Vyacheslav Molotov (left) shaking hands with Joachim von Ribbentrop after the two foreign ministers signed the famous Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in Moscow on August 23rd, 1939.
The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was a non-aggression agreement between Germany and the Soviet Union, which also defined the spheres of influence in Europe between the two Nations.
The pact became void on June 22nd 1941, when Germany started its invasion of the Soviet Union through Operation Barbarossa.
Joachim von Ribbentrop was sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and others. He was hanged on October 16th, 1946.
Vyacheslav Molotov died in Moscow on November 8th, 1986, aged 96.
Book suggestion ⤵️
📖 The Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939-1941 (Anthony Read and David Fisher, 1988)