🗓 85 years ago − on August 23, 1939 − the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Non-Aggression Treaty in Moscow. It was a hard and forced decision for the Soviet leadership dictated by considerations of our country’s security against the background of a looming war in Europe.

With the Nazis' led by Hitler coming to power in Germany in 1933, Berlin took the course on militarization. Responding to the emerging threat of German revanchism, the Soviet Union spearheaded the creation of a collective security system in Europe. However, driven by the anti-Soviet sentiment, France and UK preferred a “policy of appeasement” − unilateral concessions to Hitler − to cooperation with Moscow in hope of heading off the threat of war and redirecting German aggression eastward.

❗️The “appeasement” tactics whetted the aggressor’s appetite. In March 1938, with the connivance of Paris and London, Hitler carried out the Anschluss of Austria. In September, following the criminal “Munich conspiracy” and with the approval of the UK and France, he cynically dismembered the sovereign state of Czechoslovakia. A new war in Europe became inevitable.

In the spring of 1939, Soviet diplomacy initiated talks with France and the UK, which began in Moscow. The negotiations failed to produce any meaningful results. The western countries, who had hoped for a trade-off with Germany until the last moment, were in no hurry to make a commitment to the USSR.

👉 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.

By August 1939, eight European nations had concluded non-aggression pacts with Hitler. The Soviet Union was the last major power to follow the suit. Thanks to this, our country got the opportunity to gain the necessary time to get ready for a clash with the world’s most powerful army at that time.