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Background and Context

August 23rd, 1939, mere weeks before World War II officially broke out in Europe, Adolf Hitler Nazi Germany signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact with Joseph Stalin and Soviet Russia. This pact, written by German Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Vyacheslav Molotov, detailed how the two nations would not take military action against one another for ten years and included details on how the two would split up Eastern Europe amongst one another after the certain war in the future. “Russia would not interfere with the German Invasion of Poland. Stalin’s prize for remaining neutral: Eastern Poland.”(add clip of this)Meanwhile, France and Great Britain, realizing the dangerous power this alliance had over the continent, penned a pledge to protect Poland from outside militant entities. As a result of these pacts and treaties World War II officially began September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany initiated their blitzkrieg into Eastern Poland.
The years prior to the breaking of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact were tumultuous. “In a wild gamble that France and Great Britain would not meet their treaty obligations to Poland, and knowing he had nothing to fear from the Soviet Army, Hitler ordered his troops to strike east into Poland.” writes History.com. As Europe fell into bloodshed and conflict and Hitler began his invasion of Poland followed by France, Soviet Russia began to build their military power. These assaults on Germany’s neighbors resulted in Poland being split between Soviet Russia, receiving the Eastern side, and Nazi Germans, receiving the western side. As the battle waged on, Nazi Germany’s expenses resource-wise had grown to unsustainable amounts. This promoted them to rethink their ten-year treaty with their then-ally Soviet Russia.

Events Immediately Before the War

Despite the early political clout this pact had, it did not stand the test of t