Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a special agreement between two big countries: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. It was signed in 1939 by their foreign ministers, Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim von Ribbentrop, in Moscow.

This pact promised that the two countries would not fight each other for ten years. Before this, the Soviet Union tried to work with Britain and France, but those talks did not work out. So, they decided to work together instead.

The pact had a secret part that divided parts of Eastern Europe into areas each country could control. This meant some lands would go to Germany, and others to the Soviet Union. Countries like Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania were affected by this secret plan.

The pact ended in June 1941 when Germany invaded the Soviet Union. This started a big fight between the two countries during World War II. The agreement changed the borders of many countries in Europe and made life very hard for many people.