http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
Aug 23, 1939: The Hitler-Stalin Pact
On this day in 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact, stunning the world, given their diametrically opposed ideologies. But the dictators were, despite appearances, both playing to their own political needs.
After Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain had to decide to what extent it would intervene should Hitler continue German expansion. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, at first indifferent to Hitler's capture of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia, suddenly snapped to life when Poland became threatened. He made it plain that Britain would be obliged to come to the aid of Poland in the event of German invasion. But he wanted, and needed, an ally. The only power large enough to stop Hitler, and with a vested interest in doing so, was the Soviet Union. But Stalin was cool to Britain after its effort to create a political alliance with Britain and France against Germany had been rebuffed a year earlier. Plus, Poland's leaders were less than thrilled with the prospect of Russia becoming its guardian; to them, it was simply occupation by another monstrous regime.
Hitler believed that Britain would never take him on alone, so he decided to swallow his fear and loathing of communism and cozy up to the Soviet dictator, thereby pulling the rug out from the British initiative. Both sides were extremely suspicious of the other, trying to discern ulterior motives. But Hitler was in a hurry; he knew if he was to invade Poland it had to be done quickly, before the West could create a unified front. Agreeing basically to carve up parts of Eastern Europe—and leave each other alone in the process—Hitler's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, flew to Moscow and signed the non-aggression pact with his Soviet counterpart, V.M. Molotov (which is why the pact is often referred to as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Supporters of bolshevism around the world had their heretofore romantic view of "international socialism" ruined; they were outraged that Stalin would enter into any kind of league with the fascist dictator.
But once Poland was German-occupied territory, the alliance would not last for long.
Now, here's something that I bet you did not know. I'll admit that I was unaware of this, and found it quite fascinating. Several counties of what was then North Carolina, and now lie within the boundaries of present-day Tennessee, declared their independence on this day in 1784! History.com explains it in greater detail:
Aug 23, 1784: State of Franklin declares independence
On this day in 1784, four counties in western North Carolina declare their independence as the state of Franklin. The counties lay in what would eventually become Tennessee.
The previous April, the state of North Carolina had ceded its western land claims between the Allegheny Mountains and the Mississippi River to the United States Congress. The settlers in this area, known as the Cumberland River Valley, had formed their own independent government from 1772 to 1777 and were concerned that Congress would sell the territory to Spain or France as a means of paying off some of the government's war debt. As a result, North Carolina retracted its cession and began to organize an administration for the territory.
Simultaneously, representatives from Washington, Sullivan, Spencer (modern-day Hawkins) and Greene counties declared their independence from North Carolina. The following May, the counties petitioned for statehood as "Frankland" to the United States Congress. A simple majority of states favored acceptance of the petition, but it fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass, even after the counties' changed their proposed name to "Franklin" in an attempt to curry Benjamin Franklin's and others' favor.
In defiance of Congress, Franklin survived as an independent nation for four years with its own constitution, Indian treaties and legislated system of barter in lieu of currency, though after only two years, North Carolina set up its own parallel government in the region. Finally, Franklin's weak economy forced its governor, John Sevier, to approach the Spanish for aid. North Carolina, terrified of having a Spanish client state on its border, arrested Sevier. When Cherokee, Chickamauga and Chickasaw began to attack settlements within Franklin's borders in 1788, it quickly rejoined North Carolina to gain its militia's protection from attack.
On this day in history, there were the first stirrings of Mount Vesuvius, on the feast day of the Vulcan - ironically, the Roman god of fire. Philip VI was crowned King of France. This date was an important one for Napoleon, as he left Egypt for France, in order to take over power. Some years later, his French forces were defeated by the Prussians during the Battle of Grossbeeren. The British captured Hong Kong from China on this day. The Treaty of Prague ended the Austro-Prussian War. Japan declared war on Germany in 1914, although the same two countries would be allied with one another in the next global war. Sacoo and Vanzetti were sentenced on this day. Arabs attacked Jews in Palestine, in what would later become Israel. The world found out that Hitler's Nazi Germany and Stalin's Communist Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression treaty (known officially as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), that proved anything but non-aggressive in fact, as it effectively gave Hitler the green light to invade Poland, which started World War II. The Germans took over the western portion of Poland, while the Soviet Union then took over in the Eastern portion shortly thereafter. East Germany imposed increased travel restrictions to West Germany. This was an important day in the history of the Beatles, as they released "She Loves You", and on the same day, Ringo Starr admitted that he did not write "Don't Pass Me By". A few years later on this same day, Ringo temporarily left the Beartles. Years after the actual breakup of the Beatles, John Lennon reported seeing a UFO on this day in 1974. Communists took over in Laos. It was on this day in 1990 that East and West Germany announced that they would reunify into one Germany later that year, on October 3rd.
Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:
79 - Mount Vesuvius begins stirring, on the feast day of
Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.
406 - Battle at Florence: Stilicho's Roman army beats
Radagaisus' Barbarians
476 - Odoacer proclaimed King of of Italy, 1st barbarian
King of Italy
1046 - King Henry III gives money to Utrecht Deventer
diocese
1305 - William Wallace, Scottish patriot, is executed for
high treason by Edward I of England.
1328 - Battle at Kassel: French troops stop uprising of
Flemish farmers
1328 - King Philip VI of France, crowned
1441 - Holland & Hanzesteden sign cease fire treaty
1514 - Battle of Chaldiran ended with a decisive victory for
the Sultan Selim I, Ottoman Empire, over the Shah Ismail I, Safavids founder.
1541 - French explorer Jacques Cartier lands near Quebec
City in his third voyage to Canada.
1542 - Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his commentary of Tur
Code
1553 - Bishop Stephen Gardiner appointed English Lord
Chancellor
1555 - Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands.
1566 - Beeldenstorm reaches Amsterdam
1566 - Land guardian Margaretha van Parma grants Calvinists
rights
1582 - French van Valois pays tribute to earl of Flanders
1595 - Michael the Brave confronts the Ottoman army in the
Battle of Calugareni.
1614 - University of Groningen opens
1617 - 1st one-way streets open (London)
Scottish Patriot William WallaceScottish Patriot William
Wallace 1708 - Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
1711 - Admiral Hovenden Walkers fleet reach St Lawrence
1784 - Eastern Tennessee settlers declare their area an
independent state & name it Franklin; a year later the Continental Congress
rejects it
1796 - African Methodist Episcopal Church incorporated
1799 - Napoleon leaves Egypt for France en route to seize
power.
1813 - Battle of Grossbeeren - Prussians under Von Bulow
repulse French
1821 - Mexico declares independence
1838 - Mt Holyoke Female Seminary (South Hadley, Mass) 1st
graduating class
1839 - British capture Hong Kong from China
1850 - 1st national women's rights convention convenes in
Worcester Mass
1862 - Skirmish at Big Hill, Kentucky (2 Federal regiments)
1864 - Union troops/fleet occupy Fort Morgan, Alabama
1866 - Treaty of Prague ends Austro-Prussian war
1869 - 1st carload of freight (boots & shoes) arrives in
SF, from Boston
1872 - 1st Japanese coml ship visits SF, carrying tea
1873 - Albert Bridge creossing Thames opens
1879 - Governor-general Charles Gordon of Sudan returns to
Cairo
1883 - Phillies make 27 errors against Providence (wild
pitches, walks & & passballs count as errors prior to 1888)
1889 - 1st ship-to-shore wireless message received in US
(SF)
1896 - First Cry of the Philippine Revolution is made in
Pugad Lawin (Quezon City), in the province of Manila.
1898 - 18th US Mens Tennis: Malcolm Whitman beats Dwight
Davis (36 62 62 61)
1900 - National Negro Business League organizes (Boston)
1903 - 6th Zionist Congres, Theodor Herzl declares Jewish state
1904 - Automobile tire chain patented
1906 - Chicago White Sox win 19th straight, beating Wash
Senators
1906 - Cuba's 1st president Tomés Estrada Palma asks for US
intervention
1907 - Pitts Howie Camnitz no-hits NY Giants, 1-0 in 5
inning game
1910 - Fred Clarke makes a record 4 outfield assists for
Pittsburgh
1911 - British premier Asquith holds secret meeting about
British strategy in case of war with Germany
1914 - -24] German troops plunder Belgium
1914 - Battle at Mons: general von Klucks troops beat
Britten
1914 - Gen von Hausen executes 612 inhabitants of Dinant
Belgium
1914 - Japan declares war on Germany in World War I
1915 - Czar Nicolaas II takes control of Russian Army
1916 - Military court of Berlin sentences Karl Liebknecht to
4 years
1917 - Race riot in Houston Texas (2 blacks & 11 whites
killed)
1919 - "Gasoline Alley" cartoon strip premieres in
Chicago Tribune
1920 - M R Rinehart & A Hopwood's "Bat,"
premieres in NYC
1923 - Capt. Lowell Smith and Lt. John P. Richter performed
the first mid-air refueling on De Havilland DH-4B, setting an endurance flight
record of 37 hours.
