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France History Timeline
4500BC Neolithic burial mounds.
123BC Romans won a victory over the Gauls near Mt. Sainte-Victoire.
c100BC Lutetia - community situated on an island in the Seine River
58 BC Gallic Wars begins.
52 BC Sep Battle of Alesia
AD
197 Feb 19 Clodius Albinus at Lyon defeated.
202 St. Iranaeus Bishop of Lugdunum.
260 Foundation of Gallic Empire by Postumus,
274 Battle of Châlons defeat of Gallic Empire.
286-293 Carausius, seized power in Britain and northern Gaul
297 Salian Franks were allowed to settle on the territory of the Batavians.
390 July 16 Brennus and Gauls defeated the Romans at Allia.
394 Sep 8 Arbogast, French general, committed suicide.
418 Honorius gave land in Gallia Aquitania to Visigoth
426-448 Clodio, king of the Salian Franks.
448-457 Merovech.
451 April 7 Attila's Huns plundered Metz.
451 June 20 Battle of Catalaunian Plains or Battle of Châlons:
453 Thorismund was murdered by younger brother Theodoric II who succeeded him in throne of Visigoths.
455 July 9 Avitus, became Emperor of the West.
457-465 Childeric I king.
462 Septimania was ceded to the Visigothic Kingdom.
463 Aegidius and Childeric I defeated the invading Visigoths in Orléans.
464 Aegidius died. His son Syagrius succeeded him as magister militum of the Domain of Soissons.
465-511 Clovis I
466 Theodoric II was murdered and succeeded by his younger brother Euric as king of the Visigoths,
485 Alaric II as king of the Visigoths.
486 Battle of Soissons: Clovis I defeated Syagrius.
496 Clovis, adopt Catholicism.
507 Battle of Vouillé: Clovis defeated a Visigoth army under Alaric II,
508 The Franks, led by Clovis, took Paris and made it their capital.
511 Nov 27 Clovis, king of the Franks, died and his kingdom was divided
524 June 25 Battle of Vézeronce: armies of Clovis' sons inflicted a serious defeat on the Burgundian king Godomar.
 Chlodomer, the king of Orléans, was killed in battle.
 Chlothar I, the king of Neustria, had two of Chlodomer's sons killed and forced the third into hiding thus inheriting his kingdom.
534 Theuderic I died, his son Theudebert I succeeded him as king of Austrasia.
547 Theudebert I died, his son Theudebald succeeded him as king of Austrasia.
555 Theudebald died, his realm passed to his great-uncle Chlothar I.
558 Dec 13 Childebert I died. His brother Chlothar I inherited his territory, thus becoming sole King of the Franks
561 Nov 29 Chlothar I died. Again, the kingdom was divided among his four sons;

Paris went to Charibert I, Burgundy to Guntram, Austrasia to Sigebert I, Soissons to Chilperic I.
567 Nov or Dec Charibert I, king of Paris, died. With no heir, his realm was partitioned among his brothers.
573 Aug 20 Gregory of Tours was selected as the bishop of Tours.
575 Sigebert I of Austrasia died, his son, Childebert II, inherited his kingdom.
584 Sep Chilperic I of Soissons (Neustria) was assassinated before the birth of his son Chlothar II. His wife Fredegund became regent.
592 Jan 28 Guntram of Burgundy died, his realm was passed on to Childebert II who was his adoptive son.
592 Dec 8 Fredegund died so the 13 year old Chlothar II started his reign as King of Neustria.
595 Childebert II died, his kingdom was divided between his two sons.
612 Theudebert II, the king of Austrasia, was assassinated. His realm went to his brother Theuderic II, king of Burgundy.
613 Theuderic II died. His bastard son Sigebert II briefly inherited his kingdom.
 Sigebert II, the king of Burgundy and Austrasia, was executed by Chlothar II, who becoming sole king of the Franks.
