Why was Hitler so jubliant upon hearing of the signing of the Pact? Was it mostly the fact that he could now invade his “Sphere of Influence” in Poland as laid out in the Pact’s secret protocol with out fearing attack from the Soviets and end up fighting a two front war which he ended up doing anyway? Was it also the fact that Germany could continue to stockpile raw materials for the eventual invasion of the Soviet Union.
Discuss
Well, the “spheres of influences” meant that Hitler got free hands against Poland and the West and Stalin got free hands against Baltic countries, Finland and Romania.
England and France tried to surround Germany but the pact basicly put Poland under siege. This was secret at the time of course but the world suspected the existance of a “secret clause” the Soviets invaded eastern Poland and later Finland.
Germany stockpiled raw materiel which was bought from Soviet Union also.
So, Hitler was happy and so was Stalin.
I suppose it also gave Stalin a false sense of secutity.
A popular quote concerning the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact can be read in relevant literature: “The pact was not worth the paper it was written on.”
Yes, I think so too. The strategic intelligence gathering of the Soviets was of extremely poor quality at that time.
The Soviet spies basicly told Stalin what he wanted to hear. This is evident from the Winter War when the Red Army didn’t expect much resistance from the Finns and later when Stalin agreed to a peace with an exhausted enemy as he was afraid to get tangled up with Brits and French units in Finland (who, in reality, were not coming).
It obviously meant very much to Hitler - Pounding his fist on the table “I’ve got them” and then standing “I’ve got them”.
~Unknown source~