Wikipedia:Main Page history/2018 March 13

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From today's featured article

The Winter War (30 November 1939 – 13 March 1940) began when the Soviet Union (USSR) invaded Finland three months after the outbreak of World War II. The USSR had sought to annex Finnish territory, including land near Leningrad, 32 km (20 mi) from the border. After Finland refused, the USSR attacked with more than twice as many soldiers, thirty times as many aircraft, and a hundred times as many tanks as the defending forces. The Red Army had been crippled by Joseph Stalin's Great Purge and the Finnish Defence Forces repelled the invasion in temperatures down to −43 °C (−45 °F) for much longer than expected. A reorganized Soviet offensive broke through in February 1940 and forced the Finns to seek peace. Finland ceded 11 percent of its territory, but retained sovereignty. Soviet casualties have been estimated at 321,000 to 381,000, compared to Finnish casualties of 70,000. The poor performance of the Red Army encouraged Adolf Hitler to consider an attack on the USSR. After a 15-month lull called the Interim Peace, the Continuation War and Operation Barbarossa began in June 1941. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Rose aphids on a rose bud

... that the rose aphid (pictured) and the rose-grain aphid both overwinter on rose bushes, but the latter disperses to grass and cereal crops in summer?
... that the Pugwashite, Patricia Lindop, worked with Nobel Prize winner Joseph Rotblat on the effects of radiation on living organisms?
... that the historic Church of Santa Maria Primerana in Tuscany was built atop the stylobate of an ancient Roman temple?
... that blind swimmer John Morgan won 13 gold medals across two Paralympic Games and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro?
... that Igor Stravinsky's Scherzo for piano was composed in 1902 but not published until 1970?
... that despite doing "what they could to prevent me", Virginia Woolf was born to Julia Stephen since "contraception was a very imperfect art" in the 19th century?
... that the Black Mirror episode "San Junipero" was set in California as a "fuck you" to people complaining that the show would become Americanised?
... that Charles Reynolds, who successfully persuaded the Pope to excommunicate Henry VIII of England, was posthumously attainted for treason?

In the news

Winter Paralympics opening ceremony

At least 49 people are killed after US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 crashes en route from Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Kathmandu, Nepal.
The Winter Paralympics open (ceremony pictured) in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
The wreck of USS Lexington is discovered in the Coral Sea.
A coalition of centre-right parties wins a plurality in the Italian general election.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned by a nerve agent in Salisbury, England.

On this day...

March 13

Uranus, as seen by Voyager 2

1781 – Astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus (pictured) while in the garden of his house in Bath, Somerset, thinking it was a comet.
1845 – German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, one of the most popular violin concertos of all time, received its world première in Leipzig.
1920 – The Kapp Putsch briefly ousted the Weimar Republic government from Berlin.
1964 – Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City, prompting research into the bystander effect due to the false story that neighbors witnessed the killing and did nothing to help her.
1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the longest and deepest tunnel in the world at the time, opened between the cities of Hakodate and Aomori, Japan.

Daniel Lambert (b. 1770) · Benjamin Harrison (d. 1901) · Helen Renton (b. 1931)

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Today's featured picture

Polypogon monspeliensis is a species of grass. It is native to southern Europe, but it can be found today throughout the world as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed.

Photograph: Morray

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