September 13 Through History

Explanation: The Battle of Marignano is considered one of the greatest French military victories. It lasted two days and allowed Francis I to conquer the Duchy of Milan. The Swiss mercenaries, reputed to be invincible at the time, suffered a crushing defeat that ended their dominance on European battlefields.

Explanation: The Oslo Accords were secretly negotiated in Norway before being officially signed in Washington. The famous handshake between Rabin and Arafat, under the gaze of Bill Clinton, made front pages of newspapers around the world. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated two years later, in November 1995, by an Israeli extremist opposed to the accords.

Explanation: Super Mario Bros, developed by Shigeru Miyamoto, was first launched in Japan on the Famicom before conquering the entire world. This game is often credited with reviving the video game industry after the great crash of 1983. Mario had first appeared in 1981 in Donkey Kong under the name Jumpman.

Explanation: Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer held on a British ship during the bombardment, saw the American flag still standing in the morning and wrote a poem titled 'The Defence of Fort M'Henry'. This text was set to music and adopted as the American national anthem only in 1931, more than a century after it was composed.

Explanation: Michel de Montaigne, inventor of the literary genre of the essay, passed away in his château de Montaigne in Périgord. His main work, the Essais, published in several editions from 1580, remains an essential reference in French literature. Shakespeare himself is said to have drawn inspiration from it to write some of his plays.

Explanation: Luna 2 was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, on September 14, 1959, crashing into it intentionally. Unlike Luna 1, which had missed the Moon a few months earlier, Luna 2 demonstrated Soviet mastery of space navigation and marked a decisive milestone in the space race against the United States.

Explanation: Arnold Schoenberg revolutionized classical music by abandoning traditional tonality to develop atonal music and then twelve-tone serialism, a system based on a series of 12 notes. His students Alban Berg and Anton Webern formed the Second Viennese School with him. Fleeing Nazism, he emigrated to the United States in 1933.

Explanation: Clara Schumann, wife of Robert Schumann, was also a prolific composer and one of the most renowned pianists of her time. She maintained a very deep friendly and platonic relationship with Johannes Brahms. After her husband's death, she devoted herself mainly to performance and teaching, becoming a major pedagogical reference.

Explanation: The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which lasted less than 30 minutes, was decisive for the future of Canada. Both commanding generals, the British James Wolfe and the French Marquis de Montcalm, died in the battle. This French defeat marked the end of New France and the beginning of British dominance in Canada.

Explanation: Goran Ivanišević won Wimbledon in 2001 as a wild card, which was a first in the tournament's history for a winner in that category. He had already lost three Wimbledon finals (1992, 1994, 1998). This late triumph, at 29, was celebrated like a national holiday in Croatia.