Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Timeline

(August 23, 1939 - June 22, 1941)

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression treaty signed on August 23, 1939 between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Named after foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, it included secret protocols dividing Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence. The pact allowed Hitler to invade Poland without fear of Soviet intervention and enabled Stalin to annex the Baltic states and eastern Poland, until Germany betrayed the agreement with Operation Barbarossa in 1941. More Less

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Prelude to the Pact

Treaty of Versailles reshapes Europe

Jun 28, 1919

The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I, redrawing European borders and imposing harsh penalties on Germany. The treaty's territorial provisions and the creation of new states like Poland sowed grievances in Germany that the Nazi regime would later exploit, setting the stage for revisionist diplomacy in Eastern Europe.

Image source: Treaty of Versailles

Rapallo Treaty establishes early Soviet-German cooperation

Apr 16, 1922

Germany and Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Rapallo at Genoa, restoring diplomatic relations and renouncing mutual claims. This early rapprochement included secret military cooperation, foreshadowing later pragmatic dealings between the two powers despite ideological differences.

Image source: Treaty of Rapallo (1922)

Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany

Jan 30, 1933

Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, bringing to power a regime ideologically committed to anti-communism and eastward expansion for Lebensraum. Initially hostile toward the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany's foreign policy would shift dramatically by the late 1930s.

Image source: Adolf Hitler's rise to power

Anti-Comintern Pact signed between Germany and Japan

Nov 25, 1936

Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, directed against the Communist International. Italy joined a year later. The pact highlighted the ideological hostility between the Axis powers and the Soviet Union, making the eventual Nazi-Soviet pact all the more surprising.

Image source: Anti-Comintern Pact

Stalin consolidates power in the Soviet Union

Dec 1, 1936

By the mid-1930s Joseph Stalin had established unchallenged control over the Soviet Union. Amid the Great Purges, which devastated the Red Army's officer corps, Stalin pursued a foreign policy seeking collective security with Western powers while keeping options open for accommodation with Germany.

Image source: Joseph Stalin

Munich Agreement cedes Sudetenland to Germany

Sep 30, 1938

Britain and France appeased Hitler by allowing Germany to annex the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia without Czech or Soviet participation. The exclusion of the USSR from Munich convinced Stalin that the Western powers might be maneuvering Germany into conflict with the Soviet Union.

Image source: Munich Agreement

German occupation of rump Czechoslovakia

Mar 15, 1939

German troops occupied Prague and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, destroying what remained of Czechoslovakia. The move shattered faith in Hitler's promises, prompted Britain to guarantee Polish independence, and intensified diplomatic maneuvering over Poland.

Image source: Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945)

British guarantee to Poland

Mar 31, 1939

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced Britain's unilateral guarantee of Polish independence, soon formalized with France. This pledge raised the stakes of any German move against Poland and made Soviet policy toward both Berlin and London critically important.

Image source: Anglo-Polish alliance

Franco-British-Soviet negotiations begin in Moscow

Apr 17, 1939 - Aug 21, 1939

Throughout spring and summer 1939, Britain and France engaged in slow, half-hearted talks with the Soviet Union about a mutual defense agreement. Disputes over passage rights through Poland and Romania and mutual mistrust left the negotiations deadlocked.

Stalin replaces Litvinov with Molotov as Foreign Minister

May 3, 1939

Maxim Litvinov, an advocate of collective security and Jewish, was replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov as Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs. The change signaled a possible shift in Soviet diplomacy and was widely interpreted as opening the door to negotiations with Nazi Germany.

Image source: Vyacheslav Molotov

Hitler decides on war with Poland despite risks

May 23, 1939

At a meeting with military leaders at the Berghof, Hitler declared his intention to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity, hoping Britain and France would not intervene. He ordered preparations for Case White while seeking to neutralize the possibility of Soviet involvement.