623 Chlothar II gave Austrasia its independence under the kingship of his son, Dagobert I.
629 Chlothar II died. Under an agreement forged after his death, Dagobert I succeeded him as king of Neustria
632 April 8 Charibert II died, possibly in an assassination ordered by his brother Dagobert I.
 Chilperic was also killed. Dagobert I reacquired Aquitaine and became sole king of the Franks.
639 Jan 19 Dagobert I died. Austrasia went to his son Sigebert III, and the Kingdom of Neustria and Burgundy to Clovis II.
655 Clovis II died. He was succeeded by his son Chlothar III (roi fainéant).
656 Feb 1 Sigebert III died. He was succeeded by Childebert the Adopted.
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661 Childebert the Adopted died. Chlothar III annexed his kingdom, and became sole king of the Franks.
661 Chlothar III died. kingdom divided between two younger brothers; Austrasia to Childeric II, and Neustria to Theuderic III.
673 Childeric II annexed Theuderic III's kingdom, and became sole king of the Franks.
675 Childeric II died. Theuderic III inherited Neustria, Clovis III (roi fainéant) inherited Austrasia.
676 Clovis III died. Theuderic III inherited his kingdom, becoming sole king of the Franks.
691 Theuderic III died. He was succeeded by his son Clovis IV (roi fainéant).
695 Clovis IV died. He was succeeded by his brother Childebert III.
711 April 23 Childebert died. He was succeeded by his son Dagobert III.
715 Dagobert died. He was succeeded by Chilperic II, the youngest son of Childeric II.
721 Feb 13 Chilperic died. He was succeeded by Theuderic IV, Dagobert III's son.
732 Oct 10 Battle of Tours
737 Theuderic died. Charles Martel was prevented succession.
741 Oct 22 Charles Martel died realm was divided between two sons, Pepin and Carloman, acting as Mayors of the Palace.
743-1194 Five cathedrals were built on the site of Chartres cathedral over this period.
743 Childeric III proclaimed king of the Franks thanks to Pepin the Short's influence,
747 Aug 15 Carloman renounced his position withdrew to monastic life, his realm was given to his brother, Pepin the Short.
751 Childeric III was dethroned as the last king of the Merovingian dynasty, Pepin the Short was later crowned king of the Franks,
 Oct 9 Charlemagne and Carloman I were proclaimed Kings of the Franks after their father's death.
768 Sep 24 Pepin the Short (54) of Gaul died. His dominions were divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.
768-814 Charlemagne becomes king of the Franks and emperor of the former Western Roman Empire.
