On This Progressive Day: August 23Japan declares war on Germany and bombs Qingdao, China (1914)
Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and National German Socialist Workers Party foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop sign a non-aggression treaty, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; in a secret addition to the pact, the Baltic states, Finland, Romania, and Poland are divided between the two progressive nations (1939)
A bank robbery gone wrong in Stockholm, Sweden, turns into a hostage crisis; over the next five days the hostages begin to sympathise with their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome" (1973)
Successful Communist coup in Laos (1975)
Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius-Tallinn road, holding hands (1989)
The skeletal remains of Russia's last royal family members Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia, and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia are discovered near Yekaterinburg, Russia (2007)
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound (2011)
While vacationing at Martha's Vineyard, President B. Hussein Obama plays his 79th round of golf as POTUS (2011)
b: Antonia Novello (1944); d: Ferdinando Sacco, Bartolomeo Vanzetti (1927)
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