A Soviet-Nazi Alliance - The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact | BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1939 Part 2 of 3 - YouTube (1)
On August 23, 1939, the world is shocked when two sworn enemies sign a pact which promises
non-aggression between them in the event of war.
Named after the foreign ministers who sign it, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact guarantees
peace between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
But this is not the treaty's only provision.
A secret protocol is included, dividing Eastern Europe into "spheres of influence”.
It is the final thing Hitler needs to expand his conquest, and it seals the fate of not
only the unfortunate nations caught in between the two great powers, but the entire world.
Welcome to Between-2-Wars a chronological summary of the interwar years, covering all
facets of life, the uncertainty, hedonism, and euphoria, and ultimately humanity's
descent into the darkness of the Second World War.
I'm Indy Neidell.
Now, if you've been following the series, you'll know that the U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany
aren't exactly the best of friends.
They both promote ideologies- communism on one side and National Socialism on the other-
that have radically different visions of what the world should look like.
When Adolf Hitler comes to power in Germany in 1933, some of the first victims of Nazi
terror are communists.
Then the following year, the Soviets start pushing communist parties throughout the world
to ally themselves with more moderate parties in anti-fascist Popular Fronts.
And then in 1936 when civil war breaks out in Spain, both states fund opposing sides
to such an extent that it almost becomes a proxy war.
Throughout this, rabid denunciations are consistently pumped out by their propaganda machines.
So these enemies suddenly signing a Non-Aggression Pact comes seemingly out of nowhere, has no
precedent, and makes no sense, right?
Well, Soviet-German relations have always been more complicated than just two adversaries
battling it out and then suddenly not.
In fact, before Hitler comes to power, the two countries are actually moving closer.
In April 1922, German and Soviet diplomats establish relations between their respective
states for the first time and renounce all territorial and financial claims against each
other in the Treaty of Rapallo.
The two have faced isolation from the international community since the Great War, and their agreement
to “co-operate in a spirit of mutual goodwill” sends shockwaves throughout the world.
Many worry that Rapallo marks the beginning of a sinister collaboration between two powers
looking to upset the post-war order.1 If you've been watching this series for a while, you'll
understand that fear.
Germany is bitter about the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which place heavy restrictions
on military rearmament and has stripped territory from her.
On the other side, the Soviets want to re-establish the larger borders of the former Russian Empire,
trying- and failing- most notably in the Polish-Soviet War.
The “Rapallo relationship” is intended to work around all this, and a productive
relationship soon emerges.2 In fact, even before Rapallo is signed, the Soviet Union
is giving German industry and military space away from Allied eyes to secretly produce-
and even test- weapons of war like tanks, aircraft, and poison gas.
Continually fearful of a revolution back home, though, German leaders remain anti-communist,
and the relationship is always troubled one.
Still, a range of economic and legal agreements are concluded in 1925, and in 1926, the two
countries sign a Treaty of Friendship and Neutrality, which they then extend for another
five years in 1931.
But Hitler's rise to power in 1933 dramatically changes the picture.
He has made a career out of publicly and loudly bashing communism, in particular the so-called
"Judeo-Bolshevik" regime in Moscow.
In a 1923 speech, he screams "What is the Soviet star?
It's the symbol of a race which is about to take over power from Vladivostok to western
Europe…the rule of the Soviet star will only be a paradise for Jews, yet a slave colony
for all others".
He has also repeatedly called for Eastern Europe and Russia to be conquered as Lebensraum,
living-space, for the German nation- he looks down on the Slavic peoples in general too.
The anti-Soviet propaganda in what is now Nazi Germany is virulent.
But it doesn't immediately lead to a change in foreign policy.
In fact, in March 1933 Hitler announces that Germany's relationship with the Soviet Union
will not change and in May even re-ratifies the 1926 Treaty.
Nevertheless, continuous antagonistic speeches and propaganda campaigns soon lead to an inevitable
deterioration in relations.
Government officials do try to stem this, stressing Germany's need for the vital raw
materials the Soviet Union has, and as he becomes increasingly involved in managing
the economy, Hermann Göring, one of the most powerful men in Germany, takes a particularly
close interest.
In May 1936 he personally tells the Soviet Trade Mission in Berlin that he is prepared
to assist them in any way possible and even involves his own half-brother, Herbert Goering,
in trade negotiations.
In October that year, a memo is sent round to Foreign Office officials reminding them
that Soviet goods are needed now more than ever.
And then in August 1937, the German embassy in Moscow is told that the condemnation of
Soviet policy should not get in the way of trade policy.
On the other side, Hitler signs the anti-Comintern Pact with Japan in November 1936, and then
Italy in November 1938, agreeing to fight the global spread of communism.
The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War also then sees the opposing powers pitted against
each other, albeit indirectly through proxies, as I said.8 All this means that despite some
efforts to revive economic relations, the outcomes are mostly disappointing.
But meanwhile, Soviet Foreign policy has been taking a new direction.
Soviet Diplomats have slowly been coming round to the fact that the U.S.S.R. needs a more
productive relationship with the Western powers, and the increasingly aggressive rhetoric of
Nazi Germany only accelerates this.