1924 - Mars' closest approach to Earth since 10th century
1926 - 40th US Womens Tennis: Molla B Mallory beats
Elizabeth Ryan (46 64 97)
1929 - Arabs attack Jews in Israel
1930 - 44th US Womens Tennis: Betty Nuthall beats Anna
McCune Harper (61 64)
1931 - 45th US Womens Tennis: Helen Moody beats Eileen B
Whitingstall (64 61)
1931 - Count Gyula Károlyi becomes premier of Hungary
1931 - Phila A's Lefty Grove, loses 1-0 (Browns) after
winning 16 straight
1933 - 1st TV boxing match - Archie Sexton & Laurie
Raiteri in London
1936 - 17 year old Bob Feller's 1st game, he strikes out 15
St Louis Browns
1938 - England score 7-903 decl v Australia Hutton 364
1939 - John Cobb (Britain) drives 365.85 MPH (593.48 KPH) at
Bonneville Flats
Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier
Joseph Stalin 1939 - Molotov-Ribbentrop pact: East Europe divided between Hitler
& Stalin
1939 - USSR & Germany sign a non-agression pact
1939 - Molotov-Ribbentrop-pact (Soviet Union neutral/Poland
divided)
1940 - German Luftwaffe begins night bombing on London
1940 - Queen Wilhelmina fires premier De Geer
1942 - 1st US flights to land on Guadalcanal
1942 - Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffers bomb Stalingrad
(40,000 die)
1942 - British Premier Winston Churchill flies back to
London from Cairo
1942 - Walter Johnson pitches to Babe Ruth in pregame
attraction that draws 69,000 for NY-Wash game (raises $80,000 for Army-Navy
relief
1942 - World War II: The last cavalry charge in history
takes place at Izbushensky.
1943 - Red army recaptures Charkow
1943 - World War II: Kharkov liberated.
1944 - 94.5°F (34.7°C) in De Bilt Netherlands & 101.5°F
(38.6°C) in Warnsvelt
1944 - Allied troops capture Marseilles France
1944 - General George Leclercs troops advance towards Paris
Soldier, author, journalist, politician Winston
ChurchillSoldier, author, journalist, politician Winston Churchill 1944 -
General Montgomery consults with Generals Bradley/Eisenhower
1944 - King Michael of Romania ordered his forces to cease
fire against Allies & dismissed the pro-Axis premier, Marshal Ion Antonescu
1944 - Romania liberated from Nazi occupation
1944 - Sammellager Drancy freed
1944 - US 20th Army corp enter Fontainebleau/Melun de Seine
1944 - US B-24 crashes into school in Freckelton England, 76
killed
1944 - World War II: Marseille liberated.
1946 - 13th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: All-Stars 16, Los
Angeles 0 (97,380)
1946 - Ordinance No. 46 of the British Military Government
constitutes the German Land (state) of Schleswig-Holstein.
1947 - Pres Truman's daughter, Margaret's 1st public singing
concert
1948 - Earl Bernadotte asks aid for fugitives to Palestine
1948 - World Council of Churches formed by 147 churches from
44 countries
1950 - Jack Holden wins marathon (2:32:12)
1950 - West Germany & Japan readmitted to Intl Amateur
Athletic Federation
1952 - Arab League security pact goes into effect
1952 - Giants Bob Elliot is ejected for arguing a strike,
Bobby Hoffman complete his at bat, he strikes out & is also ejected for
arguing
1953 - Braves Phil Paine is 1st former major leaguer to play
in Japan
1953 - Cyclist Arie Van Vliet becomes world champion
sprinter
1953 - Dutch DC-6 crashes near Ymuiden in North Sea, 21 die
1953 - KBAK TV channel 29 in Bakersfield, CA (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1953 - Phil Grate sets record for throwing a baseball
(443'3")
1953 - USSR performs nuclear test
1954 - President Getulio Vargas of Brazil resigns
temporarily
1954 - First flight of the C-130 Hercules transport
aircraft.
1955 - Betty Jameson wins LPGA White Mountain Golf Open
1957 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1958 - China PR resumes fire on Quemoi & Matsoe
1958 - Marie Ashton completes playing piano a female record
133 hours
1958 - Chinese Civil War: The Second Taiwan Strait crisis
begins with the People's Liberation Army's bombardment of Quemoy.
