Lordy.

The BBC on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact:

The pact was signed by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and his Russian counterpart, Vyacheslav Molotov, in Moscow.

It led to the carving-up of Poland between Nazi Germany and the USSR, as well as the annexation by the USSR of eastern Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and northern Romania.

The western parts of Ukraine and Belarus, formerly Polish territory, were also incorporated into the Soviet Union.

At that point, believe some historians, a war in Europe became unavoidable.

Wha-a-a-a-t??

"At that point" a war in Europe had already started. The Nazi then Soviet onslaught against Poland was short but spectactularly brutal, with mass executions and attacks on civilians already in profusion. Polish casualties ran into many scores of thousands, with the Nazi invaders too paying dearly.

Or was there ‘war’ only when Poland’s allies finally got round to fighting?