August 24: Signed in Moscow
–a Non–aggression treaty between Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, colloquially named after the Soviet and Nazi foreign ministers respectively.
Nominally freeing–up Germany’s eastern front, the pact justifiably sent shivers across Europe. Less than a week after the signing of the pact, Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1.
A secret protocol in the pact carved–up Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania into Russian and German spheres of influence, anticipating fairly imminent “territorial and political re–arrangements” of these countries. All these countries were subsequently invaded and/or intimidated into ceding territory. Of the group, only Finland was to stand up to all military and political moves against it, and remain an independent democracy.
Ultimately, the Nazi monster–state abrogated the pact, and invaded the Soviet monster–state in Operation Barbarossa, June 22, 1941. The world may have been shocked, but Stalin certainly was not.