The Soviets decide to adopt a policy of "collective security", a term you might recognize if you
saw our 1938 episode on Appeasement.
It's more or less the same concept here, a strategy of mutual defence to contain the
Nazi threat.
The People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, Maxim Litvinov, sums
up this policy already in December 1933: "it can scarcely be doubted that in the present
international situation no war, wherever it may break out, can be localized and no country
can be certain that it will not be drawn into the war once it has begun.
The Soviet Union therefore is interested not only in its own peaceful relations with other
states, but in the maintenance of peace generally."
With this in mind, Soviet diplomats begin a policy of rapprochement with the French
and even allow themselves to be persuaded to join the League of Nations in September
1934.
So the Soviets are pretty keen on collective security.
But if you've seen our episode on Appeasement, you'll know that Britain and France are
pretty bad at living up to these obligations.
This becomes obvious to the Soviets straight away.
Upon joining the League, they enter into collective security negotiations for Eastern Europe.
But this struggles to go anywhere, with Germany and Poland both demanding non-aggression pacts
over collective security.
To push things forward, Soviet leader Josef Stalin grants an audience to British Foreign
Secretary, Anthony Eden, when he is visiting Moscow in March 1935, something he rarely
does for non-communist politicians.
He explains to Eden:
“There are here in this room six people, imagine that between ourselves there is a
pact of mutual assistance and imagine that, for example, Comrade Maisky wanted to attack
one of us – what would happen?
We would all join forces to beat Comrade Maisky … It is the same with the countries of Eastern
Europe.”
Poor Maisky was probably left trembling at Josef Friggin' Stalin singling him out as
a potential enemy, but it fails to make much of an impact on Eden.
British support for the pact is not forthcoming, nor is there any from France.
The negotiations fall through.
Now, the Soviet's collective security policy does see some success in May 1935 when they
sign a treaty of mutual assistance with France.
But this is little more than a piece of paper, and the following years will see collective
security unravel as the Allies sink into the pattern of Appeasement.
France and Britain fail to do anything in the face of the Italian invasion of Abyssinia
in October 1935 and remain mostly passive in the face of Germany's remilitarisation
of the Rhineland during March 1936.
The Soviets are disappointed even more when the West adopt a policy of Non-Intervention
during the Spanish Civil War.
Most people put continual Anglo-French passivity down to war weariness and their weak economies.
But in Stalin's eyes, Appeasement has a much more sinister motive.
In his opinion, a Second World War already starts in July 1937 when Japan invades China.
At the 18th Party Congress in March 1939 he will tell the delegates that “A new imperialist
war is already in its second year…a war waged over a huge territory stretching from
Shanghai to Gibraltar and involving over five hundred million people.
The map of Europe, Africa, and Asia is being forcibly re-drawn.
The entire post-war system, the so-called regime of peace, has been shaken to its foundations”.
In Stalin's eyes, Allied Appeasement is not a means to avoid such a war, but to pull
the Soviet Union into one, where it will fight against Germany and Japan until all sides
are exhausted, and the capitalist democracies can dance in and claim victory.
Stalin assures his delegates that the Soviet Union will not be "drawn into conflicts by
warmongers who are accustomed to have others pull the chestnuts out of the fire for them”.
Now, as we will see in a minute, Stalin's foreign policy objectives are a bit more cynical
than simply wanting to keep himself out of an “imperialist war”, but, such a conspiratorial
mentality explains the Soviets behaviour during the Sudeten crisis months earlier in September
1938.
It matters little anyway.
The Great Powers meet at the Munich Conference without inviting Czechoslovakia or the U.S.S.R.
and agree that Germany can have the Sudetenland.
Czechoslovakia is pressured to accept the loss.
In March 1939, Hitler occupies the rest of Czechoslovakia, and it's clear that he now
has his sights on Poland.
Even politicians in the Weimar Era before him refused to accept Germany's eastern
borders and the existence of a Polish nation, and Hitler now sees his chance to restore
Germany to former size and secure Lebensraum.
The Allies finally abandon Appeasement and get serious about an alliance with the Soviets.
But by now the Soviet Union are totally cynical about Anglo-French intentions.
Litvinov is particularly suspicious, telling Maisky that he believes Britain and France
will abandon their newly aggressive stance if Hitler makes another peace gesture.
These suspicions are only confirmed when at the end of March, France and Britain jointly
guarantee Poland's independence without consulting the Soviets.
But this has actually put Stalin in a commanding position.
He now controls the European balance of power.
See, Germany is against a two-front war, so the Allied guarantee to Poland means that
Hitler has to ensure Soviet non-involvement before he can invade.
On the other side, with Germany sitting in the way, the Western powers don't actually
have any means to really help Poland and so need the U.S.S.R. to assist them if war does
break out.
The only question now is what side will Stalin take?
The Allies press hard for the Soviets to commit to a triple alliance.
Litvinov offers them a plan for one, but it has some pretty strict terms.
Not only does it require an all-encompassing war-fighting alliance, but it also asks for
a guarantee of all Eastern European states bordering the USSR and a British announcement
