History /
Why did Russia attack Poland in WW2? [178]
A few reasons.
1. Revenge. The Poles were able to beat the Bolsheviks during the brief Polish-Soviet War. In 1920 which is often referred to the miracle of Warsaw, the Poles where able to beat back the invading Soviets. Eventually the Bolsheviks under Lenin pushed for peace and thus the Treaty of Riga was agreed upon. The Treaty of Riga extended the Polish border and Lenin looked like a failure. So its obvious that Stalin would want to regain these territories and even more once he had the chance.
2. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was agreed upon during the Spring of 1939 in which the Germans and Russians planned to carve up the Second Polish Republic. So essentially the Soviets had invasion plans drawn out and just needed to wait til the Germans invaded.
3. The Russians have always meddled in Polish affairs, and at one time much of Poland was under the Russian Empire. So for Stalin why not extend the Soviet borders while gobbling up more land.
Also the Germans only allied with the Soviets briefly so they could invade Poland and invade the West without having to worry about a second front.