I once took a history course where the professor looked at historical events from the point of view of the “other guy”.
In regards to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact:
The West did nothing when Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland.
The West did nothing when Hitler occupied Austria.
The West did nothing when Hitler occupied the Sudetenland
The West did nothing when Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia.
So maybe Stalin thought he’d be next, and the West would do nothing. So better to ally with Hitler than be his next victim.
Note the “maybe” there. The professor was just proposing a theory for discussion. By the way, he was a stanch anti-communist. He had no respect for Stalin or the USSR.
What did your enlightened professor give as an excuse for why Stalin ordered the Katyn massacre?
Hitler offered the Soviet Union half of Poland, the Brits and French didn’t. That’s why Stalin signed with Hitler.
Your professor was right to a degree.
Stalin was buying time. He just purged most of his best generals, so he knew it wouldn’t be until 1943, before the Red Army would be ready to launch an offensive war.
The other thing about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, is that it came just right Germany, Japan and Italy signed the Anti-Comintern Pact. And to put it mildly, the Japs were not happy at all with the Pact.
Then Zhukov kicks Japan’s ass at Khalkin Gol, and the Japs signed their own Non-Aggression Pact with Moscow, which meant Hitler wasn’t going to get any help from Japan, with regards to his fight with The Soviet Union.