Historical interest in this fateful meeting has never been very high. Essentially, it has always been assumed that Hitler's magnanimous offer was disingenuous and subsequent events certainly seem to suggest this to be the case. Even so, it is worth noting that there is no evidence that a final decision on attacking the Soviets had been made before the meeting. A draft plan for a German invasion of the USSR was presented to Hitler three weeks after his meeting with Molotov and Directive No. 21 Operation Barbarossa was issued two weeks after that. There is every reason to believe that Hitler did not make up his mind about attacking the Soviet Union before meeting with Molotov.
Hitler had good reason to attempt to come to a further accommodation with the USSR in 1940, in spite of his well known hatred of Communism. Insofar as war with Britain persisted there was a real possibility of a final reckoning and defeat of the British and that would leave their empire free for the taking. By making a deal with Stalin and the Soviet Union about the division of that empire, Hitler would be assured that all of it did not end up belonging to the United States. His concern over such an eventuality is well documented. A Soviet move into India, in conjunction with Italian expansion in Africa and Japanese expansion in the Pacific, would eliminate this concern. It is doubtful that Hitler wanted any African territory, but such a deal would leave the Third Reich with a free hand in eastern Europe and give it time to consolidate its hold on Europe. It would enshrine German hegemony in Europe while leaving the rest of the world to Hitler's allies and an isolated USA. Therefore, such an arrangement would have allowed for the continuation of the war against Britain with expectations of an outcome that would have been satisfactory to German interests in Europe and worldwide.
