The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
from The Dave Bowman Show
In August of 1939, the world watched in shock as two bitter enemies, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, suddenly became partners. Adolf Hitler’s foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Joseph Stalin’s loyal diplomat Vyacheslav Molotov signed a deal in Moscow that promised peace, but in reality it was a pact to carve up Eastern Europe. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact gave Hitler the freedom to invade Poland and plunge the world into war, while Stalin stood ready to grab his share. Together they erased Poland from the map, fueled the Nazi war machine with Soviet resources, and unleashed the terror that led directly to the Holocaust in Poland. For decades, the Soviets denied their role, but history tells the story plainly. Stalin was not a victim in 1939. He was an accomplice. Today on Dave Does History, we look at the pact that made World War II possible.
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