Question

German-Soviet Non-aggression pact document analysis

Article 5. Should disputes or conflicts arise between the Contracting Parties over problems of one kind or another, both parties will settle these disputes or conflicts exclusively by means of a friendly exchange of views or, if necessary, by the appointment of arbitration commissions.

What promise(s) do both sides make in Article 5?

Answer 1

In Article 5 of the German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, both nations agreed not to start a war against the other.

Step-by-step explanation:

The German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact, also called the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, was a non-aggression agreement between the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, signed on 23 August 1939 in Moscow. The mutual non-aggression pact was in force until Operation Barbarossa began on June 22, 1941, when Germany invaded the USSR.

Although formally designated as a "non-aggression pact", this agreement also covered a secret protocol that divided the spheres of interest in the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. The Secret Protocol explicitly provided for "political and territorial changes" in the areas of the countries mentioned. As a consequence of this agreement, all the above countries were attacked and occupied either by Germany or by the Soviet Union. Only Finland, which fought the USSR twice during the Second World War, managed to preserve its independence but was forced to cede certain territories.