Hitler had a specific alternative diplomatic or military plan if the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact failed.
the verdict
INSUFFICIENT LEANING
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Available historical sources touch upon Hitler's military planning regarding Poland and the pact, but they provide only partial support for the existence of a specific alternative plan if the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact had failed.
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Hitler, Stalin & WWII - HISTORY | HISTORY By: HISTORY.com Editors World War II Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact HISTORY.com Editors A political cartoon critiquing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Hitler and the Russian Bear are wrestling. (Michael Nicholson/Corbis/Getty Images) Published: November 09, 2009 Last Updated: February 27, 2025 Table of contents 1 Clouds of War in Europe 2 Hitler Sets His Sights on Poland 3 Hitler Teases Stalin 4 Molotov and Ribbentrop Cut a Deal 5 Poland on the Carving Block 6 Hitler Shreds Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact 7 Sources Table of contents The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact signed in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union shortly before World War II. In the pact, the two former enemies agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. With Europe on the brink of another major war, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin viewed the pact as a way to keep his nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving him time to build up the Soviet military. German chancellor Adolf Hitler used the pact to make sure Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact fell apart in June 1941, when Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union.
WATCH: Hitler and Stalin: Roots of Evil on HISTORY Vault Clouds of War in Europe On March 15, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia , breaking the agreement it had signed with Great Britain and France the year before in Munich, Germany. The invasion jolted British and French leaders and convinced them that Adolf Hitler , the German chancellor, could not be trusted to honor his agreements and was likely to keep committing aggressions until stopped by force or a massive deterrent. Did you know? Hitler disliked the photograph taken when the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact was signed in the Kremlin because it showed Stalin with a cigarette in his hand. Hitler felt the cigarette was unsuited to the historic occasion and had it airbrushed from the pho
Nazi-Soviet Pact - World History Encyclopedia
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Mark Cartwright
The Nazi-Soviet Pact, also called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after the respective foreign ministers of the USSR and Germany, was a non-aggression agreement signed in August 1939. The pact allowed the...
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Nazi-Soviet Pact
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Nazi-Soviet Pact Cartoon
David Low (Copyright, fair use)
The Nazi-Soviet Pact, also called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after the respective foreign ministers of the USSR and Germany, was a non-aggression agreement signed in August 1939. The pact allowed the leader of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) to attack Poland and then Western Europe without having to face at the same time a Soviet army. Meanwhile, the leader of the USSR Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) acquired freedom of action in Eastern Europe and bought valuable time to continue rearmament.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact carved up Central and Eastern Europe into two spheres of influence between the two signees, led to direct occupations of free countries, and directly influenced where much of the fighting occurred in the first two years of the Second World War (1939-45). The agreement was, though, shattered when Germany attacked the USSR in June 1941.
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Hitler's Foreign Policy
In order to understand why the USSR signed a treaty with Germany and not Britain or France in 1939, it is necessary to retrace the hectic developments in European affairs through the 1930s. When Adolf Hitler took power in Germany in 1933, he set out on an aggressive foreign policy of absorbing neighbouring territories. This was something Hitler had written about in his 1925 book Mein Kampf where he described the need for Lebensraum ('living space') for the German people, that is, new lands where they could prosper. This land would be sought for in the East. In addition, Hitler had long promised the German people that he would overturn the humiliating losses and restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles
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