{"id":11949,"date":"2019-08-15T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T19:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=11949"},"modified":"2019-08-15T12:00:30","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T19:00:30","slug":"the-german-soviet-non-aggression-pact-a-bad-deal-80-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-german-soviet-non-aggression-pact-a-bad-deal-80-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"The German\u2013Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: A Bad Deal, 80 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some 80 years ago, on August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, formally known as the \u201cTreaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The world was shocked \u2014 and terrified \u2014 by the agreement. Western democracies of the 1930s had counted on the huge resources of Communist Russia, and its hostility to the Nazis, to serve as a brake on Adolf Hitler\u2019s Western ambitions. Great Britain and the other Western European democracies had assumed that the Nazis would never invade them as long as a hostile Soviet Union threatened the German rear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The incompatibility between Communism and Nazism was considered by all to be existential \u2014 and permanent. That mutual hatred explained why dictators Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin both despised and feared each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet all at once, such illusions vanished with signing of the pact. Just seven days later, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. World War II had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After quickly absorbing most of Eastern Europe by either coercion or alliance, Hitler was convinced that he now had a safe rear. So he turned west in spring 1940 to overrun Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/08\/german-soviet-non-aggression-pact-1939-upset-balance-of-power\/\">Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Some 80 years ago, on August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, formally known as the \u201cTreaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.\u201d The world was shocked \u2014 and terrified \u2014 by the agreement. Western democracies of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-36J","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9277,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/setting-the-record-straight-on-britain-america-and-world-war-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":11949,"position":0},"title":"Setting the Record Straight on Britain, America, and World War II","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online While in London last week, President Obama waded into the upcoming British referendum about whether the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union. Controversy followed his lecture about the future of the Anglo-American relationship should Britain depart the EU. Obama also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Europe&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Europe","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10859,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/civilizations-darkest-hour-hits-the-silver-screen\/","url_meta":{"origin":11949,"position":1},"title":"Civilization\u2019s \u2018Darkest Hour\u2019 Hits the Silver Screen","author":"victorhanson","date":"January 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 by Victor Davis Hanson\/\/National Review A masterful new film shows how Churchill saved the world from Nazi Germany in May of 1940. \u00a0 The new film Darkest Hour offers the diplomatic side to the recent action movie Dunkirk. \u00a0 The story unfolds with the drama of British prime minister\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Churchill&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Churchill","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/churchill\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6814,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ignoring-history-the-folly-of-our-iran-pact\/","url_meta":{"origin":11949,"position":2},"title":"Ignoring History: The Folly of Our Iran Pact","author":"victorhanson","date":"December 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Dictatorships abandon treaties when they become inconvenient. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 According to our recently proposed treaty with the Iranian government, Iran keeps much of its nuclear program while agreeing to slow its path to weapons-grade enrichment. The Iranians also get crippling economic sanctions lifted.\u00a0 The agreement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Iran&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Iran","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/the-middle-east\/iran\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8489,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-new-world-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":11949,"position":3},"title":"The New World Map","author":"victorhanson","date":"June 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ TMS Adolf Hitler started World War II by attacking Poland on September 1, 1939. Nazi Germany moved only after it had already remilitarized the Rhineland, absorbed Austria, and dismantled Czechoslovakia. Before the outbreak of the war, Hitler\u2019s new Third Reich had created the largest German-speaking nation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;War&quot;","block_context":{"text":"War","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/war\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via NRO","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/world-order-german-troops-500x292.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8716,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/dont-trust-putin-in-the-mideast\/","url_meta":{"origin":11949,"position":4},"title":"Don\u2019t Trust Putin in the Mideast","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson\u00a0\/\/ National Review Online Contrary to the principles of American foreign policy of the last 70 years, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry tacitly invited Russia to \u201chelp\u201d monitor things in the Middle East. Now they are learning that there are lots of Middle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Russia&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Russia","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/europe\/russia\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"(Mikhail Klimentiev\/Pressphotos\/Getty)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/vladimir-putin-coalition-r-500x500.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7493,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/d-day-at-70\/","url_meta":{"origin":11949,"position":5},"title":"D-Day at 70\u00a0","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Remembering the most brilliantly conducted invasion in military history by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online General Eisenhower speaks with paratroopers prior to the invasion. (Photo via Library of Congress) Seventy years ago this June 6, the Americans, British, and Canadians stormed the beaches of Normandy in the largest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;The World&quot;","block_context":{"text":"The World","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/the-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/c5.nrostatic.com\/sites\/default\/files\/uploaded\/pic_giant_052914_SM_D-Day-at-70-LOC.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/c5.nrostatic.com\/sites\/default\/files\/uploaded\/pic_giant_052914_SM_D-Day-at-70-LOC.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/c5.nrostatic.com\/sites\/default\/files\/uploaded\/pic_giant_052914_SM_D-Day-at-70-LOC.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11949"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11950,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11949\/revisions\/11950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}