Mmmmm. I think I disagree.

Germany and the Soviets had agreed a boundary between the lands they both wanted to conquer. The deal was that the Soviets would take eastern Europe and Germany the west. Hence both countries invading Poland in 1939. Non-aggression is one way of putting it. Dividing Europe between them is another. Both aggressors against Europe.

And then Finland. The Winter War was a defensive war against the USSR and didn’t involve Germany. They then exploited it when Operation Barbarossa commenced and continued pushing the soviets back. Finally, once that was done, they joined the fight against the Germans. To say they were allied with the Germany just because the both were engaged with fighting the USSR at the same time is wrong.

I wish they’d put the articles behind those covers on their site, rather than just simple biographies. I’d like to read how people like Hitler and Stalin were perceived in the run up to WW2. Stalin in 39 is particularly interesting because that’s just after Molotov-Ribbentrop has been signed and WW2 has started with the Russian allied to the Germans.

Fact is, even in the west we don’t know much. The historical record has holes. We know of the protests. We know the military went in and nobody came out, but I’m not sure we really know what happened.

At least… I don’t.

Closest I can come with is nuclear disarmament. Not because I think they were on the wrong side of it, but I think it’s far less clear cut and there’s a credible argument that MAD has worked.