Spitting at the Russian Occupation of Poland

Maria Sklodowska, 16 years old.
From: Wikimedia

"Nowhere in Warsaw was the Russian military presence more palpable than in Saxon Square. The Saxon Palace, once a royal residence, was now a Russian military headquarters; low-lying buildings surrounding the square were given over to barracks. Sometimes there would have been military reviews in progress when Maria [Sklodowska, in her early teens in the early 1880s, later to become the scientist Marie Curie] and Kazia passed by. And always towering over the buildings and the people coming and going in the square was the graceless bronze obelisk, surrounded by horrific two-headed eagles, erected by the Tzar after the November uprising [1830].

"Bivouac of the Russian Army on the Saxon Square in 1861"
This picture was taken about twenty years before Marie and
her friend spit on the obelisk.
From: Wikimedia

The obelisk celebrated the bravery of those Poles who remained faithful to the Tzar during the uprising. To Poles, of course, these 'brave' men were traitors, and the monument was a provocation. Indeed, for some time after the January Uprising [1863] a sentinel protected the obelisk from vandals day and night. Kazia and Maria, for their part, made a point of spitting on the obelisk every time they passed by." --Susan Quinn, Marie Curie: A Life

No Flag, No King

The tricolor flag of France since 1793.
From: WorldAtlas.com

In August 1873, French monarchists were shopping for a new king. The Third French Republic (i.e., no king) had been proclaimed in September 1870 following the capture of Emperor Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) by Prussians during the Franco-Prussian War. But by 1873, monarchists in the National Assembly had garnered sufficient power to end the Republic by naming a new king. Their choice? Henry, count of Chambord, from the royal Bourbon family. I'll let historian Norman Rich take the story from here.

Henry, Count of Chambord, of the
French royal Bourbon family.
From: Wikimedia

"As he was without heirs, he was to be succeeded by the Orleanist, the count of Paris (1838-1894). It was a sensible arrangement, but the count of Chambord was not a sensible man. He insisted on the restoration of the white fleur-de-lis flag of the Bourbons as the emblem of France in place of the tricolor, which had been the national flag since the revolution. 'Henry V cannot abandon the flag of Henry IV,' said the high-minded candidate, referring to his ancestor who had changed his religion three times in the process of becoming king. The flag issue proved to be insurmountable. The French national would not give up the banner that had flown at Austerlitz and Jena, at Sevastopol and Solferino. Even the loyal [Marshal] MacMahon admitted that if the white flag of the Bourbons were run up, the chassepots would go off of their own accord. In November, 1873, the monarchists in the assembly voted to give MacMahon the 'executive power' in France for seven years, in the hope that by that time the count of Chambord would be dead and the candidate succeeding him would be more reasonable." (189-190) --Norman Rich, The Age of Nationalism and Reform, 1850-1890

He turned down the offer to be king because of a damn flag!

Flag of the Bourbon family.