Editing Vyacheslav Molotov (section)

=== Minister of Foreign Affairs (1939–1949) ===
Molotov meets with Joachim von Ribbentrop before signing the German-Soviet non-aggression pact

Molotov with Hitler in Berlin. Front page of ''Pravda''.

In 1939, following the 1938 Munich Agreement and Hitler's subsequent invasion of Czechoslovakia, Stalin believed that Britain and France would not be reliable allies against German expansion so instead sought to conciliate Nazi Germany. In May 1939 Maxim Litvinov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, was dismissed; Molotov was appointed to succeed him. Molotov was succeeded in his post as Premier by Stalin.

At first, Hitler rebuffed Soviet diplomatic hints that Stalin desired<nowiki> </nowiki>a treaty; but in early August 1939, Hitler authorised Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop<nowiki> </nowiki>to begin serious negotiations. A trade agreement was concluded on 18 August; and on 22 August, Ribbentrop flew to Moscow to conclude a formal<nowiki> </nowiki>non-aggression treaty. Although the treaty is known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact,<nowiki> </nowiki>it was Stalin and Hitler, and not Molotov and Ribbentrop, who decided the content of the treaty. The most important part of the agreement was the secret protocol, which provided for the partition of Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and for the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia (then part of Romania, now Moldova). This protocol gave Hitler the green light for his invasion of Poland, which began on 1 September. On 5 March 1940 [[Lavrentiy Beria]] gave Molotov, along with Anastas Mikoyan, Kliment Voroshilov and Stalin, a note ordering the execution of 25,700 Polish officers and anti-Soviets, in what has become known as the [[Katyn Massacre]].

Under the terms of the Pact, Hitler was, in effect, given authorisation to occupy two-thirds of Western Poland, as well as Lithuania. Molotov was given a free hand in relation to Finland. In the Soviet-Finnish War
<nowiki> </nowiki>that ensued, a combination of fierce Finnish resistance and Soviet mismanagement resulted in Finland losing parts of its territory, but not<nowiki> </nowiki>its independence. The Pact was later amended to allocate Lithuania to the Soviet sphere in exchange for a more favourable border in Poland. These annexations led to horrific suffering and loss of life in the countries occupied and<nowiki> </nowiki>partitioned by the two dictatorships.

In November 1940 Stalin sent Molotov to Berlin to meet Ribbentrop and Adolf Hitler. In January 1941, the British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden<nowiki> </nowiki>visited Turkey in an attempt to get the Turks to enter the war on the Allies' side. Though the purpose of Eden's visit was anti-German rather than anti-Soviet, Molotov assumed otherwise, and in a series of conversations with the Italian Ambassador Augusto Rosso, Molotov claimed<nowiki> </nowiki>that the Soviet Union would soon be faced with an Anglo-Turkish invasion of the Crimea. The British historian D.C. Watt argued that on the basis of Molotov's statements to Rosso, it would appear that in early 1941, Stalin and Molotov viewed Britain rather than Germany as the principal threat.

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact governed Soviet-German relations until June 1941 when Hitler, having occupied France and neutralized Britain, turned east and attacked the Soviet Union. Molotov was responsible for telling the Soviet people<nowiki> </nowiki>of the attack, when he instead of Stalin announced the war. His speech,<nowiki> </nowiki>broadcast by radio on 22 June, characterized the Soviet Union in a role similar to that articulated for Britain by Winston Churchill in his early wartime speeches. The State Defence Committee was established soon after Molotov's speech; Stalin was elected chairman and Molotov was elected deputy chairman. Following the German invasion, Molotov conducted urgent negotiations with Britain and, later, the United States for wartime alliances. He took a secret flight to Glasgow, Scotland, where he was greeted by Eden. This risky flight, in a high altitude Tupolev TB-7 bomber, flew over German occupied Denmark and the North Sea. From there he took a train to London to discuss with the British government the possibility of opening a second front against Germany. After signing the Anglo-Soviet Treaty of 1942 on 26 May Molotov left for Washington, D.C. United States. Molotov met with Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States, and ratified a Lend-Lease Treaty between the USSR and the US. Both the British and the United States government,<nowiki> </nowiki>albeit vaguely, promised to open up a second front against Germany. On his flight back to the USSR his plane was attacked by German fighters, and then later by Soviet fighters.

Potsdam Conference: Clement Attlee, Ernest Bevin, Molotov, Joseph Stalin, William Daniel Leahy, James F. Byrnes, Harry S. Truman and others.

When Beria told Stalin about the Manhattan Project and its importance Stalin handpicked Molotov to be the man in charge of the Soviet atomic bomb project.<nowiki> </nowiki>However, under Molotov's leadership the bomb, and the project itself, developed very slowly and Molotov was replaced by Beria in 1944 on the advice of Igor Kurchatov. When Harry S. Truman,<nowiki> </nowiki>the American president, told Stalin that the Americans had created a bomb never seen before, Stalin relayed the conversation to Molotov and told him to speed up development. On Stalin's orders the Soviet government substantially increased investment in the project.

In a collaboration with Kliment Voroshilov, Molotov contributed both musically and lyrically to the 1944 version of the Soviet national anthem. Molotov asked the writers to include a line or two about peace. Molotov's and Voroshilov's role in the making of the new Soviet anthem was, in the words of historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore, acting as music judges for Stalin.

Molotov accompanied Stalin to the Teheran Conference in 1943, the Yalta Conference in 1945 and, following the defeat of Germany, the Potsdam Conference. He represented the Soviet Union at the San Francisco Conference, which created the United Nations. Even during the period of wartime alliance, Molotov was known as a tough negotiator and a determined defender of Soviet interests. Molotov lost his position of First Deputy Chairman on March 19, 1946, after the Council of People's Commissars was reformed as Council of Ministers. From 1945 to 1947 Molotov took part in all four conferences of foreign ministers<nowiki> </nowiki>of the victorious states in World War II. In general, he was distinguished by an uncooperative attitude towards the Western powers. Molotov, at the direction of the Soviet government, condemned the Marshall Plan<nowiki> </nowiki>as imperialistic and claimed it was dividing Europe into two camps, one<nowiki> </nowiki>capitalist and the other communist. In response, the Soviet Union, along with the other Eastern Bloc nations, initiated what is known as the Molotov Plan. The plan created several bilateral relations between the states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; and later evolved into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA).

In the postwar period, Molotov's power began to decline. A clear sign<nowiki> </nowiki>of Molotov's precarious position was his inability to prevent the arrest in December 1948 for "treason" of his Jewish wife, Polina Zhemchuzhina, whom Stalin had long distrusted. Molotov never stopped loving his wife, and it is said that he ordered his maids to make dinner for two every evening to remind him that, in his own words, "she suffered because of me". According to a close collaborator of Molotov, Vladimir Erofeev, at the beginning of 1949 the Israel minister plenipotentiary, Golda Meir, visited the Soviet Union; she met privately with Polina, who had been her schoolmate in St. Petersburg. Immediately afterward, Polina was arrested and accused of ties with Zionist organisations; she was kept one year in the Lubyanka,<nowiki> </nowiki>after which she was exiled for three years in an obscure Russian city. Molotov had no communication with her, save for the scant news that Beria, whom he loathed, told him. She was freed immediately after the death of Stalin. According to Erofeev, Molotov said of her: "She's not only beautiful 
and intelligent, the only woman minister in Soviet Union; she's also a real Bolshevik, a real Soviet person." In 1949, Molotov was replaced as Foreign Minister by Andrey Vyshinsky, although retaining his position as First Deputy Premier and membership of the Politburo.