September 3rd Throughout History

Explanation: The Treaty of Paris of 1783 was negotiated between Great Britain and the United States, with the support of France and Spain. It formally recognized the independence of the thirteen American colonies and set the borders of the new state up to the Mississippi River.

Explanation: Jean Jaurès, founder of the newspaper L'Humanité and a key figure of French socialism, was assassinated on July 31, 1914 at the Café du Croissant in Paris by Raoul Villain, a nationalist who opposed his pacifism. He campaigned against France entering the war.

Explanation: Fleming discovered penicillin by accident when he noticed that a mold (Penicillium notatum) had contaminated a Petri dish and destroyed the surrounding bacteria. This discovery revolutionized modern medicine, but it wasn't until the 1940s that Howard Florey and Ernst Chain developed an antibiotic that could be used clinically.

Explanation: 'Dagen H' (short for Dagen Högertrafik, meaning 'Right-Hand Traffic Day') marked the switch from driving on the left to driving on the right in Sweden. This change was decided despite opposition from 83% of the population in a 1955 referendum, because most Swedish cars had the steering wheel on the left, like their continental neighbors.

Explanation: The Franco-British declaration of war came two days after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. Despite their security guarantees given to Warsaw, the Allies did not intervene militarily on Polish soil, entering what is known as the "Phoney War".

Explanation: eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar under the name AuctionWeb. The first sale on the platform was a broken laser pointer, sold for $14.83. Omidyar, surprised, contacted the buyer to make sure he understood the item was broken, and the buyer replied that he collected broken laser pointers.

Explanation: Ferdinand Porsche designed the Volkswagen Beetle at Adolf Hitler's request in the 1930s. He also founded the Porsche brand in 1931. The Beetle, produced until 2003 (the last classic version), is one of the best-selling cars in history with more than 21 million units.

Explanation: The World Zionist Organization was founded at the 1st Zionist Congress organized by Theodor Herzl in Basel. This congress laid the groundwork for the creation of a Jewish national home in Palestine. Herzl wrote in his diary: "In Basel, I founded the Jewish state." That state officially came into being in 1948 with the creation of Israel.

Explanation: The French Republican calendar, in use from 1793 to 1806, gave each day of the year the name of a plant, animal, or tool to replace saints' names. The teasel (or fuller's teasel) is a plant formerly used in the textile industry to card wool, hence its name.

Explanation: The European Convention on Human Rights was drawn up within the Council of Europe, founded in 1949, and not the European Union. It was signed in Rome in 1950 and established the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) based in Strasbourg, which allows citizens of member states to bring complaints against their own state.