Russian Life & People Digest
Question by hello: I read today that Russia sided with Nazi Germany during the initial invasion of Poland in 1939?
As the war continued, what happened that caused Germany and Russia to fight each other?
Answers and Views:
Answer by Dale N
They originally had a nonaggression pact. Both initially wanting to expand lands and split Polland. Germany thought Russians were inferior and broke treaty in need of Russia’s oil fields to keep the war machine turning.
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Naz F says
As Louie so well-described, Hitler's ambition to conquer Russia.
Louie O says
Hitler had planned on conquering Russia long before he "sided" with them and the war started. He stated in his book Mein Kampf , written in the 1920's, that he planned on conquering the East (Poland and Russia) to acquire "living space or lebensraum" for the German Empire to expand. He stated he would kill or enslave the entire Russian population and repopulate Russia with ethnic Germans.
The only reason Hitler signed the 10-year nonaggression pact with Russia was so he could attack western Europe and England and not worry about Russia coming to their aid and attacking Germany from the east.
He tricked Stalin into believing he wasn't going to attack Russia knowing all along that he was.
Friendly Pagan Socio says
Rather than siding on the Germans side the Russians signed a nonaggression treaty with them but thought they were no match for his army and decided to occupy Russia as well invading Russian soil in June 22, 1941, although the invasion was successful at first the Germans lost the Battle of Stalingrad in the Winter of 1943, after that thousands of german soldiers died for Hypothermia in the cruel Russian winter, so Hitler had to give up conquering Russia.
Zman says
This is true, Russia and Germany both invaded poland. Even though both sides figured that they would go to war someday, Stalin thought I would be a few years later.
Tim D says
Hitler and the Nazi party had always had the aim of resisting the expansion of communism, side by side was Hitler's manifesto, laid out in Mein Kampf, that the Lebensraum, required to house the German-speaking peoples of Greater Germany, would be taken from the nations to the east.
However, out of convenience, Molotov and Ribbentrop signed a non-aggression pact allowing both sides to take portions of Poland without creating a situation where both sides were in conflict. Neither nation intended that the pact would last.