Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
The Baltic states
The annexation of the Baltic states by the USSR
Caught between the USSR and Germany ever since their emergence as independent states following the First World War, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (the Baltic states) had to handle their relations with their two neighbours with great care. With the advent of Nazi Germany, this became increasingly difficult. The three states signed individual non-aggression pacts with the USSR, but evaded proposals for guarantees of closer protection, which would have entailed the stationing of Soviet troops on their territories.
On 23 August 1939 the Soviet and German foreign ministers signed the Treaty of Nonaggression between Germany and the USSR (the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), to which a secret Supplementary Protocol provided,
On the occasion of the signature of the Nonaggression Pact between the German Reich and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics the undersigned plenipotentiaries of each of the two parties discussed in strictly confidential conversations the question of the boundary of their respective spheres of influence in Eastern Europe. These conversations led to the following conclusions:
1. 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 the USSR …
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