A ten-year pact signed in August 1939 between Hitler and Stalin, protecting them from direct and indirect attack against each other. It also secretly divided large parts of eastern Europe between them.
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Fact of the Day
The diet of the average person in 13th century England probably contained between 1,500 and 1,650 calories per day.
Quote of the Day
"We learn from history that man can never learn anything from history.
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~ Hegel (German philosopher, 1770-1831)
On This Day
350 General Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor.
1486 The Houses of York and Lancaster were united when Henry VII married Elizabeth of York (the eldest daughter of Edward IV).
1562 The Council of Trent was reconvened for its final time. It set out Catholicism's response to the Reformation.
1778 Captain James Cook became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands, which he named the Sandwich Islands.
1788 11 British ships with 800 convicts landed at Botany Bay, Australia, intending to found the first penal colony. They moved to a more suitable location eight days later.
1871 Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor, 170 years to the day after Frederick I crowned himself King in Prussia.
1904 Hollywood's quintessential leading man, Cary Grant, was born in Bristol, as Archibald Leach.
1919 The Paris Peace Conference began. It resulted, among other things, in the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
1936 Rudyard Kipling, Nobel Prize winner and author of The Jungle Book died. His ashes are buried in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.