On 23 August, 1939, Russia and Germany signed a . Also, the two countries made a secret agreement to invade and divide between them.  


Britain and Russia
In 1939, Stalin invited Lord , the British Foreign Secretary to go to Russia to discuss an alliance against Germany.
The British refused. They Russian Communism, and believed that the Russian army was .
In August 1939, with war in Poland imminent, the British eventually sent a minor official, but when the Russians asked if they could send troops into Poland if Hitler invaded, the British .


Why did Anglo-Soviet Talks Fail?
Suspicion
This was mutual - Chamberlain did not trust Stalin, who was a and a , and Stalin thought Britain wanted to trick him into war against .

Choice
Britain could not send troops to fight in Poland, so if Stalin supported Britain, he would end up fighting a war in Poland on Britain’s . But Hitler was offering , and half of Poland.  

Appeasement
After , Stalin was convinced that Britain would break its promises to Poland and leave Russia fighting Hitler .  

Britain delayed
Stalin got fed up with the .
   

Hitler and Russia
In August 1939, Hitler sent , a senior Nazi, to Russia.

Stalin knew Hitler was , but he did not trust the British either.      
If he made an alliance with Britain, he would end up fighting a war with .
If he made an alliance with Germany, he would get of Poland, and to prepare for war with Germany.
On 1939, he signed the Pact with Hitler.  


Why did the Nazi-Soviet Pact Happen?
Time to prepare for war
Stalin said: ‘We got for our country for 18 months, which let us make military ’.

Hope to gain
Russia would benefit from a war where Britain, France and Germany themselves.

Unhappy with Britain
Stalin was by Britain’s slowness and did not trust Britain, so he turned to Germany.

Germany
Hitler wanted the alliance because only Russia defend Poland. He believed that, if he had a treaty with with Russia, Britain would be forced to back down over Poland and .