The Nazi Soviet Pact

1. The Nazi-Soviet Pact
By: Alina Claps, Agustín Bravo,
Agustín Reynal and Juan
Stordeur.

2. How can we relate the Treaty of Versailles?
The Treaty of Versailles was before Hitler came to
power after WW1.
When he got to power all he wanted was revenge
for such an unfair treaty, and one by one he
dismissed the treaty's terms.
The Treaty took German territory, what was known
as the "Polish corridor", giving Poland access to the
sea and dividing Germany into two.

3. Hitler’s actions
First Hitler proposed what is known as the Nazi-Soviet
Pact to Stalin, agreeing not to attack each other, and
privately they agreed to divide Poland into two, giving
him the perfect excuse to invade.
The pact was Hitler's master stroke, he had promised
many things to the Russians, but did not intend to keep
his word. Stalin suspected this, but was sure he could
only gain from a long war in which Britain, France and
Germany exhausted themselves.
This cartoon illustrates the relation between Stalin and
Hitler, they pretend to like each other. They both wear guns
and military uniforms, and we can see Germany's arms in
the background.

4. Poland’s invasion
Hitler invaded Poland. First the German army invaded
Poland from the west, and then the USSR from the
east. Poland soon fell.
Hitler's next move in mind was an attack on the
USSR, because he was sure Britain and France
would not go to war over Poland, but he was
mistaken, on September the 3rd Britain and France
declared war on Germany.
“The pact left Britain and France to fight
Germany alone. Hitler did not really believe
they would go to war over Poland, but almost
had second thoughts when Britain's reaction
to the Pact was the signing of a formal alliance
with Poland on 25 August 1939. This time
Britain and France would not be able to back
down ... But the Anglo-Polish alliance did not
change anything. It only took a few days for
Hitler to recover his nerve and order that
Poland be invaded on 1 September”
Nigel Kelly and Greg Lacey, Modern World
History (2001)

5. Britain and France’s roles in the conflict
Britain and France knew that Hitler would go after
Poland, Russia did too and called a meeting with
the other two countries to make an alliance to
protect Poland, knowing that Hitler would not go for
Poland having them as backup. France agreed with
Stalin, although she did not like a communist
Russia, Britain however was too far away to help
and had a small army.
An alliance was never made, and instead Stalin
signed the Nazi Soviet Pact with Hitler.
B. Ulam, the author of Stalin: The Man and his Era (2007) has
argued:
"Soviet diplomacy sought (in a much more realistic way
than that of Britain and France) to avoid war. To do Stalin
justice, he never made a secret greater than his desire to
avoid war, or more precisely to avoid Russia's military
involvement in one."
Stalin wanted to avoid war, that is way he made the pact with
Germany, hoping giving her what she wanted would avoid a
war, she was wrong.

6. Video
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=baQz1581I20