this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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They were never on the same side
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland
The areas the Soviets went after were largely territories Poland had annexed during the 1919 Polish-Ukrainian War, and included territories of modern day Ukraine, Lithuania, and Belarus. The Lithuanians in particular were ethnically oppressed by the nationalists in Poland.
Throughout the 1930s, the Soviets had tried to establish a joint French/British/Soviet/Polish defensive pact against Nazi invasion. Britain and France ignored the proposal, as they wished to see Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union destroy each other. Poland also ignored the negotiations, including the Soviet offer to send 1 million troops to Poland and France to help against possible invasion.
The Soviets entered Poland after the Nazis, by several weeks. They prevented Nazi Germany from taking the entirety of Poland, and, as per earlier, mostly stuck to territories Poland had invaded only 20 years earlier.
The Soviets and Nazis were never allies. They hated each other from the very beginning, and spent a long time preparing for war with the other. The Soviet Union in particular had to be careful, as it had an extremely short time spent on industrialization, which it began in earnest after toppling the Tsar, while Germany had a century of industrialization on its side.
The Polish didn't just ignore it, they would really, kinda, rather not work with the Soviets.
(Bold added by me)
The Cold War And Its Origins, 1917– 1960. Vol. I, 1917– 1950 By Denna Frank Fleming, Chapter 5
Fantastic work, that really goes to show just what a mistake it was for Poland.
Absolutely. And there is a bunch to say about the others (see Ibid), but Poland was easier because they just outright refused.
Yep, tragic in retrospect.