The Franco-Mongol alliance was an attempted alliance between Frankish Crusaders and the Mongol Empire against the Muslims, their common enemy. Contact between Europeans and Mongols began around 1220, and tended to follow a pattern: the Europeans asked the Mongols to convert to Christianity, while the Mongols (who had already conquered many Christian and Muslim nations in their advance across Asia) responded with demands for submission and tribute (example letter pictured). European attitudes began to change in the mid-1260s, from perceiving the Mongols as enemies to be feared, to potential allies against the Muslims. The Mongols sought to capitalize on this, promising a re- conquered Jerusalem to the Europeans in return for cooperation. Attempts to cement an alliance continued through decades of negotiations, without success. The Mongols invaded Syria several times between 1281 and 1312, sometimes in attempts at joint operations with Crusader forces, but the forces were never able to coordinate in any meaningful way. The Mongol Empire eventually dissolved into civil war, and the Crusaders lost control of Palestine and Syria to the Egyptian Mamluks.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Mongol_alliance

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1945:

World War II: Both the German and Polish–Soviet sides claimed victory as major fighting in the Battle of Bautzen ended. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bautzen_(1945)

1964:

Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania with Julius Nyerere as its first president. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanzania

1986:

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR, suffered a steam explosion, resulting in a fire, a nuclear meltdown, and the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people around Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

1989:

An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the growing unrest in Tiananmen Square, which would remain contentious through the remainder of the protests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_26_Editorial

1994:

Just prior to landing at Nagoya International Airport, the co- pilot of China Airlines Flight 140 inadvertently pushed the wrong button, causing the plane to crash and killing 264 of the 271 people on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_140

2002:

Expelled student Robert Steinhäuser murdered 16 people and wounded seven others before committing suicide at the Gutenberg- Gymnasium Erfurt in Erfurt, Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_massacre

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

inside baseball: 1. (US, sports) Technical matters concerning baseball not apparent to spectators. 2. (US) Matters of interest only to insiders. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inside_baseball

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

No man — prince, peasant, pope, — has all the light, who says else is a mountebank. I claim no private lien on truth, only a liberty to seek it, prove it in debate, and to be wrong a thousand times to reach a single rightness. It is that liberty they fear. They want us to be driven to God like sheep, not running to him like lovers, shouting joy!   --Morris West https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Morris_West