What brought Nazi Germany and the USSR to the brink of war in June 1941? What about their odd alliance in the late 1930s?
The relationship between these opposite tyrannies played out like the macabre inverse of a romantic comedy. Nothing was funny.
- Audio version
- Video version (patrons access)
Maps to help:
The Battle of Khalkin Gol, on the border of Manchukuo and Mongolia, 1941.
Soviet map of the Battle of Khalkin Gol.
The Molotov-RIbbentrop Pact
How Germany and the USSR divided eastern Europe into their own respective “spheres of influence.”
Germany’s invasion of Poland, beginning September 1, 1939
The USSR’s invasion of Poland, beginning September 17, 1939
The Winter War between the USSR and Finland, 1939–40.
Finnish territory ceded to the USSR after the Winter War, 1940