trygve lie who was the first secretary general of UN
We mostly celebrate this types of years
In a sense, the Nazi-Soviet Pact was a brilliant move on Stalin's part, since it gave him an opportunity to drastically improve his country's strategic position along its western border, without getting involved in a larger conflict. While Hitler's Blitzkrieg<span> flattened Poland, Soviet troops took possession of the eastern half of that unlucky country, which Germany and the U.S.S.R. shortly agreed to share. Then, in October of 1939, the U.S.S.R. "convinced" the Baltic States--Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, independent since the Revolution--to allow Soviet garrisons to come within their borders. This paved the way for these states' outright annexation to the U.S.S.R. the following year. The Soviets applied similar pressure to Finland, which had been a Grand Duchy under the rule of the Tsars; but the Finns resisted, however, and in November of '39 Stalin ordered an invasion. He expected a quick, easy war, but amid wintry conditions the Red Army (which had, after all, seen its generals purged only a few years before) suffered a series of setbacks. Not until spring of the following year did the Finns capitulate.</span>
