The German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, was a significant geopolitical agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The secret protocol of the pact divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence, allowing both powers to expand without conflict. This agreement facilitated the invasion of Poland by both nations, marking the beginning of World War II. The pact's eventual breakdown in 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, dramatically altered the course of the war.

The German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939 shocked leftist intellectuals and poets, prompting a reevaluation of socialist ideals in modernist poetry. Poets such as W.H. Auden and Stephen Spender grappled with the complexities of ideology, reflecting disillusionment and the moral ambiguities of political alliances in their works.