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Music Hello everyone and welcome to History of the Second World War, Episode 142, the Baltic Takeover.

This week, a big thank you goes out to Zach, Ivan, Ola, and

the Irregular History Buff. For choosing to support the podcast by becoming members, you can find

out more over at History of the Second World War.com slash members. As part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop

pact signed before the German invasion of Poland,

the two nations, Germany and the Soviet Union, had agreed that there would be two different

spheres of influence for both nations. For the Soviets, this included an area including

all of the Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

After the invasion of Poland was over, and after the Soviets had incorporated the new areas of Poland

into the Soviet Union, foreign minister Molotov and the Soviet leaders turned their focus

to the Baltic states. Unlike with Poland, the actions taken against the Baltic nations would be diplomatic

in nature, and over the course of a few weeks, the three nations would sign what were called

mutual assistance treaties. The Soviet leaders would say that these treaties were essential

for the Baltic states to maintain their independence in the face of possible aggression

from other nations,

...