1959 - Beverly Hanson wins LPGA Spokane Golf Open
1960 - World's largest frog (3.3 kg) caught (Equatorial
Guinea)
1961 - Belgium sends troops to Rwanda-Urundi
1961 - East Germany imposed new curbs on travel between West
& East Berlin
1961 - US lunar probe Ranger 1 reaches 190 km from Earth,
falls back
1962 - 1st Europe-US live TV program (via Telstar)
1963 - Beatles release "She Loves
You" in UK
1963 - Ringo admits he wrote a song "Don't Pass Me
By"
1963 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1964 - Marilynn Smith wins Albuquerque Professional Amateur
Golf Tournament
1964 - St Louis Cards are 11 games back in NL, & win
World Series
1966 - Lunar Orbiter 1 takes 1st photograph of Earth from
Moon
1968 - Ringo quits Beatles over a disagreement, temporarily
1968 - Yanks & Tigers play 3-3 tie in 19 due to 1 AM
curfew
1969 - Audrey McElmory (US) wins World Cycling
Championships, Brno
1969 - France's Une De Mai wins International Trot at
Roosevelt Raceway Czechoslovakia (1st American to win cycling race title since
1912)
1970 - Kathy Ahern wins LPGA Southgate Ladies Golf Open
1970 - Roberto Clemente compiles his record 2nd straight
5-hit game
1971 - WGTU TV channel 29 in Traverse City, MI (ABC) begins
broadcasting
1972 - Republican convention (Miami Beach, Fla) renominates
VP Agnew but not unanimous-1 vote went to NBC newsman David Brinkley)
1972 - Chicago's Dick Allen is 4th (Jimmie Foxx, Hank
Greenberg, & Alex Johnson) to homer into Comiskey Park's center field bleachers
1973 - Intelsat communications satellite launched
1974 - John Lennon reports seeing a UFO in NYC
1974 - Zaheer Abbas scores 240 Pakistan v England at The
Cricket Oval
1975 - Classical Way wins Championship Cup at Roosevelt
Raceway
1975 - Communists take over Laos
1975 - Ethiopian junta under Mengistu Haile
1975 - Free guitarist Paul Kossoff revived from dead after
heart attack
1975 - Philip Kapleau conducts 1st jukai ceremony in Poland
1975 - USSR performs nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
1976 - Heavy earthquake strikes China, 1,000s die
1977 - 1st man-powered flight of a mile (Bryan Allen in
Gossamer Condor)
1977 - Marxist philosopher Rudolf Bahro imprisoned in German
DR
1978 - Iranian students occupies Iranian embassy at
Wassenaar
1979 - Bolshoi Ballet dancer Alexander Godunov defects in
NYC
1979 - Iran army opens offensive against Kurds
1979 - UN's Vienna office opens
1980 - Charlie Finley sells A's for $127M to Haas (owners of
Levi Strauss)
1981 - Beth Daniel wins LPGA World Championship of Women's
Golf
1982 - Lebanese falangist leader Bechir Gemayel elected as
president
1982 - Seattle Mariner pitcher Gaylord Perry ejected for
throwing a spitter
1982 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern
Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1985 - Said Aouita of Morocco sets 1.5k record (3:29.46) in
Berlin
1985 - South African attorney/UDF leader "Dulah"
Omar arrested
1985 - West German top counter espionage Hans Tiedge moves
to German DR
1985 - Paul Hornung awarded $1,160,000 by a Louisville court
against NCAA who barred him as a college football analyst for betting on games
1986 - "Rags" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC
after 4 performances
1986 - Vrijkomend vulkaangas kills 1500 people in Nyos-more,
Cameroon
1987 - 15-years old boy hijacks KLM B737, demands $1 billion
1987 - Betsy King wins Atlantic City LPGA Golf Classic
1987 - Violent rainfall/floods in Bangladesh, kills 100s
1988 - Mike Tyson & Mitch Green brawl at 4 A.M. in
Harlem
1989 - LA Dodgers beat Montreal Expos, 1-0, in 22 innings
(Rick Dempsey HR)
1989 - Lewis/Everett/Burrell/Heard run world record 4x200 m
(1:19.38)
1990 - Armenia declares independence
1990 - East & West Germany announced that they would
unite on Oct 3
1990 - US begins call up of 46,000 reservists to the Persian
Gulf
1992 - Kris Tschetter wins LPGA Northgate Computer Golf
Classic
1992 - Dennis Eckersley, who previously set record for most
consecutive saves (40), is 1st pitcher to record 40 saves in 4 different
seasons
1993 - NY Dow Jones index reaches record high of 3,638.96
points
1993 - Fred McGriff & David Justice are 6th to hit
back-to-back HRs twice in same game
1995 - Indians' Jose Mesa sets record with his 38th
consecutive save
1995 - Larry Hagman receives a liver transplant
1996 - Osama bin Laden issues message entitled 'A
declaration of war against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy
places.'
2000 - A Gulf Air Airbus A320 crashes into the Persian Gulf
near Manama, Bahrain, killing 143.
2000 - Nicaragua becomes a member of the Berne Convention
copyright treaty. This essentially deprecated the Buenos Aires Convention
treaty, because as of this date, all members of the BA Convention were also
signatories to Berne.
Islamic Militant & Terrorist Osama bin LadenIslamic
Militant & Terrorist Osama bin Laden 2005 - Hurricane Katrina forms over
the Bahamas, later becomes a category 5 hurricane
2005 - TANS Peru Flight 204 crashes near Pucallpa, Peru,
killing 41.
2006 - Natascha Kampusch, who was abducted at the age of 10,
managed to escape from her captor Wolfgang Priklopil, after 8 years of
captivity.
2010 - Manila hostage crisis, which occurred at the Quirino Grandstand
in Manila, where a dismissed police officer took hostage a tour bus full of
Chinese nationals.
2011 - Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi is overthrown after
the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound
during the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
2011 - 5.8 earthquake occurrs in Mineral, Virginia felt as
far north as Ontario and as far south as Atlanta, Georgia
2012 - Four people are killed and 28 injured in a hot air
ballooning accident in Slovenia
2012 - At least 30 are killed as a result of monsoon rain in
Rajasthan, India
1838 - The first class graduated from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in South Hadley, MA. It was one of the first colleges for women. 1839 - Hong Kong was taken by the British in a war with China. 1858 - "Ten Nights in a Barroom" opened in New York City at the National Theater. It was a melodrama about the evils of drinking. 1892 - The printed streetcar transfer was patented by John H. Stedman. 1902 - Fannie Merrit Farmer opened her cooking school, Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery, in Boston, MA. 1904 - Hard D. Weed patented the grip-tread tire chain for cars. 1914 - Tsingtao, China, was bombarded as Japan declared war on Germany in World War I. 1939 - Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty. 1944 - During World War II, Romanian prime minister Ion Antonescue was dismissed. Soon after the country would abandon the Axis and join the Allies. 1944 - Marseilles was captured by Allied troops during World War II. 1947 - Margaret Truman, U.S. President Truman's daughter, gave her first public performance as a singer. The event was at the Hollywood Bowl and had an audience of 15,000. 1952 - The security pact of the Arab League went into effect. 1959 - In the Peanuts comic strip, Sally debuted as an infant. 1962 - The first live TV program was relayed between the U.S. and Europe through the U.S. Telstar satellite. 1970 - U.S. swimmer Gary Hall broke three world records at the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) outdoor swimming meet, held in Los Angeles, CA. 1979 - Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defected while the Bolshoi Ballet was on tour in New York City. 1982 - The parliament of Lebanon elected Bashir Bemayel president. He was assassinated three weeks later. 1982 - Gaylord Perry (Seattle Mariners) was tossed out of a game for throwing an illegal spitball. 1983 - The U.S. announced that it was nearly ready for a test flight of an anti-satellite missile. 1984 - South Fork Ranch, the home of the fictitious Ewing clan of the CBS-TV show, "Dallas," was sold. The ranch was to be transformed from a tourist site into a hotel. 1987 - Robert Jarvik and Marilyn Mach vos Savant were married. The event was called the "Union of Great Minds" since Savant had an IQ of 228 and Jarvik was the inventor of the artificial heart. 1990 - President Saddam Hussein appeared on Iraqi state television with a group of Western detainees that he referred to as "guests." He told the group that they were being held "to prevent the scourge of war." 1993 - It was confirmed by Los Angeles police that Michael Jackson was the subject of a criminal investigation. 1996 - U.S. President Clinton imposed limits on peddling cigarettes to children. 1998 - Protestors in Sudan carried a sign that bore the resemblance of Monica Lewinsky and the words "No War for Monika." The anti-U.S. demonstration was in Khartoum, Sudan. 1998 - Boris Yeltsin dismissed the Russian government again. 1999 - Rescuers in Turkey found a young boy that had been buried in rubble from an earthquake for about a week. 1999 - Robert Bogucki was rescued after getting lost in the Great Sandy Desert of Australia on July 11. During the 43 day ordeal Bogucki lost 44 pounds. 2000 - Richard Hatch was revealed as the winning castaway on CBS' "Survivor." Hatch won $1,000,000 for his stay on the island of Pulau Tida in the South China Sea.
1305 Scottish leader and national hero, William Wallace, was executed in London. 1914 Japan declared war on Germany in World War I. 1926 Silent film star Rudolph Valentino died in New York at age 31. 1927 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed for the murders of two men during a 1920 robbery, despite worldwide protests. 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty.
The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:
http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php
http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/aug23.htm
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history
http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory
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