The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

(For text in English, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1939pact.html )

 

The Secret Protocols, Articles I and II

Article I. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement in the areas belonging to the Baltic States (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), the northern boundary of Lithuania shall represent the boundary of the spheres of influence of Germany and U.S.S.R. In this connection the interest of Lithuania in the Vilna area is recognized by each party.

Article II. In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state, the spheres of influence of Germany and the U.S.S.R. shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narev, Vistula and San.

The question of whether the interests of both parties make desirable the maintenance of an independent Polish States and how such a state should be bounded can only be definitely determined in the course of further political developments.

In any event both Governments will resolve this question by means of a friendly agreement.

 

The "Secret Protocols" were not entirely "secret"

The map below was published in Izvestiia on September 23, 1939, the day after the Red Army crossed the border.

It clearly shows the line of spheres of influence, here called "Line of demarcation between the German and Soviet armies established by the German government and the government of the USSR."

map_spheres_influence_izvestiia_091839.jpg (368164 bytes)

The map below was published in The New York Times on September 23, 1939, five days after the map above.

It too shows the line of spheres of influence, here called "the demarcation line between the Russian and German Armies." This title shows that it was based upon the map in Izvestiia above.

map_spheres_influence_nyt_092339sm.jpg (319254 bytes)

Other Secret Treaties Relating to These Alliances

The Secret Protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact are often discussed as though there were something unusual and shameful about the practice of secret military agreements.

This is dishonest and misleading. In fact both Britain and France had secret military treaties with Poland.

1. The "Secret military convention" of the French-Polish treaty (traité franco-polonais) of February 21, 1921.

According to Charles L. Phillips and Alan Axelrod, Encyclopedia of historical treaties and alliances (New York : Facts on File, c2001), the text of this "secret military convention" has "vanished" (vol. 2, p. 512).

The treaty, and its "reconstructed" secret military protocol, are also published in J(ohn) A(shley) S(oames) Grenville. The Major International Treaties 1914-1973. (London: Methuen & Co., 1974), pp. 116-117.

 

secret_fr_pol_milit_conv_022121sm.jpg (498642 bytes)

2. The "Secret Protocol" of the August 1939 British Treaty with Poland.

This was a secret clause specifying that the alliance applied only against Germany. Pretty important clause!

But this secret clause is omitted in most published versions of this treaty -- for example, from the Yale University's "Avalon Project", which takes its text from The British War Bluebook,* at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/blbk19.asp

The copy of the secret clause below is taken from Charles L. Phillips and Alan Axelrod, Encyclopedia of historical treaties and alliances (New York : Facts on File, c2001), p. 536. But no primary source is cited for this text, and the name of the Polish signatory is given as "RACZYMSLI" -- it should be "RACZYNSKI".
Is this a scanning error? a copy error? Whatever the case, the fact remains that this British "secret protocol" remains far more secret than the supposedly nefarious "Secret Protocol" of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ever was.

I have found the treaty, including the secret protocol, in the following works:

  • Anthony Carty, Richard A. Smith. Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice and the world crisis: a legal adviser in the Foreign Office, 1932-1945. ISBN 9041112421, 9789041112422 (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2000), p. 312. This is a faint but legible official facsimile photocopy from the Public Record Office. You can see it here.

  • J. A. S. Grenville. The Major International Treaties 1914-1973. (London: Methuen & Co., 1974), pp. 190-191 ("secret protocol" on p. 191). More recent edition: J. A. S. Grenville, Bernard Wasserstein. The major international treaties of the twentieth century: a history and guide with texts. 3rd edition.  ISBN 041523798X, 9780415237987 Taylor & Francis, 2001), pp. 223-225 ("secret protocol" on pp. 224-225)

  • Michael Alfred Peszke. The Polish underground army, the Western allies, and the failure of strategic unity in World War II. ISBN: 078642009X DDC: 940.54120899185 (Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c2005), pp. 105-107.

  • Anita J. Prazmowska. Britain, Poland and the Eastern Front, 1939. ISBN 0521529387, 9780521529389 (Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp. 201-204 ("secret protocol" on pp. 203-204).

I have put the whole text online here. A PDF version, from Peszke (2005) is here.

 

secret_uk_pol_milit_protocol_082539_pt1.jpg (63409 bytes) secret_uk_pol_milit_protocol_082539_pt2.jpg (401722 bytes)

* The British war blue book. Miscellaneous no. 9 (1939) Documents concerning German-Polish relations and the outbreak of hostilities between Great Britain and Germany on September 3, 1939. Great Britain. Foreign Office / New York, Farrar & Rinehart, 1939.