplies to Hitler

After signing the pact, the USSR actively supplied Germany with strategic resources:

• Oil — for Wehrmacht tanks and aircraft
• Grain — for the army and population
• Metals — for the military industry
• Rubber — through Soviet territory from Asia

These supplies continued until June 22, 1941 — the day Germany attacked the USSR. The last trains carrying Soviet resources crossed the border just hours before the invasion began.

Occupation and Annexation

Taking advantage of the pact, the USSR:

• Occupied Western Ukraine and Belarus (September 1939)
• Attacked Finland (the Winter War, November 1939)
• Occupied and annexed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (June 1940)
• Occupied Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (June 1940)

Repressions in the Occupied Territories

In captured Western Ukraine, the NKVD immediately launched mass repressions:

• Arrests and deportations of “class enemies” — intellectuals, priests, officers
• The Katyn massacre (April 1940) — the execution of 22,000 Polish officers — the USSR blamed the Nazis for this crime for decades

”Buying Time” — A Myth

Russian propaganda claims: “Stalin signed the pact to buy time to prepare for war.”

Debunked:

• Stalin ignored dozens of intelligence warnings about Hitler’s attack
• The army was not ready for the attack on June 22, 1941 — precisely because Stalin believed in the pact
• The first months of the war were a catastrophe: millions captured, loss of enormous territories
• The “bought time” was used not for defense preparations, but for occupying neighboring countries

Conclusion

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was an alliance of two totalitarian regimes that jointly attacked Europe and divided it between themselves. The USSR was a co-aggressor in World War II — together with Nazi Germany. This was not a “forced step” — it was a deliberate choice in favor of territorial expansion at the expense of neighbors.