A Defence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

*I don't speak the best english so this might be clunky*

The Soviet Union attempted to create an Anti-Nazi pact with the Allies in 1939. This was rejected, so the USSR realised that they had to find a way to be able to counter Nazi Germany without directly confronting them as the USSR's military and industry were not up to the levels of Nazi Germany, especially due to the purges which, while overkill, where necessary to stop a coup attempt or rebellion which could further destabilize the USSR. Remember, just 15 years earlier the USSR was at war with 20 of the worlds largest powers and had a famine as a result of the civil war that ended with the deaths of over 12,000,000 people. The USSR could NOT risk any form of open rebellion at that moment in time.

The Soviets also witnessed how much the allies were surrendering to Germany as it grew in power (in terms of industry, military, & land) and knew that, due to Germany's Nazi, Anti-Communist and Anti-Slavic ideology that war was inevitable and was going to be extremely messy. They also wished to take back former parts of the Russian Empire due to the fact many of these places had both large Soviet and large communist minorities, or majorities in the case of Eastern Poland and wouldn't offer much resistance and would further strengthen socialism against the capitalist powers. They were of course however extremely autonomous.
Molotov found out of the Nazi plans to invade Poland, and it had already been rumoured anyway as early as the 1920s with Mein Kampf.

Now something you need to note is that the great plains of Europe lead directly to Moscow's doorstep, and it was pretty much made for Blitzkrieg.
They also knew of the critical oil shortage of Nazi Germany at the time.
So every kilometre advantage they had was a massive help.
So Molotov struck a deal. The Soviets would get the majority of the Baltic sisters and eastern "Poland" (actually Belarusian and Ukrainian land taken during the 1920 Polish-Soviet War). the Nazis would get western Poland.

Molotov knew this wouldn't last, and in fact didn't intend for it to last. The Soviets were preparing to actually break the pact themselves and declare war on the Axis sometime in 1942 to 1943. Official private Soviet Documents not meant for public eyes showed this line of thinking, and Molotov only was given one goal: Stall the Germans as much as possible.

Eventually, the Germans faced up to Molotov and demanded a small portion of the oil rich lands in trade for more of the Baltic, or they walked out of the meeting. There would be no opportunity for peace long enough to actually be able to beat the Germans. So, naturally, they had to agree.

First, the Baltic Sisters accepted deals in which they would be annexed into the USSR peacefully. Then the deal was that the eastern half of Poland would not come under Nazi rule. By the time the Soviets "invaded", the Nazis were trying to take the eastern half and the ENTIRE Polish Government had been literally non-existent for multiple days, so the Soviets moved in to secure it. They actually accepted many refugees and sent Jewish peoples and other minorities hated by the Nazis eastwards to Siberia when possible, where they were guaranteed food, safety and a job. Of course, the vast majority didn't leave, especially because the Soviets expected another year or two of preparation time but this did end up saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Now lets skip over a year.

It's June 1941. The Nazis invade. Within only a few months they would be on the doorsteps of Moscow, Stalingrad and Leningrad and already have completely destroyed Kiev, Minsk, and were besieging Sevastopol.

By October 1941, the Nazis had lost. The chance of them winning went from slim to none. And that original slim chance still would have meant total defeat in the end, just a temporary victory of the war leading to collapse, but that's a story for another day.
The Nazis, however, were right at the border of the Caucauses oil fields. If they had managed to push, just a little further, they would have taken them long-term.
But they ran out of fuel.

The Soviet master plan for a worst case scenario was working perfectly.
The Fascists of course did attempt a push into the oil fields and actually succeeded for a few months, but the Soviets destroyed them and by the time they were operational the soviets were liberating the fields.

So the Nazis could only run their planes maybe 1/10th of the hours the Soviets could, they could only run their tanks 1/4th as much as the Soviets could. On top of that, the nazi war economy was completely inneficiant, with many vehicles and weapons failing completely (A good example being the Panther, which in all its glory, upon being towed down a ramp from a train to enter service, would promptly explode as the angle led to the fuel tank leaking into the engine and lighting on fire)
and that coupled with a resilliant population, Soviet determination and blood and western industry led to the defeat of the Nazis.
Every kilometre of land counted, and every second of wasted german fuel was immesurably valuable.

Molotov's negotiations were an act of long sighted genius and one of the best diplomatic actions in history, directly leading to the Axis being unable to secure oil meaning that at worst they war was shortened saving thousands of lives, and at best completely changed the course of history against fascism.


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