FACT: The Soviet Union Was an Early ALLY of Nazi Germany and One of World War II's Aggressor Nations.
The Nazis, fascist Italy, imperial Japan and the Soviet Union were the principal aggressor nations in World War II.
The Japanese kicked things off with attacks on Chinese Manchuria in 1931. By 1937, the nations were at full-scale war.
Italy invaded Ethiopia on October 3, 1935.
Then Nazi Germany, after taking over Austria and Czechoslovakia, invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
But what is often forgotten are the then-secret provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics but more commonly known by the names of the foreign ministers of the Soviet Union and Germany. It was signed in August 1939.
But the secret provisions were that the Soviets would invade Poland from the east after Germany invaded from the west, with Poland to be divided between Germany and the Soviet Union along the lines of the Narev, Vistula, and San rivers. The Soviets were also given a free hand to invade and annex the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which it did so in 1940. Also that year the Soviets invaded Finland after demands for territorial concessions were rejected by the Finns.
On September 17, 1939, Soviet troops invaded Poland.
Poland. September 20, 1939. An officer of the Wehrmacht, an officer of the Red Army and an interpreter on the demarcation line.
While the German occupation of Poland was barbaric, the Soviets also desired to wipe out any possibility of a resurgence of Polish nationalism. So, just as the Germans put into effect Intelligenzaktion Pommern, an operation to eradicate the Polish intelligentsia, the Sovietson a lower scale massacred over 22,000 Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn forest. About 8,000 were Polish military officers, another 6,000 police officers and the remainder various former landowners, factory owners and local officials.
Ironically, it was the Nazis that discovered the graves of the Poles and the Soviets denied responsbility until 1990. In 1992 the government of Russia finally acknowledged the secret provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, even though the West had long known its provisions.
And what does Russia's Vladimir Putin say about all this?
He blames POLAND for starting World War II !!!
"(The Poles) went too far, pushing Hitler to start World War II by attacking them. Why was it Poland against whom the war started on 1 September 1939? Poland turned out to be uncompromising, and Hitler had nothing to do but start implementing his plans with Poland."
- Vladimir Putin February 2024 Interview with Tucker Carlson
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And let's not forget that the UK declared war on Germany to save Poland and ensure it would remain a free nation. However, it didn't declare war on the USSR. And, as the war drew to a close both the UK and the USA decided to give Poland up to the clutches of Stalin. So much for a "free world".
@22Michelle Let's not forget the previous year either...
The Sudetenland was a region in Czechoslovakia with a significant ethnic German population. Hitler used the issue of the Sudeten Germans as a pretext for his demands for territorial expansion. The Munich Agreement of 1938, which allowed Germany to annex the Sudetenland in exchange for a promise of no further territorial claims, is often cited as a failed act of appeasement. This event demonstrated the dangers of allowing aggressive powers to expand unchecked and set a precedent for further aggression.
Moravia was not apart of that agreement. Nor was Slovakia further east. That didn't stop Hitler though.
Context is everything. The UK and France both goofed up more than once.
@DeWayfarer Yes, I'm well aware of the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, possibly the only real democracy in Europe at the time. It was, and has been, argued that this was realpolitik in action. It did give the UK time to improve their readiness for war, but I've always thought that explanation was really just an excuse. Similarly the silence on the Soviet invasion of Poland was truly hypocrisy. During WW2 both Czechs and Poles served in allied forces. And at the end both were handed over to Stalin. As an aside the phrase "Iron Curtain" did not originate with Churchill. It was originally used for the same purpose, the threat of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe (which Churchill gave the OK to), but with Josef Goebbels.
@22Michelle My great grandfather was shot because of that minor work of ignorance. And so was my father sent to prison camp.
And that same iron curtain prevented me from seeing my own grandmother in 1974. Or even know of her grave site. I never knew when she died even. She was scared for her life for decades. She knew where my uncles were that I still never met.
I have little more interest in this discussion because of that.
