Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact — 1939 neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union
The pact enabled Germany to invade Poland without Soviet opposition, directly triggering World War II and reshaping Eastern European borders for decades.
Key Facts
- Date signed
- 23 August 1939 (backdated; physically signed 24 August)
- Duration agreed
- 10 years years
- Signatories
- Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop
- Secret protocol
- Partitioned Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres
- Terminated
- 22 June 1941, when Germany launched Operation Barbarossa
- Poland invasion
- Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, one week later
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Tripartite negotiations between the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France collapsed after the USSR was excluded from the 1938 Munich Agreement. Stalin, skeptical of Western intentions, pursued rapprochement with Nazi Germany beginning in early 1939, seeking security guarantees and territorial influence in Eastern Europe while avoiding a two-front confrontation.
On 23 August 1939, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop signed a non-aggression treaty in Moscow committing both nations to neutrality for ten years. A secret additional protocol secretly divided Eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres, allocating Poland for partition and assigning the Baltic states, Finland, and Bessarabia to the Soviet sphere of influence.
One week after signing, Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, followed by a Soviet invasion on 17 September, together triggering World War II. The Soviet Union subsequently annexed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and parts of Romania and Finland. The pact was voided when Germany launched Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, pulling the Soviet Union into the war against the Axis powers.