WWII military history is not my forte, as I generally find it to be a topic for divorced dads. Lol. However, what was that about and do you have any good resources on the subject of the German-Soviet pact? Was it a good decision? What were alternatives? I got people hollering at me bc I said the USSR saved Europe from fascism. And, without fail, they’re freaking out about Soviet imperialism. Aaargggghhh!!! I don’t know why they invaded Poland, but I do know there were pogroms and fascists there.
short version of the M&R pact; Soviets needed to buy time to build up resources, knowing war with Germany was inevitable and being led to believe the western powers were going to ignore Germany in Europe. (US, France, and the UK refused to go to war with Germany. The UK’s line on it was “peace in our time”, and they tried to stick to that until the invasion of Belgium in 1940). A source nerd can provide the proper sources for this, I can’t be dicked rn.
According to this article by Grover Furr (not the best person for sources, but it’s a compelling article) the USSR did not invade Poland. Rather they upheld signed and agreed on promises made with Polish representatives, and did so to protect Polish citizens from Germany’s oppressive rule. The USSR also armed and aided Polish freedom-fighting groups and after the war returned their sovereignty to their rightful control. Germany invaded, the Soviets liberated.
Also if we need to come up with justifications for the invasion of Poland, the Polish government was leading genocide and harassment against the ethnic Ukrainians whose legal territory was wrongfully given to the new Polish state by the western powers following WWI in the breakup of the German state. The USSR’s “invasion” of eastern Poland ended that.