Alternate Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Philip

Donor
Is it possible to arrange for an alternate Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact where the Soviets and Germans agree to invade Poland on the same day? If so, what happens if the Germans invade a day or two late. Can they spin it as protecting the Poles from the Red Horde?
 

Philip

Donor
To what end? Partitioning Poland between them?

That was a goal of the OTL Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but that's not where I was going. Maybe I can rephrase it this way: If the Germans invade Poland after the Soviets do, can the Germans present the invasion not as a war of aggression, but as military intervention? Does this give the British and the French an excuse to not declare war?
 

Rockingham

Banned
That was a goal of the OTL Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, but that's not where I was going. Maybe I can rephrase it this way: If the Germans invade Poland after the Soviets do, can the Germans present the invasion not as a war of aggression, but as military intervention? Does this give the British and the French an excuse to not declare war?
Hitler wanted a war. Thus, this didn't happen.
 
Does that mean it couldn't happen?

Yes, it means that. Not because of Hitler's decisions, but because of Stalin's. He was extremely cautious and actually paranoid. His policy from 1937 on had been exactly that of avoiding a war at unfavorable odds. The ploy suggested here is something he would certainly have thought about. And the OTL delay in the Soviet operations is a good clue that he would have done the same here.
 
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