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WHAT IF...RUSSIA SIGNED A SECOND PACT WITH GERMANY
History of War
|Issue 147
With casualties mounting and citizens starving, what effect would Stalin striking another deal with Hitler have had?
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With their first non-aggression pact in August 1939, both Hitler and Stalin were out to get as much as they could from the other. Learning lessons from the First World War, Hitler was determined, at least for now, not to have to split his forces between Eastern and Western fronts. The pact also neutralised Russia in coming to the aid of Poland should Hitler invade. Dividing territories in Poland and the Baltic between them sealed the deal. But, not surprisingly, Hitler was to later renege on his word and invade Russia. Faced with cities under siege and forces depleted, would a second pact have been the answer for Stalin and the Russian people?
At what stage would it have been in the Soviet interest for such a pact?
This story is from the Issue 147 edition of History of War.
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