On 19 August 1939 Stalin's Soviet Union began a new era in economic cooperation with Nazi Germany, in which Moscow would supply Berlin with oil. 1/
Four days later Berlin and Moscow signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, the secret protocol of which provided for the division of eastern Europe into spheres of influence. 2/
On 1 September 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland, followed by its Soviet ally on 17 September 1939. 3/
Both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union declared that the Polish state was artificial and carried out policies to decapitate the Polish nation. 4/
On 28 September 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a Treaty on Borders and Friendship. 5/
Trade cooperation between Nazi Germany and the USSR was confirmed and extended by a new agreement on 11 February 1940. Moscow would deliver oil on a very large scale. 6/
Nazi Germany then invaded Denmark and Norway in April 1940 and the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in May 1940. 7/
The USSR, also reinforced by economic cooperation with Nazi Germany, invaded and occupied Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in June 1940. 8/
Soviet oil also enabled Nazi Germany to undertake the air campaign known as the Battle of Britain in July 1940. 9/
I am not sure Germans have sufficiently worked through this history. 10/10
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
