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Prior to World War Two in 1941 the soviet had had and still had many problems and one of their biggest threats was Germany. In the 30's the soviet union was in a week state Stalin's key objective was to ensure it did not become involved in any wars however Stalin knew that war with Germany was evitable. At the time there was another serious threat of war to Russia from Japan in the east after there refusal in 1932 to sign a non aggression pact with Russia, France, Poland, Finland and Estonia. Stalin was left with two choices ally with Britain and end up fighting Germany or ally with Germany and prepare for war against Germany.

In March 1939 Britain had guaranteed Poland's security, London along with France were seeking a military alliance with the Soviet Union. Stalin was very wary of this because he didn't want to be drawn into a war with Germany with the possibility of Britain and France being stood in the sidelines. Therefore at whatever the cost, it came to be seen as the sacred duty of all communists to do whatever necessary to ensure the survival of the socialist fatherland'. The Nazi-Soviet Non Aggression pact would allow Stalin to buy time to prepare themselves for the coming war by further industrialization, rearmament and military reorganisation. A second part of the pact was an economic agreement which would help Russia prepare this was the exchange of Russian Food Products and raw materials in return for German manufactured goods and machinery.

In addition another reason for Stalin's decision was the reluctance of France and Britain to negotiate seriously with Russia. Stalin was insulted by Britain's slowness to negotiate and did not trust them. Stalin thought that Britain were delaying they send a group of officials (diplomats) to Leningrad to discuss terms for a pact however these officials could not make any decisions. Britain did not believe that Russia had any other choice but to ally with them. Stalin was very apprehensive and at the back of his mind believed that when the crucial moment came the western powers might choose to opt out and leave Russia on it's own against Germany.

A secret protocol was also added into the pact which meant territorial gains for Russia. The arrangement was that Russia would occupy the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania and Poland would be split between the two.
On the one hand Stalin was being offered what he hoped was peace which was needed to help restore Russia and on the other hand was territorial gains all for keeping out of the war which he had wanted all along.

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