ABSTRACT
Despite negotiating a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany in August 1939, during the perilous days after the beginning of the Second World War in September, Stalin and the Red Army General Staff realized that Germany still posed a considerable military threat to the Soviet Union. Therefore, from September 1939 to the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in June 1941, the Soviet political leadership and General Staff formulated a military policy and strategy that sought to defend the Soviet Union against the frightening prospect of a war on two fronts. This defensive strategy accorded priority, first and foremost to the west, and secondarily to the east. In the west, the Soviets exploited their agreement with Germany for a partition of eastern Europe by subsequently occupying and annexing the Baltic States and Belorussia. The policy also promoted Stalin to wage war against Finland after Soviet threats had failed to intimidate that small nation.
