Much is being made of the German-Soviet pact.  The USSR and Germany signed a
non-aggression pact as described by Mr Cooper.  Little known at the time and
within the agreement was the mutual carve-up of Poland if one or other
signatory invaded Poland.  The fact that Stalin signed this agreement is
directly because of the realities he faced: 1) the Czechs and Austrians had
already been steam-rollered by Hitler either by his forces or by
negotiation; 2) Britain and France were desperate for Stalin to sign up with
them against Hitler, but Stalin did not trust these old imperial nations and
was unsure whether they would, at some point in the future, sign a deal with
Hitler and then the Soviets would be left on a limb.  Stalin recognised his
isolation and potential military weakness in face of Hitler forces so his
options were fairly limited - pick a side, pick no side and trust to luck
that Hitler would not turn his attention to him, or cut a deal for some
temporary insurance. Stalin, Churchill and all the other countries not yet
engaged with Hitler could see the writing on the wall - it was a matter of
working some way out of full-scale war.

The ink was hardly dry on the agreement (Aug 23rd) before Hitler invaded
Poland on Sept 1st.  Russia did not invade until Sept 17th - so this was no
co-ordinated invasion, rather Hitler played Stalin and the clause in the
agreement forced Stalins hand to action.  With the move into Poland, Stalin
may have been looking at keeping a buffer of territory between Russia proper
and the German forces.

Cheers

Richard

--------------------

Sounds like you are agreeing with me in that this was a marriage of
convenience between the Nazi's and the USSR.

Stalin agreed with Hitler that the Democracies were 'weak' and was
entertaining the idea that he had a 'buddy' of sorts with Hitler. and
that the NAP part of the Comintern pact wwould protect him.

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *