Another theory suggests, that Päts knew of the outbreaking war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and was only looking for a way for Estonia to survive the short period in between. It is suggested that Päts knew of the difficulty of the situation and tried to keep Estonians as safe as possible by avoiding war with the Soviets and buying time. While trying not to give the Soviet Union a chance to punish the Estonians, he also continuously postponed the mobilization, which eventually never even took place, unlike in Latvia and Lithuania in 1939–1940. Under international law a war would have invalidated the Tartu Peace Treaty. As a lawyer, he also had to understand that his decisions were not valid when forced by an occupying power.