ABSTRACT
The year 1939 saw events in Europe moving swiftly to recast he fortunes of nations and political movements. It saw the defeat of the Spanish republic beginning with the fall of Barcelona on 26 January. In March, Hitler entered Prague and annexed Czechoslovakia, thus ending the illusion of the Munich agreement which British prime minister Neville Chamberlain had claimed would bring 'peace in our time'. Several days later the Soviet government issued one of many similar proposals for talks between France, Britain and the USSR to limit German expansion. Chamberlain rejected the proposal as 'premature' and a similar diplomatic dance continued until August. On the 23rd of that month to the surprise of all sides, Germany's foreign minister, Ribbentrop, and Soviet foreign minister Molotov signed the Non-Aggression Pact in Moscow.
