Augustine


 * On August 23, 1939, four days after the economic agreement was signed and a little over a week before the beginning of World War II, Ribbentrop and Molotov signed the Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. The pact is also referred to as the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Publicly, this agreement stated that the two countries - Germany and the Soviet Union - would not attack each other. If there were ever a problem between the two countries, it was to be handled amicably. The pact was supposed to last for ten years; it lasted for less than two.****What was meant by the terms of the pact was that if Germany attacked Poland, then the Soviet Union would not come to its aid. Thus, if Germany went to war against the West especially France and Great Britain over Poland, the Soviets were guaranteeing that they would not enter the war; thus not open a second front for Germany.**
 * In addition to this agreement, Ribbentrop and Molotov added a secret protocol onto the pact - a secret addendum whose existence was denied by the Soviets until 1989.**