Ribbentrop’s Folly: The Nazi Thesis of Soviet Thermidor and the Origins of the Second World War, 1936-1941

Speaker: Philip Decker, Ernest May Research Fellow, Belfer Center

This talk examines the opening chapter of Decker's dissertation The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: A Cultural and Diplomatic History, exploring the emergence of an internally generated Nazi justification for rapprochement with the Soviet Union. Challenging the notion that the Nazi-Soviet alignment failed to produce a serious ideological crisis within the Nazi leadership, the chapter examines how perceptions of Soviet cultural transformation - and Stalin’s efforts to communicate this transformation to Berlin - shaped German thinking and contributed to the diplomatic realignment of 1939. More broadly, the research demonstrates how integrating cultural and geopolitical analysis can offer a more nuanced understanding of the Nazi-Soviet relationship and the origins of the Second World War.

Please note that attendance for this event is limited to the Harvard community and affiliates. 

This event is being hosted elsewhere on campus, and not by the History Department. To learn more, please see the original event posting.