April 23rd Through History

Explanation: The Treaty of Turin was signed on March 24, 1860 between France and the Kingdom of Sardinia. In exchange for his support for Italian unification, Napoleon III obtained the annexation of Savoy and the County of Nice. The plebiscite of April 23, 1860 in Nice gave 25,743 votes for annexation against only 160 votes against.

Explanation: The Taubira law, named after the Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira who defended it, legalized marriage between people of the same sex in France and opened up access to adoption for them. France became the 14th country in the world to authorize same-sex marriage. The law sparked significant demonstrations, notably those of the "La Manif Pour Tous" movement.

Explanation: The very first video uploaded to YouTube is titled "Me at the zoo" and lasts 18 seconds. It was published by Jawed Karim, one of the platform's co-founders, in front of the elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo. YouTube was then bought by Google in October 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars.

Explanation: The law of April 23, 1919 established the 8-hour working day in France, i.e. 48 hours per week. This social victory was part of workers' demands for decades. The legal duration of work was then reduced to 40 hours per week in 1936 under the Popular Front, then to 35 hours in 2000 under the Jospin government.

Explanation: Max Planck received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918 for the discovery of the fundamental law of black body radiation, thus laying the foundations of quantum theory. He introduced the notion of energy quantum and the universal constant that bears his name (h ≈ 6.626 × 10⁻³⁴ J·s). This conceptual revolution radically transformed modern physics in the 20th century.

Explanation: The Reinheitsgebot, or beer purity decree, stipulated that beer could only be made with water, barley malt and hops. Adopted by Duke William IV of Bavaria, it is considered one of the first food regulations in the world. Brewer's yeast only appeared later, after its discovery by Louis Pasteur in the 19th century.

Explanation: Brian Boru, High King of Ireland since 1002, met his death on the very day of his victory at Clontarf, assassinated in his tent after the battle. His reign had ended several decades of Viking domination in Ireland. The Battle of Clontarf is considered one of the founding events of Irish identity, although some historians qualify the extent of the "end" of the Viking presence in Ireland.

Explanation: In 2018, Armenia experienced a "velvet revolution" led by Nikol Pashinyan. Serzh Sargsyan, who had already been president for ten years, was appointed Prime Minister in a context where presidential powers had just been transferred to the government, which many interpreted as a maneuver to stay in power. Popular pressure forced him to resign six days after taking office.

Explanation: The motto of the Order of the Garter is "Honi soit qui mal y pense", an expression in Old Norman French meaning "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it". This motto is still used today. The order takes its name from a garter that fell from a lady at court during a ball, which Edward III is said to have picked up while uttering this famous phrase to cut short the mockery.

Explanation: Universal male suffrage, restored in 1848, allowed about nine million men to vote for the first time to elect the National Constituent Assembly. This vote was organized under the impetus of the provisional government of the Second Republic. It would not be until 1944 in France that women obtained the right to vote, almost a century later.