In 1939, Europe was on the brink of war. The First World War and its reparations led to an economically and politically unstable Germany, which however, after two decades, was once again rising to a powerful position in Europe. With Hitler’s powerful German Army, strategic treaties with Italy and Japan, and his hunger for territorial expansion or lebensraum (“living space”) as Hitler called it, a war was looming over Europe. This was clear to the rest of Europe, so the western democracies attempted to prevent the outbreak of war by appeasing Hitler and ease his desire for land with the Munich conference in the end of September of 1938. The Munich conference allowed for Hitler to annex only the Sudetenland of Austria. This left the country weak and powerless against subsequent German occupation. Hitler, apathetic to the policy of the Munich conference, decided to occupy the remainder of Austria. In response to Hitler’s defiance of the Munich agreement by occupying Austria, Britain guaranteed Polish independence with the Anglo-Polish military alliance. Hitler feared a two-front war with Britain and Russia if he invaded Poland so he addressed the idea of establishing mutual nonaggression with Russia, which would eliminate the likelihood for a western front against Russia following a German invasion of Poland. Hitler sent Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop to Moscow on August 23, 1939 to meet Stalin and Foreign Minister Molotov to discuss a possible political deal. That same day, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed. The pact established a state of non-aggression between the two countries, removing a possible Soviet front for Hitler. Hitler only needed non-aggression with Russia until Poland was defeated, then he could invade Russia. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact became a dead letter on June 22, 1941, almost two years after its signing, when Germany betrayed Stalin by commencing Operation Barbarossa and invading Russia. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, to a large extent, led to the outbreak and extended the duration of World War II. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact led to the outbreak of World War II because it allowed Hitler to invade Poland without a Soviet front to the east. The German-Soviet credit agreement, part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, allowed for the outbreak of World War II by eliminating Hitler’s fears of a British blockade and increased arms growth for both of the countries. The German-Soviet credit agreement lengthened the duration of the war because it allowed Hitler to bypass the German blockade—which prevented supplies from being shipped to Germany because of British Naval occupation of the shipping channels surrounding the Germany—and continue wartime production, preventing an early defeat.
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By May of 1939, both Hitler and Stalin began to see the benefits of peace between their two countries. Both dictators, as Stalin put it, had a “common desire to get rid of the old equilibrium”. Hitler and Stalin each had a vested interest in the destruction of all capitalist nations. Both wanted to replace the capitalist system in Europe. Stalin wanted to replace the political ideology with Stalinism, and for Hitler, Nazism, which did have many similarities at their core. Both ideologies had a very totalitarian aspect when implemented in each country.
The signing of the Non-Aggression Pact had different and common motives for each dictator. For Stalin, non-aggression meant an opportunity for him to grow his Red Army without fear of German invasion. Stalin also saw the pact as a way to destroy Capitalist Europe. Stalin knew that the British and French were unlikely to intervene in eastern Europe if Hitler attacked Poland. Stalin decided it was best to come to terms with Hitler and watch the Germans fight with the capitalist powers in Europe. Stalin’s plan was to “destroy the enemies by their own hands, and remain strong to the end of the war” Stalin believed it would be fine if, at the expense of Germany, the power of the capitalist countries was reduced. Although Stalin often flatly denied any possibility of a German invasion of the Soviet Union when mentioned, some arguments have been made that Stalin used the Non-Aggression pact as a stall tactic against a pending German invasion that he knew about. There is some truth to that argument. Stalin did use the pact to grow his Red Army in the years before a German invasion, but it is difficult to argue that this was strategically motivated under fear of attack by Germany. “He told himself and others that the warnings of an imminent attack were British propaganda, designed to divide Berlin and Moscow despite their manifest common interest.” Throughout the war, even up to when news of Operation Barbarossa—the German invasion of the Soviet Union following invasion of Poland—got to Stalin, he strongly denied any evidence pointing towards an attack against the Soviet Union. It is not likely that fear of attack by Germany was of any motivation for him to sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact since he was seen so often ignoring and denying claims of an imminent invasion.
For Hitler, the motivation to propose and sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact came directly from his desire to attack Poland. Hitler knew that if he invaded Poland, he would face war in the west from Britain and France. To avoid Russia getting involved and a two-front war for the beginning of World War II, Hitler proposed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact to Stalin. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact also included an economic treaty which neutralized a British blockade by establishing an exchange of German technology for Russian raw materials like food and industrial materials. Russian raw material reserves proved to be very valuable to Germany in wartime preparation and production.
Both Hitler and Stalin shared the mutual motive of aspiration for the eventual destruction of Poland with the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. Hitler saw Poland as the “unreal creation” of the Treaty of Versailles, Molotov as its “ugly offspring”. Each side would benefit from the secret protocols enclosed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. The secret protocol divided up eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. Finland, Estonia, Bessarabia, and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere and Lithuania to the Germans; Poland was partitioned into German and Soviet spheres of influence. This allowed for Stalin to expand into Finland and the Baltic states with German agreement.