German-Soviet trade negotiations intensify

May 30, 1939 - Aug 19, 1939

Economic talks between Germany and the Soviet Union accelerated through the summer of 1939. On August 19 they concluded a credit agreement providing German industrial goods in exchange for Soviet raw materials, paving the way politically for a broader political settlement.

Ribbentrop signals willingness for high-level talks

Jul 26, 1939

German diplomat Karl Schnurre met with Soviet embassy counselor Georgii Astakhov in Berlin, where Ribbentrop's staff floated sweeping proposals: improved relations, delimitation of spheres of interest, and potential agreements covering Poland and the Baltic states. Moscow responded cautiously but positively.

Image source: Joachim von Ribbentrop

Molotov proposes economic-political package deal

Aug 3, 1939

Meeting German Ambassador Schulenburg, Molotov proposed that economic discussions be tied to a broader political settlement, asking pointedly whether Germany was prepared to conclude a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union — the clearest signal yet that a deal was possible.

Image source: Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

Military mission to Moscow fails

Aug 12, 1939 - Aug 21, 1939

A low-level Anglo-French military delegation traveled to Leningrad and Moscow by slow ship, arriving without authority to make binding commitments. When Soviet Marshal Voroshilov asked how British forces could fight alongside the Red Army if it could not cross Poland, the delegates could not answer, dooming the talks.

Stalin indicates readiness for direct Ribbentrop visit

Aug 19, 1939

Stalin personally received Ambassador Schulenburg and informed him that the Soviet government agreed to receive German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in Moscow within days. Hitler seized on this message to accelerate final preparations for war against Poland.

The Pact Itself

German-Soviet Commercial Agreement finalized

Aug 19, 1939

Building on the August credit agreement, expanded commercial arrangements saw the Soviet Union supply grain, oil, and strategic raw materials to Germany in exchange for machinery and weapons. These economic ties sustained the partnership until June 1941.

Secret protocol divides Eastern Europe

Aug 23, 1939

A secret additional protocol assigned Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and eastern Poland to the Soviet sphere, while western Poland and Lithuania went to Germany (Lithuania was reassigned to the USSR in September). Bessarabia was recognized as a Soviet interest. Both governments pledged strict secrecy.

Image source: Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact negotiations

Signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Aug 23, 1939

In the early hours of August 24 Moscow time, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop signed the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union in Moscow, with Stalin present. The public treaty promised neutrality if either party were attacked by a third power; a secret protocol divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence.

World reacts with shock to the pact

Aug 24, 1939 - Aug 31, 1939

News of the pact stunned the world, especially communists abroad who had been instructed to oppose fascism via popular fronts. In Japan, it contributed to the fall of the pro-German Hiranuma cabinet. Britain and France realized their hopes of deterring Hitler via Soviet alignment had collapsed.

Molotov visits Berlin for Axis negotiations

Nov 12, 1940 - Nov 13, 1940

Molotov traveled to Berlin to discuss the USSR potentially joining the Tripartite Pact. Talks foundered when Molotov pressed for clarification of German intentions regarding Finland, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and demanded Soviet rights in the Balkans. The failure convinced Hitler that the partnership was untenable.

Image source: German–Soviet Axis talks

Soviet and German Occupations

Gleiwitz incident provides invasion pretext

Aug 31, 1939

SS operatives staged a fake Polish attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, planting bodies dressed in Polish uniforms as supposed evidence. The false-flag operation gave Hitler propaganda justification for launching the invasion of Poland the next morning.

Image source: Gleiwitz incident

German invasion of Poland begins World War II

Sep 1, 1939

Wehrmacht forces invaded Poland at dawn, employing blitzkrieg tactics. Britain and France issued ultimatums and declared war on Germany two days later, transforming the regional conflict into the Second World War. The secret protocols ensured the Soviet Union would remain neutral.

