trapped. He needed the quick and early conquests of weak neighbors in order to sustain his re-armament program, but Britain, France, and to a lesser degree Russia were slowly beginning to oppose the pattern. An invasion of Poland probably invited war with Britain and France (Russia was temporarily placated through an agreement to share Poland). However, the German military had not planned for a Great Power war before the mid-1940s. Hitler, here perhaps remembering how the rigid adherence to the Schlieffen Plan helped destroy Germany in the last war, decided to toss those plans aside and proceed on to war.
The German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
On May 3, 1939, the Soviet Union surprised the world when pro-West Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov was replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov. In negotiations with Britain and France over the next few months, Molotov rejected draft after draft of a treaty meant to align the three nations against Germany. On August 27, an eve
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