The German-Soviet credit agreement increased Hitler’s and Stalin’s war starting capability by increasing arms production for both of the countries, eliminating Hitler’s fear of a British blockade, and increased the duration of the war by providing economic and trade security for Germany in time of war. Although the German-Soviet credit agreement is technically different from the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, it is often treated as part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact because negotiations for each overlapped and only 3 days separated their signings. Hitler, after realizing an economic deal with Britain and an autarchic economic approach was impossible, turned to the Soviet Union to make closer relations between the two countries in hope of striking an economic deal with Stalin. Hitler found it necessary to make a deal with Stalin in order to obtain raw materials from Russia for economic security, especially in a time of war. The agreement entailed Soviet obligations to provide 180 million Reichsmarks in raw materials to Germany and for Germany to provide 120 million Reichsmarks in German industrial goods to Russia. As part of the agreement, Germany also granted the Soviet Union with a merchandise credit of 200 million Reichsmarks to be financed by the German Gold Discount Bank over seven years. This credit was to be used to finance Soviet orders to Germany including machinery, manufactured goods, war materials, and hard currency. The German-Soviet credit agreement contributed to the outbreak of the second world war by increasing arms production for both Germany and Russia. Germany used the raw materials delivered by the Soviets to produce war materials for both Germany and Russia. This led to an increase in arms for each country, especially for Germany. German militarism made possible by the Soviets increased the potential for and made more dangerous the possibility of war outbreak in Europe. What the agreement also did for Hitler is provide Germany with security against an expected British blockade, similar to what Germany experienced in World War I. The agreement prevented Germany from suffering severe shortages of raw materials necessary to the economic stability of Germany and materials necessary for war. This made Hitler optimistic about the possibility of war because he knew that he would still have access to the raw materials needed for wartime production. Hitler’s optimism in terms of a war likely influenced his decision on invading Poland and starting the war. By proving the British blockade ineffective until Operation Barbarossa, Germany was able to keep on producing industrial goods beneficial to its economy and arms beneficial to the war after the war had started. Without delivery of materials from Russia, Germany could have barely attacked the Soviet Union, let alone come close to victory, even with rationing. The German-Soviet credit agreement and its ability to let Germany bypass the British blockade led to the war being larger and longer than it would have been had there been no economic deal. If there had been no agreement between the two dictators the British blockade would have likely overwhelmed the Germans and the war would have stopped very early on. Although there were holes in the British blockade when it was put in place, these holes, mainly in the Balkans, mostly provided Germany with only food and oil. Iron and steel were necessary for Germany’s production of war materials and those could only come from Russia had there been a blockade in place. Even if Hitler found a way to import materials using these “holes” in the British blockade, he would have still found it difficult to get the amount of metal and other materials needed for arms production and the war would have likely ended quickly.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is what ultimately allowed invasion of Poland by Hitler. The Anglo-Polish Pact, formalized in March of 1939 stated that “if any action clearly threatened Polish Independence, and if the Poles felt it vital to resist such action by force, Britain would come to their aid.” Here, the western powers were trying to send a message that future German expansion in Europe would no longer be tolerated. While Hitler didn’t initially think much of this, it forced him to consider the possibility of a war on two fronts. He feared that if he invaded Poland, he would face both the British and French in the West and a possible Polish-Soviet front to the East. While in the actual event of German invasion, Britain would not be able to support Poland directly but indirectly by diverting his army onto a second front. Hitler knew his army could defeat Poland alone fairly quickly so he began negotiations to try to eliminate a possible Soviet front. He needed a tactical deal with Stalin that would prevent him from reaching an agreement with the western powers, creating a joint front against the Germans. Hitler found himself forced to act timely when the USSR concluded its mutual-assistance pact with the Western Powers at the end of July. Hitler sent Molotov to Moscow on August 23, 1939 and signed the German-Soviet non-agression pact, making the French-British-Soviet pact obsolete. His secret plans to invade Poland were now secured and hidden under a German-Soviet non-aggression pact with Stalin. With this pact, the Soviet Union appeared to hold a neutral opinion on the German invasion of Poland. This was the only assurance that Hitler needed to invade Poland. Because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Hitler was now able and ready to invade Poland, which would force Britain to declare war on Germany, starting the second world war.
Some arguments have been made that support the Anglo-Polish pact as what led to the outbreak of World War II. Although it can be argued that the Anglo-Polish pact is what escalated a German-Polish war into a world war by involving Britain, it would be invalid to argue that the war could not have escalated through other means. For example, if the Anglo-Soviet Agreement were to continue into the 1940s, a German invasion of Poland may not have been possible, and if it did occur, the war would have quickly escalated to involve the Allied Powers and Russia against Germany. The Anglo-Polish pact had been established for seven months before Hitler decided to invade Poland. Although it did not specify Germany as the invading country publically, Hitler was very aware of it and its terms long before invading Poland. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact put Hitler in a very dangerous position whether or not the Anglo-Polish pact existed. Hitler could now invade any country in Europe virtually unopposed by the Soviets. It is invalid to argue that Hitler would not have invaded France or Britain or any of their allies during or after Poland. Instead of Britain declaring war on Hitler, he could have invaded Britain or any of its allies, starting a similar world war. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is what led to the outbreak of a German-Polish war which ultimately started the second world war.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact to a great extent led to the outbreak and extended duration of World War II. It led to the outbreak of World War II because it allowed Hitler to invade Poland without a fear of a Soviet front to the east. The German-Soviet credit agreement led to Hitler being optimistic about invading Poland because there was no fear of British blockades causing famine. The German-Soviet credit agreement also likely extended the duration of the war after it started because it allowed Hitler to bypass the British blockade, preventing famine and lack of materials for industrial and military production.