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Reflections on
the 80th Anniversary of THE
MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT OF AUGUST 23, 1939
J. von Ribbentrop (left), J. Stalin and V. Molotov
(right) after signing the Nazi-Soviet
Non-aggression Pact in Kremlin, Moscow, August 23, 1939
(Wikipedia)
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is the informal name
of the treaty signed by Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav
Molotov and by German foreign minister Joachim von
Ribbentrop.
Officially its name was the Treaty of Non-aggression
between the German Third Reich and the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), signed late that August 23rd
evening in Moscow, and it constituted the most important
secret arrangement leading to the start of World War II, a
war which claimed between 50 and 80 million lives
(including those brutally murdered by both signatories).
In addition to the statement of non-aggression, the treaty
included a secret protocol, which was not known for a long
time and divided Central and Eastern Europe into two zones
of influence - Soviet and Nazi German zones. It divided
the territories of Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia,
Estonia and Finland.
As an immediate result of this treaty, Germany invaded
Poland from three directions (west, north and south) on
September 1, 1939. After the Soviet-Japanese ceasefire,
which started on September 16, the Soviet Union invaded
Poland (from the east) on September 17. On November 30,
Soviet troops attacked Finland along its entire eastern
border starting the bloody Winter War of 1939-1940.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact brought to an end the Europe
that had taken shape after the Treaty of Versailles in
1919. It had a direct impact on the Second World War, the
division of Europe, and the subsequent Cold War.
The new conflict in Ukraine is a chilling reminder that
Putin's Russia follows in the footsteps of the USSR. It
makes use of manipulation and brutal force, to
reconstitute their zone of influence lost in 1989 with the
collapse of the USSR.
Every year on August 23, Canada
observes the Black Ribbon Day to commemorate the victims
of Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia, two nakedly
totalitarian regimes.
Planned and actual changes of territories in
1939-1940-time frame (Wikipedia)
 Prepared
by OHI for BRD 2019 |
Oferowana
praca w Orleans
Zbigniew "Tony" Kasprowicz
