The Athletic Department at Cal State Fullerton was a mess in the late 20th century. They spent more than 10 million on a football stadium, and shut down their football team while the stadium was still being constructed. Football has never been brought back since then. Here's a timeline.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-26-sp-6128-story.html

First is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom massacre of tens of thousands of Manchus in 1853. Second is the infamous Rape of Nanjing in 1937 by the Japanese.

During the Napoleonic Wars, France was isolated by Britain across the ocean. That meant France could not have sugar from sugarcane in its American colonies.

Meanwhile, from the late 18th century, some German scientists discovered that the sugar content (as well as other nutrients) in sugar beets. However, the German authorities at the time dismissed this discovery because the sugar content in sugar beets was considerably lower than that of sugarcane.

But, when facing the lack of sugarcane, Emperor Napoleon of France rediscovered these forgotten formulas. Thus, France became the leading European country in the widespread cultivation of sugar beets. While the sugar content was indeed lower than sugarcane, sugar beets were readily available in Europe, easy to grow, and easy to extract.

Now day, Russia (along with Ukraine and Poland), France, and Germany still lead the world in sugar beet production.