Image source: Invasion of Poland

Soviet invasion of eastern Poland

Sep 17, 1939 - Oct 6, 1939

With Polish resistance collapsing, the Red Army invaded eastern Poland under the pretext of protecting Ukrainian and Belarusian populations amid the state's dissolution. Soviet and German forces met along the demarcation line and held joint parades, including at Brest-Litovsk on September 22.

Image source: Soviet invasion of Poland

German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty

Sep 28, 1939

Molotov and Ribbentrop signed a second treaty adjusting the partition line: Germany took all of western Poland, and the Soviet sphere shifted to include Lithuania. A confidential protocol called for suppressing Polish agitation in each other's territories, sealing Poland's fourth partition.

Image source: German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty

Winter War between Soviet Union and Finland

Nov 30, 1939 - Mar 13, 1940

Seeking territory in its sphere of influence, the Soviet Union attacked Finland after Helsinki rejected territorial demands. Despite heroic Finnish resistance and staggering Soviet losses, Finland ceded about ten percent of its territory in the Moscow Peace Treaty, remaining independent.

Image source: Winter War

Soviet occupation of the Baltic states

Jun 15, 1940 - Aug 6, 1940

Using staged border incidents and ultimatums, the USSR forced Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia to accept Soviet bases and then puppet governments. Rigged elections followed, and the three states were formally annexed as Soviet republics in August 1940, with mass deportations of 'anti-Soviet elements.'

Image source: Occupation of the Baltic states

Soviet annexation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina

Jun 28, 1940 - Jul 3, 1940

Backed by the pact's provisions, the USSR presented Romania an ultimatum demanding Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. Romania yielded, and the Red Army occupied the regions, incorporating most of them into the Moldavian SSR. The loss destabilized Romania's government and pushed Bucharest toward the Axis.

Image source: Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina

Second Vienna Award transfers Northern Transylvania

Aug 30, 1940

Germany and Italy arbitrated the Hungarian-Romanian dispute, forcing Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary. The award demonstrated Axis dominance over Southeastern Europe and completed the realignment of Romania, whose Ploiești oil fields became vital to Germany.

Image source: Second Vienna Award

Aftermath and Legacy

Soviet-German tensions mount over Balkans

Nov 20, 1940 - Jun 21, 1941

Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia joined the Tripartite Pact, and Germany sent troops into Romania and Bulgaria and conquered Yugoslavia and Greece. The USSR protested these moves near its borders, while both sides continued trade talks as a cover for increasingly hostile posturing.

Image source: Balkans campaign (World War II)

Operation Barbarossa shatters the pact

Jun 22, 1941

Ignoring the non-aggression treaty, Nazi Germany launched the largest invasion in history against the Soviet Union along a 2,900-kilometer front. Stalin, who had ignored numerous intelligence warnings, was caught off guard. The pact's collapse opened the deadliest theater of World War II.

Image source: Operation Barbarossa

Discovery and publication of the secret protocol

Jan 1, 1989 - Aug 24, 1989

Under glasnost, the Soviet Congress of People's Deputies examined evidence of the secret protocol, long denied by Moscow. On December 24, 1989 the congress officially condemned the pact and acknowledged its secret protocols, vindicating decades of Baltic claims that their incorporation had been illegitimate.

Image source: Katyn massacre

Baltic Way human chain protests Soviet occupation

Aug 23, 1989

On the fiftieth anniversary of the pact, roughly two million people joined hands in a 600-kilometer human chain linking Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. The peaceful demonstration drew global attention to the Baltics' independence movements and became an iconic symbol of the region's liberation struggle.

Image source: Baltic Way

Key Facts

The pact was signed in Moscow on August 23, 1939 by Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.
Secret protocols attached to the treaty divided Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Bessarabia into spheres of influence between Germany and the USSR.
The pact shocked the world because Nazi Germany and communist Soviet Union were ideologically opposed powers.
One week after signing, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, triggering World War II; the USSR invaded eastern Poland on September 17.
Germany violated the pact by launching Operation Barbarossa, a full-scale invasion of the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941.

Source

This Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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