September 1st Through History

Explanation: Robert Duane Ballard located the wreck using a remote-controlled underwater robot called Argo. The discovery revealed that the ship's hull had broken in two before sinking, contradicting the accounts of some survivors who claimed otherwise.

Explanation: A Trip to the Moon was inspired by two novels: From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne and The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells. Méliès himself plays the role of Professor Barbenfouillis. The film ran for about 14 minutes, an exceptional length for the time.

Explanation: The Great Kantō earthquake devastated the Tokyo and Yokohama regions. The fires that followed the tremors caused as much damage as the earthquake itself, as Japanese homes were mostly made of wood at the time. This date has since been commemorated in Japan as Disaster Prevention Day.

Explanation: Saskatchewan and Alberta both came from the Northwest Territories. They became the 8th and 9th Canadian provinces. Regina was chosen as the capital of Saskatchewan, while Edmonton was chosen for Alberta, despite Calgary being larger.

Explanation: Gaddafi overthrew King Idris I in a bloodless military coup while the king was abroad for medical treatment. Gaddafi was 27 years old at the time and was just a low-ranking army officer. He would go on to rule Libya for 42 years, until his death in 2011 during the Arab Spring.

Explanation: Chechen separatist terrorists took approximately a thousand schoolchildren and adults hostage in a school in Beslan, in North Ossetia. The siege lasted three days and ended with a tragic toll of 334 civilians killed, including 186 children. It is one of the deadliest hostage-takings in modern history.

Explanation: Ronsard is the leading figure of the Pléiade, a group of seven poets who wanted to enrich the French language by drawing inspiration from Greek and Latin authors. His most famous work remains the Sonnets pour Hélène, of which the line "Quand vous serez bien vieille, au soir, à la chandelle" is one of the most quoted in French literature.

Explanation: The surrender of Napoleon III at Sedan, with around 100,000 French soldiers, was one of the greatest military defeats in French history. The very next day, on September 4, 1870, the Third Republic was proclaimed in Paris. The war nevertheless continued until May 1871.

Explanation: Annie Ernaux is the first French woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy praised her work for "the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory". Her best-known novels include La Place, Les Années and L'Événement.

Explanation: The acronym ANZUS comes from the initials of Australia, New Zealand and United States. This treaty was signed in San Francisco in the context of the Cold War and the Korean War. In 1986, New Zealand was suspended from the American side of the treaty after refusing entry to nuclear ships in its ports, which led to the anti-nuclear policy that still characterizes the country today.