86 years since the signing of the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Treaty

86 years ago — on August 23, 1939 — the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Treaty of Non-Aggression, a document that obligated the two Parties “to refrain from any act of violence, any aggressive action, and any attack on each other, either individually or jointly with other Powers.”

This Document was a key achievement of the Soviet diplomacy ahead of WWII: the USSR was able to buy time to better prepare to repel Hitler’s impending attack, which had been seen as inevitable due to the failed policy of “appeasement” by Western European states and their refusal to forge a collective security agreement with our nation against Nazism.

Signing the non-aggression treaty with Germany was a difficult but necessary decision by the Soviet leadership, dictated by national security considerations and the urgent need to deter Nazi aggression in the east.

In the 1930s, twenty years after the end of World War I, the threat of a new large-scale armed conflict in Europe started to grow. A key factor for this was the crisis of the Versailles system of international relations, designed by Britain and France, which paved the way for rising revanchist sentiments in the states it had humiliated — Germany and Italy.

The League of Nations, established as a universal organisation for settling international disputes by diplomatic and political legal means, proved unable to fulfill its mandate, mired in the controversy and intrigues of European states that tried to use the body for their own selfish and opportunistic purposes.

Against this backdrop, the hydra of fascism began spreading rapidly across Europe. Political leaders confident of their own nations’ superiority came to power first in Italy (1922) and then in Germany (1933), where a Nazi dictatorship led by Hitler was established.

With the Nazis’ rise to power in Germany, the threat of a new war in Europe became real. Hitler’s misanthropic ideology was rooted in the notorious doctrine of “racial superiority.” The Nazis used this doctrine to justify Germany’s pursuit of world domination. In this way, an absolute evil emerged in the centre of Europe, endangering the peace and freedom of entire nations.

***

By the mid-1930s, Germany’s military preparations were becoming increasingly obvious and intense. The strength of the German armed forces reached almost half a million personnel. In 1935, the Nazi regime officially announced the creation of a German military air force (whose existence had been prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles). Hitler signed a decree reintroducing universal conscription and expanding the military, the so-called new peacetime Wehrmacht consisted of 36 divisions totalling 550'000 soldiers and officers. For the first time since its defeat in World War I, Germany again possessed a significant military power capable of launching full-scale offensive operations. Furthermore, the Reich initiated the construction of the Navy, a move that was, in effect, sanctioned by a bilateral agreement between Germany and Britain (signed in London in 1935) in direct contravention of the Versailles prohibitions.

Between 1933 and 1939, Berlin spent 90 billion reichsmarks on military needs — twice as much as Britain, France and Italy combined. Consequently, arms production in Germany by 1939 had increased more than twelve-fold compared to the period before the Nazis came to power.

In the meanwhile, the Western nations’ attempts to find a compromise with Hitler only increased his appetite, which grew with each concession. Having achieved the “legitimisation” of Germany’s rearmament and restored its military industry in defiance of the Versailles terms, the fascist dictator moved to prepare for outright expansion. “Germany is only just the beginning,” Hitler asserted. “We need Europe and its colonies.” The Nazis saw the path to their main foreign policy goal as lying in the defeat of Western European states — primarily the colonial powers of Britain and France — while simultaneously seizing the vast and resource-rich territories in the east, including those belonging to the USSR. With this aim achieved, according to the Nazis' calculations, the Reich would emerge as the world’s leading maritime power, capable of eventually subjugating the American continent as well.

***

By the mid-1930s, it became evident that a renewed German aggression in Europe was inevitable — it was merely a matter of time. In an effort to counter the rising threat of German revanchism, the Soviet Union suggested the creation of a collective security system in Europe, founded on anti-fascist principles, to unite efforts and deliver a joint response to the common threat.

Yet in Paris and London, where anti-Soviet sentiments ran deep, the idea of cooperation with Moscow was rejected as such. Instead, Western powers sought to strike a deal with Germany, aiming to pacify the Germans through unilateral concessions. The political establishments of the West failed to grasp the existential threat posed by Nazi ideology, cynically believing that Hitler’s aggression could be redirected eastward. In other words, they sought to exploit Germany as a tool against the “Soviet threat,” pushing Hitler to invade our country in exchange for concessions that, they assumed, would not jeopardise their own vital interests.

Thus, in March 1938, with British consent for the Reich’s expansion to its “ethnic borders,” Nazi Germany carried out the Anschluss of Austria.

The apotheosis of this policy of “appeasement” was the Munich Conspiracy of 1938. With the silent approval of the British and French — who effectively handed Eastern Europe over to the Nazis — Hitler ruthlessly dismembered a sovereign state — Czechoslovakia.

At a conference in Munich, the heads of government of Germany, Italy, Britain and France signed an agreement to transfer the Sudetenland, an industrially developed region of Czechoslovakia with a 90% ethnic German population, to Berlin. Prague was not even invited to the negotiations and was only presented with the fact that its sovereign territory would be annexed by Nazi Germany.

The USSR was the only nation prepared to defend Czechoslovakia, but our efforts were obstructed by Warsaw, which colluded with the Nazis. Poland categorically refused assistance to Prague and barred Soviet aircraft from flying over its territory to provide aid to the Czechoslovak army. Already a de facto accomplice of Hitler, Poland had supported every single foreign policy move of the Reich — from the remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936) to the Anschluss of Austria. Eager for spoils, Poland occupied the Teschen Region, becoming a participant in the crime against a sovereign state.

Thus, Anglo-French “appeasement” policy ended in total failure. Attempting to sate the Nazis’ insatiable ambitions, Western powers failed to restrain the aggressor or thwart its criminal plans. Barely six months after Munich, in March 1939, Germany — despite promises given to Britain and France — seized Czechoslovakia.

❗️ A new war in Europe became inevitable.

The Soviet Union condemned the policy of “appeasement” from the outset and remained the sole European nation still striving to organise collective resistance against Nazi Germany. In the spring and summer of 1939, the USSR initiated consultations with France and Britain in Moscow. However, the negotiation process failed to yield practical results — the Western powers tried to avoid binding themselves to obligations with the USSR.

The British and French, who until the last moment hoped for a compromise with Hitler, engaged in secret talks with Germany behind the Soviet Union’s back. Historical documents, including those obtained by Soviet intelligence, reveal that London never seriously pursued agreement with Moscow. Unlike the French, who did sense the threat to their national security, the Brits still viewed Hitler merely as a recalcitrant ally who needed to be reined in by a hypothetical alliance with the Russians.

The Soviet diplomacy ran out of chances to build a collective security system in Europe. Moscow also had to take into account the Japanese factor — the hostilities on the Khalkhin-Gol that began in May 1939. The Soviet leadership could not afford a war on two fronts.

Moreover, by August 1939, several European nations — having rejected Soviet security guarantees (including Poland, Estonia, Latvia) — signed non-aggression pacts with Germany, which carried an anti-Soviet thrust. As a result, the entire Baltic region became a full-fledged staging ground that Germany could use for an invasion of the USSR.

Our country was the last major power to conclude a non-aggression treaty with Germany — a step taken out of necessity, driven by escalating international military and political tensions in Europe. This granted our nation crucial time to better prepare for confrontation with the world’s most formidable army at the time. The non-aggression treaty secured the Soviet Union several years of peace, helped push back the border and create a security buffer in the west. This diplomatic manoeuvre deterred Japan from invading in the east, sparing our country the prospect of a war on two fronts.