10cf746e54 Page after page is devoted to a detailed description of the horrors inflicted by Stalin and his minions on the territories the pact allowed him to occupy, with mass arrests and deportatations, shootings, torture and expropriation. That 'authority' derived, in fact, from refusal to heed the warnings and sage advice about Soviet reality from men such as William Bullitt and George Kennan. By the death of Lenin in 1924, Stalin wielded significant power at the highest levels, and was in a position to push for control of the party. In 1928, Stalin launched the first of two ambitious five-year plans to modernise and industrialise the Soviet economy. The Nazis obviously also targeted Jews, but not many people know that many Jews fled Stalins control as well even seeking sanctuary in Nazi areas. For his part Stalin played artfully on Roosevelt's ego, assuring the President's personal envoy, Harry Hopkins, of the pre-eminence of Roosevelt as a world leader, a view speedly conveyed to Washington. Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the war was underway. The protocol also assigned Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland to the Soviet sphere of influence and, further, broached the subject of the separation of Bessarabia from Romania.
In the 1930s he culled many of the old Bolsheviks who had fought with him during the revolution; he then purged several high-ranking officers to limit the possibility of a military coup. The shock would have been all the greater had people been aware of the secret clauses of the pact, with subsequent addenda, in which the two states agreed to partition Poland between them Germany taking the larger part while Hitler conceded that the independent Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Finland and parts of Romania would fall into the Soviet sphere of influence. Britannica Stories In The News / Geography Worlds Longest Rail Tunnel Opens Demystified / Animals Whats the Difference Between Bison and Buffalo? Spotlight / Sports & Recreation The 100th Indianapolis 500 In The News / Health & Medicine Bad Blood Transfusions Spread HIV in India The Soviet Unions borders with Poland and Romania that were established after World War II roughly follow those established by the Nonaggression Pact in 193941. More reviews Topics History Politics Adolf Hitler Joseph Stalin Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share via Email Share on LinkedIn Share on Google Share on WhatsApp Share on Messenger Reuse this content View all comments > comments Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion. A map showing eastern Europe was divided between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany by their secret pact in 1939. Britain and America also tended to airbrush the Nazi-Soviet pact out of mainstream history, afraid that it would damage the popular narrative of the "Grand Alliance" that beat the Nazis. About Us About Our Ads Partner Program Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use 2016 Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Lenin himself had expressed doubts about Stalins capacity for leadership, calling him too rude but within three years, Stalin had cemented himself at the helm of the communist regime in Russia.
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