How did the Soviet Union’s motives in the secret protocol of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact lead to the outbreak of World War II?

One of the direct causes of World War II is the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939. The infamous pact and its secret protocol launched the world into a fury of aggression by two of the great powers of the time: Germany and the Soviet Union. On the façade, the pact assured peaceful relations between both countries; however, in the secret protocol, the illegal terms of the alliance allowed the Soviet Union partitions of the Baltic States and exemplified its selfish motives to expand the Soviet regime. The accumulation of events leading up to the Pact and the motives and results of the aggression by both countries will be discussed, with an emphasis on the Soviet regime. A variety of primary and secondary sources will be analyzed for this investigation to evaluate different points of view. For example, Hitler’s motives were explained by reference to his book, Mein Kampf and the Russian point of view was captured by the book Krushchev Remembers by Strobe Talbott.
Summary of Ev...