Why did the Nazi soviet pact shock the world?

Answer 1

The Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact shocked the world because the Soviet-Communist ideology was feared and looked down upon at the time. Germany's governmental idealogy was in direct conflict to communism. In fact, most of the world's leaders at the time had viewed communism as a threat (this was no different in nazi Germany) many Nazis actually thought of communism as a cancer which is believed to add to the "shock value" of the pact. Nazi and communist Ideologies are very different from one another, yet both Nazism and Soviet-Communism share the similarity of an autocratic form of government (except the Nazis were far more organized than the Soviets at that time) To put simply, the Nazis and soviets hated each other.

The Non-aggression pact was Hitler's way of avoiding a two front war in the European theatre. Breaking the NAP is considered to be one of Hitler's greatest mistakes in the war. Germany's soldiers were far better trained and equiped were as their Russian counterparts had obtained little training and were ill equiped. The Russians were able to over-run the German forces due to shear numbers. It is still joked about today that Russia's military strategy consisted of sending infantry until the Germans ran out of bullets.

~Kyle R

Answer 2

Because Communism and Nazism/Fascism are philosophically opposed to each other. Communism is ultra-left wing Marxist, believing that working-class peoples throughout the world should unite and overthrow the Capitalist class. Fascism on the other hand is ultra-right wing reactionary, rejecting Marxist ideas of class struggle in favor of ultra-nationalism and theories of racial superiority of one group (Germans, Italians, etc.) over others.

Because of this deep ideological divide Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were thought to be natural enemies. The Nonagression Pact suddenly left the Western Democracies of Britian and France without a counterbalance to Germany in Europe. The result was a conquered France and a Britian subjected to bombing via the Blitz.