June 22nd Through History

Explanation: The armistice of June 22, 1940 was signed in the Compiègne forest, in the very same railway carriage used for the 1918 armistice, Hitler having deliberately chosen this symbolic spot to humiliate a defeated France. It took effect on June 25 and gave birth to the so-called Vichy French State.

Explanation: Operation Bagration, named in honor of the Russian general Pyotr Bagration, a hero of 1812, was one of the largest offensives of the entire Second World War. It allowed the Red Army to destroy the German Army Group Centre and liberate Belarus in a matter of weeks.

Explanation: La Relève was a propaganda program that offered to free one French prisoner of war in exchange for three volunteer workers going to work in Germany. This scheme was a relative failure, replaced as early as 1943 by the far more coercive Compulsory Labor Service (STO).

Explanation: Lady and the Tramp was Disney's first animated feature made in CinemaScope. Peggy Lee, who voiced several characters including the cat Si, composed and performed several of the film's songs, including the famous "He's a Tramp."

Explanation: Operation Barbarossa, named after Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, was the largest military offensive in history, involving nearly 4 million Axis soldiers. Despite dazzling initial successes, the failure to capture Moscow before winter marked a decisive turning point in the war.

Explanation: Erich Maria Remarque, born in Osnabrück, was a veteran of the First World War. His novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1929) was burned by the Nazis and led to him being stripped of his German citizenship in 1938. He spent most of his life in exile in the United States.

Explanation: Judy Garland died in London at just 47 from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Her death caused an enormous wave of emotion and, according to some historians, her funeral in New York catalyzed the Stonewall riots a few days later, a founding event of the LGBT movement.

Explanation: The Battle of Pydna sounded the death knell of the Kingdom of Macedon. Perseus, the last king of the Antigonid dynasty, was captured and paraded during Aemilius Paullus's triumph in Rome. Macedon was then divided into four republics before being turned into a Roman province in 148 BC.

Explanation: Meryl Streep holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for any actor or actress, with 21 nominations and 3 wins (Kramer vs. Kramer in 1980, Sophie's Choice in 1983, and The Iron Lady in 2012). She is often called the "best actress of her generation."

Explanation: Napoleon abdicated on June 22, 1815, four days after his defeat at Waterloo on June 18. It was his second abdication, the first having taken place on April 6, 1814 after the French Campaign. He was then exiled to the island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.