After a kerfuffle in the National Assembly, Defferre yelled at Ribiere, "Taisez-vous, abruti!" (shut up, stupid!). Insulted, Ribière demanded an apology. Defferre refused. Ribière challenged Defferre to a duel. His challenge was accepted. The duel took place with razor-sharp Epees on private property in Neuilly-sur-Seine, west of Paris. It was officiated by Jean de Lipkowskiin, who then was France's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The official newsreel footage, seen below, was captured by an unknown cameraman.
From Chiara Fiorillo at Daily Mail UK:
"...Ribière, was to be married the following day.Defferre had vowed not to kill him, but to wound him and 'spoil his wedding night very considerably'.
In fact, he landed a couple of touches on Ribière's arm. Rene Ribière, who was 12 years younger, took the duel very seriously and offered not only to use sharper swords, but also to continue fighting after Defferre first struck him. Lipkowskiin then put an end to the combat after Defferre struck Ribière (and drew blood) for the second time.
The effect Ribière's injuries had on his wedding night, however, is not clear. Both politicians went on to live their lives after the duel. Defferre died in Marseille in 1986, and Ribière in Italy in 1998."
From Das Wiki:
"The duel was based on a code of honor. Duels were fought not so much to kill the opponent as to gain "satisfaction", that is, to restore one's honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one's life for it, and as such the tradition of dueling was originally reserved for the male members of nobility; however, in the modern era it extended to those of the upper classes generally. On occasion, duels with pistols or swords were fought between women."Dueling culture survived in France, Italy and Latin America well into the 20th century. From 1921 until 1971, Uruguay was one of the few places where duels were fully legal. In the modern era, duels are often reserved only for fencing competition at the Olympics.
"By the outbreak of World War I, dueling had not only been made illegal almost everywhere in the Western world, but was also widely seen as an anachronism. Military establishments in most countries frowned on dueling because officers were the main contestants. Officers were often trained at military academies at government's expense; when officers killed or disabled one another it imposed an unnecessary financial and leadership strain on a military organization, making dueling unpopular with high-ranking officers.
With the end of the duel, the dress sword also lost its position as an indispensable part of a gentleman's wardrobe, a development described as an "archaeological terminus" by Ewart Oakeshott, concluding the long period during which the sword had been a visible attribute of the free man, beginning as early as three millennia ago with the Bronze Age sword."
Other famous duels.
Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (1804): On July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton, a leading Federalist and former Secretary of the Treasury and Aaron Burr, vice president under Thomas Jefferson, took part in a duel near Weehawken, New Jersey.
Hamilton had campaigned against Burr during his bid to become governor of New York. He considered him an opportunist. Burr, who wanted to restore his reputation, shot Hamilton in the stomach. Hamilton died the next afternoon. Following his opponent's death, Burr was charged with murder and arrested. When he was acquitted, he fled to Europe and then returned to his private life in New York.
Lady Almeria Braddock and Mrs Elphinstone (1792): Mrs Elphinstone visited Lady Almeria Braddock's home in London in 1792. The hostess, angry because of a comment Mrs Elphinstone made about her age, challenged her guest to a duel in Hyde Park. Mrs Elphinstone fired her pistol first and then they went on to fight with swords. Lady Braddock wounded her opponent in the arm but there were no further consequences as Mrs Elphinstone decided to write a letter of apology.
Another American politician, Andrew Jackson, later to serve as a General Officer in the U.S. Army and to become the seventh president, fought two duels, though some legends claim he fought many more.
Lawyer Charles Dickinson had described Andrew Jackson's wife Rachel as a bigamist, referring to an error in her divorce from her previous husband. On May 30, 1806, Jackson killed Dickinson, but not before the lawyer inflicted a chest wound against Jackson which caused him a lifetime of pain. Jackson also engaged in a frontier brawl (not a duel) with Thomas Hart Benton in 1813.
On September 22, 1842, future President Abraham Lincoln, at the time an Illinois state legislator, met to duel with state auditor James Shields, but their seconds intervened and persuaded them against it.
