A Non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that was agreed in August 1939. The two countries agreed not to attack - or help others to attack - each other. Secretly, they also agreed to a division of Eastern Europe between them.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Fact of the Day
When Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins came to Lavenham, he forced a woman to confess to keeping imps in the form of blue kittens.
Quote of the Day
"I have beaten the Russian and Austrian army commanded by two emperors. I am a little tired.
"
~ Napoleon after Austerlitz
On This Day
1330 Roger Mortimer, de facto ruler of England after he and Edward II's wife Isabella deposed Edward, was hanged at Tyburn for assuming royal power.
1530 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey died of natural causes on his way to face charges of treason.
1781 The crew of the British slave ship Zong massacred 131 captives by throwing them overboard in a bid to claim insurance money after the crew had made a navigational error and missed their destination.
1812 Napoleon's army retreated across the Berezina River in Belarus. Although the army managed to avoid getting trapped, they suffered massive casualties, and the word 'berezina' became French slang for 'disaster.'
1947 The United Nations approved the partition of Palestine to form an independent Jewish state.