>>19436399Vatnigger
Despite the persistence of the Soviet wartime pursuit of a sphere of influence the
only explicit and formal agreement concluded by Moscow in this period was the
Nazi-Soviet pact of August-September 1939. In a secret additional protocol attached
to the German-Soviet non-aggression treaty of 23 August 1939 Poland was divided
into German and Soviet spheres of influence and Finland, Estonia and Latvia
allocated to a Soviet sphere of influence in the Baltic
. In response Moscow
decided to invade and occupy its sphere of influence in Poland and subsequently to
incorporate Western Byelorussia and Western Ukraine into the USSR. Annexation
and incorporation was also the ultimate fate of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But
initially Moscow was content with mutual assistance treaties and military bases and
a friendly disposition on the part of the governments of the three Baltic States. The
total Soviet-Communist takeover of these states in summer 1940 was fired by
internal political upheavals in the region triggered by Moscow’s decision to occupy
them militarily and to demand the establishment of new, friendlier and more
manageable governments—itself a panicky response to Hitler’s stunning defeat of
France.10
Finnish resistance to Moscow’s demands for a mutual assistance treaty, territorial
adjustments and military bases resulted in a Soviet attack on Finland at the end of
November 1939.
Vatnigger
