German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

(Aug. 23, 1939) Agreement stipulating mutual nonaggression between the Soviet Union and Germany. The Soviet Union, whose proposed collective security agreement with Britain and France was rebuffed, approached Germany, and in the pact the two states pledged publicly not to attack each other. Its secret provisions divided Poland between them and gave the Soviet Union control of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Finland.

The Soviets hoped to buy time to build up their forces to face German expansionism; Germany wished to proceed with its invasion of Poland and the countries to its west without having to worry about the Red Army. News of the pact shocked and horrified the world. Nine days after its signing, Germany began World War II by invading Poland. The agreement was voided when Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. Until 1989 the Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols because they were considered evidence of its involuntary annexation of the Baltic states.