Editing Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (section)

== Revelation ==
The agreement stunned the world. [[John Gunther]], in Moscow in August 1939, recalled how the news of the 19 August commercial agreement surprised journalists and diplomats, who hoped for world peace. They did not expect the 21 August announcement of the non-aggression pact: "Nothing more unbelievable could be imagined. Astonishment and skepticism turned quickly to consternation and alarm".<ref name="gunther1940">{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.149663/2015.149663.Inside-Europe#page/n159/mode/2up | title=Inside Europe | publisher=Harper & Brothers | author=Gunther, John | author-link=John Gunther | location=New York | year=1940 | pages=137–138}}</ref> The news was met with utter shock and surprise by government leaders and media worldwide, most of whom were aware of only the British–French–Soviet negotiations, which had taken place for months;{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=30}}{{r|gunther1940}} by Germany's allies, notably Japan; by the [[Comintern]] and foreign Communist parties; and Jewish communities all around the world.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUdmyzkw9q4C&pg=PA597 |publisher=Routledge |editor-first=Ruud |editor-last=van Dijk |title=Encyclopedia of the Cold War |place=London |year=2008 |page=597 |isbn=978-0-415-97515-5}}.</ref>

On 24 August, ''[[Pravda]]'' and ''[[Izvestia]]'' carried news of the pact's public portions, complete with the now-famous front-page picture of Molotov signing the treaty with a smiling Stalin looking on.{{Sfn|Roberts|2006|p=30}} The same day, German diplomat [[Hans von Herwarth]], whose grandmother was Jewish, informed Italian diplomat [[Guido Bellido|Guido Relli]]{{sfn|Wegner|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=aESBIpIm6UcC&pg=PA507 507]}} and American [[chargé d'affaires]] [[Charles Bohlen]] of the secret protocol on the vital interests in the countries' allotted "spheres of influence" but failed to reveal the annexation rights for "territorial and political rearrangement".<ref>{{cite book |first=Sławomir |last=Dębski |title=Między Berlinem a Moskwą. Stosunki niemiecko-sowieckie 1939–1941 |place=Warszawa |year=2007 |publisher=Polski Instytut SprawMiędzynarodowych |isbn=978-83-89607-08-9}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dunn |first=Dennis J |title=Caught Between Roosevelt & Stalin: America's Ambassadors to Moscow |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=1998 |isbn=0-8131-2023-3 |pages=124–5}}.</ref> The agreement's public terms so exceeded the terms of an ordinary non-aggression treaty—requiring that both parties consult with each other, and not aid a third party attacking either—that Gunther heard a joke that Stalin had joined the [[Anti-Comintern Pact|anti-Comintern pact.]]{{r|gunther1940}} ''[[Time Magazine]]'' repeatedly referred to the Pact as the "Communazi Pact" and its participants as "communazis" until April 1941.<ref>{{cite news|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762664-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331134125/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762664-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=31 March 2009|title=Moscow's Week|date=9 October 1939|access-date=11 January 2009}}.</ref><ref>{{cite news |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762675,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308060755/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762675,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 March 2008 |title=Revival |date=9 October 1939 |access-date=11 January 2009 }}.</ref><ref>{{cite news|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789816-2,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228155801/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789816-2,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=28 February 2007|title=Communazi Columnists|date=3 June 1940|access-date=11 January 2009}}.</ref><ref>{{cite news|magazine=Time|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765178,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071203032043/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765178,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 December 2007|title=The Revolt of the Intellectuals|date=6 January 1941|first=Whittaker|last=Chambers|access-date=11 January 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765427,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090331134035/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765427,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=31 March 2009 |title=In Again, Out Again |date=7 April 1941 |access-date=11 January 2009 }}.</ref>

[[Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet propaganda]] and representatives went to great lengths to minimize the importance of the fact that they had opposed and fought the Germans in various ways for a decade prior to signing the pact. Molotov tried to reassure the Germans of his good intentions by commenting to journalists that "fascism is a matter of taste".<ref>{{cite book |first=Fulton John |last=Sheen |title=Communism and the Conscience of the West |publisher=Bobbs–Merrill |year=1948 |page=115}}.</ref> For its part, Germany also did a public volte-face regarding its virulent opposition to the Soviet Union, but Hitler still viewed an attack on the Soviet Union as "inevitable".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-soviet-union-and-the-eastern-front |title=The Soviet Union and the Eastern Front |website=encyclopedia.ushmm.org |language=en |access-date=26 January 2019 |archive-date=10 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710182752/https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-soviet-union-and-the-eastern-front |url-status=live }}</ref>

Concerns over the possible existence of a secret protocol were expressed first by the intelligence organizations of the Baltic states{{citation needed|date=February 2009}} only days after the pact was signed. Speculation grew stronger when Soviet negotiators referred to its content during the negotiations for military bases in those countries (see [[occupation of the Baltic States]]).

The day after the pact was signed, the Franco-British military delegation urgently requested a meeting with Soviet military negotiator [[Kliment Voroshilov]].{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=541–2}} On 25 August, Voroshilov told them that "in view of the changed political situation, no useful purpose can be served in continuing the conversation".{{Sfn|Shirer|1990|pp=541–2}} The same day, Hitler told the British ambassador to Berlin that the pact with the Soviets prevented Germany from facing a two-front war, which changed the strategic situation from that in World War I, and that Britain should accept his demands on Poland.{{Sfn|Nekrich|Ulam|Freeze|1997|p=123}}

On 25 August, Hitler was surprised when [[Anglo-Polish military alliance|Britain joined a defense pact with Poland]].{{Sfn|Nekrich|Ulam|Freeze|1997|p=123}} Hitler postponed his plans for an [[invasion of Poland]] on 26 August to 1 September.{{Sfn|Nekrich|Ulam|Freeze|1997|p=123}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Frank |last=McDonough |title=Neville Chamberlain, Appeasement and the British Road to War |page=86}}.</ref> In accordance with the defence pact, Britain and France declared war on Germany on 3 September.<ref name="black">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ljAyEEiVG-sC&pg=PA250 | title=Avoiding Armageddon: From the Great War to the Fall of France, 1918–40 | publisher=A&C Black | author=Black, Jeremy | year=2012 | page=251 | isbn=978-1-4411-5713-3}}</ref>

[[File:Ribbentrop-Molotov.svg|frameless|center|upright=2|Planned and actual territorial changes in Central Europe: 1939–1940]]