From Non-Aggression Treaty to War: Documenting Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939-41
Geoffrey Roberts explains the fateful sequence of events from the Nazi-Soviet Pact to Hitler's invasion of the USSR.
The Pact
The Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact of 23 August 1939 was one of the most stunning and dramatic events in diplomatic history. According to Winston Churchill, ‘the sinister news broke upon the world like an explosion’. The Berlin-based American journalist William Shirer could ‘scarcely believe it’. Adding to the aura of the occasion was a dramatic newsreel of German foreign minister Ribbentrop’s sudden flight to Moscow to seal the deal.
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