September 14 Through History

Explanation: Olympe de Gouges, whose real name was Marie Gouze, was one of the first French feminists. Her text, modeled on the Declaration of the Rights of Man of 1789, demanded political and legal equality between men and women. She was guillotined in 1793, largely because of her political positions.

Explanation: OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) was founded in Baghdad at a conference bringing together Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. It now has around a dozen members and plays a central role in regulating global oil prices.

Explanation: The first volume of Capital was published in Hamburg in 1867. In it, Marx analyzes the capitalist mode of production, the labor theory of value, and the exploitation of the proletariat. Volumes II and III were published after his death by Friedrich Engels, based on his manuscripts.

Explanation: Napoleon enters Moscow after the Battle of the Moskva, but the city is largely set on fire by the Russians themselves to deprive the French of resources. Napoleon occupies the city for five weeks before beginning the disastrous retreat from Russia, which decimated the Grande Armée.

Explanation: Roosevelt assumed the presidency following the assassination of William McKinley, who was shot on September 6, 1901 at an exposition in Buffalo. At 42, Roosevelt became the youngest president in United States history. He is notably known for his natural resource conservation policy.

Explanation: Alexander von Humboldt is considered the father of modern geography and ecology. His expeditions in Latin America between 1799 and 1804 revolutionized knowledge of the continent. The cold current running along the west coast of South America bears his name: the Humboldt Current.

Explanation: Léon, with Jean Reno in the title role and Natalie Portman in her first film role, was a massive worldwide success. The film, co-produced by Hollywood, follows a hitman who protects a young girl whose family has been murdered. It remains one of the most internationally watched French films.

Explanation: The first direct detection of gravitational waves was made by the LIGO detectors in the United States. These waves, predicted by Einstein in his theory of general relativity in 1916, resulted from the merger of two black holes. This discovery earned Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Explanation: Ivan Pavlov received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for his research on digestion. His experiments on conditioned reflexes in dogs, though later than the Nobel, became the foundation of behaviorism. The "Pavlov's dog" entered popular culture as a symbol of conditioning.

Explanation: Before 1641, Monaco had been under Spanish protectorate since 1524. Honoré II of Monaco chose to align with France to counterbalance Spanish influence in the region. This treaty durably founded the Franco-Monegasque alliance, which remains the basis of relations between the two states to this day, even though Monaco has retained its independence.