771 Dec 4 Carloman I died, Charlemagne annexed his kingdom.
774 Following successful conquests, Charlemagne became king of the Lombards.
778 Aug 15 Battle at Roncesvalles
795 Spanish March was created by Charlemagne as a buffer zone between the Frankish kingdom and Al-Andalus.
800 Dec 25 Charlemagne is coronated Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III.
811 The treaty of Heiligen is signed between Charlemagne and the Danish king
812 Frankish conquests in Spain were recognized by Emir Al-Hakam I.
814 Jan 28 Charlemagne died.
840 June 20 Louis the Pious dies,
841 June 25 Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeated Lothar at Fontenay.
843 June 24 Vikings destroyed Nantes.
843 Aug 10 Treaty of Verdun:
855 Sep 28 Emperor Lothar died in Gaul, and his kingdom was divided between his three sons.
869 Aug 8 Lotharius II, King of Middle-France (Lotharingen) (855-869), died.
870 Treaty of Mersen Louis II, the Holy Roman Emperor, forced the partition of Lorraine under King Charles the Bald.
875 Aug 12 Louis II (~50), king of Italy, emperor of France, died.
875 Dec 29 Charles the Bald is coronated Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John VIII.
876 Oct 8 Battle of Andernach:
877 Oct 6 Charles II the Kale, King of France and Roman emperor (875-77), died at 54.
879 April 10 Louis the Stammerer dies of illness.
880 March Louis III and Carloman II sign a treaty in Amiens dividing the kingdom
882 Aug 5 Louis III dies, Carloman II becomes sole king of West Francia.
884 Dec 12 Carloman II dies, his cousin Charles the Fat already king of East Francia, succeeds in the rule of West Francia
888 Jan 13 Charles the Fat dies,
 Feb Odo of France is crowned King of the Western Franks
891 Sep 1 Norse defeated near Louvaine, France.
896 Feb 22 Pope Formosa was crowned king Arnulf of Carinthia, French emperor.
898 Jan 1 Odo of France dies leaving no surviving heir.
899 Dec 8 Arnulf of Carinthia, last emperor of Austria-France, died.
900-1000 Alsace became part of Germany in the 10th century.
910 The abbey at Cluny was founded.
911 Charles signed the Treaty of Saint Clair-sur-Epte with Rollo, the king of the Vikings, become the Duchy of Normandy.
921 Nov 7 Treaty of Bonn: East France and West France recognized each other.
922 Charles was overthrown by a noble revolt and replaced by Robert I, Odo's brother.
923 June 15 Battle of Soissons (923): Robert was killed.
936 Jan 15 Rudolph died. He was succeeded by Louis IV, a son of Charles the Simple.
954 Sep 10 Louis IV died. He was succeeded by his son Lothair.
954 Nov 12 Lotharius became king of France.
985 Montpellier, France, was founded at the intersection of 3 trade and pilgrimage routes.
986 March 1 Lothair died. He was succeeded by his son Louis V.
987 May 21 Louis V died. With no heir,
987 May 22 Louis V le Faineant (20), the Lazy, king of France (986-87), was allegedly poisoned by his mother. [see May 21]
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987 July 3 The count of Paris, Hugh Capet (49), became king of France.
996 Oct 24 Hugh Capet died. He was succeeded by his son Robert II.
1004 Robert annexed the Duchy of Burgundy.
1031 July 20 Robert died in a civil war against his sons.
1032 Feb 2 Conrad II claimed the thrown of France.
1032 Henry bought peace by reversing the annexation of the Duchy of Burgundy and giving it to his brother.
1059 May 23 Henri I crowned his son King Philip I of France.
1060 Aug 4 Henry died.
1065 April 16 Norman Robert Guiscard took Bari, ending five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy.
1066 Philip entered his majority.
1072 Jan 10 Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger took Palermo in Sicily.
1076 Feb 22 Godfried III, with the Hump, duke of Lower Lorraine, was murdered. [see Feb 26]
1086 St. Bruno founded the austere Carthusian order of monks in Grenoble.
1087 Sep 9 William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, died.
1095 Nov 27 Clermont, France, Pope Urbana II made an appeal for warriors to relieve Jerusalem.
c1097 The pilgrimage routes of France (chemins de pelerinage) were begun.
1100-1200 Chretien de Troyes in the 12th century introduced Camelot into Arthurian legend
c1100-1200 Albigenses were members of the Catharistic sect that arose in southern France in the 11th century. [see 1244]
1101 William IX, the Duke of Aquitaine, returned from the Crusades and composed songs about his adventures,
1108 July 29 Philip died. He was succeeded by his son Louis VI, the Fat.
1114 Trade fairs were held at Champagne, France, at the crossing of roads from Flanders, Germany, Italy and Provence.
1118 Dec 18 Afonso the Battler, the Christian King of Aragon captured Saragossa, Spain, a major blow to Muslim Spain.
1127 March 2 Charles the Good, Count of Flanders, was murdered.
1130 The church at the abbey at Cluny was completed and measured over 400 feet long.
1131 Oct 25 Louis VII the Young, King of France, was crowned.
1137 July 22 Louis VII became duke of Aquitaine by marriage to the duchess Eleanor.
 Aug 1 Louis the Fat died. Louis VII became king.
1147 Oct 25 At the Battle at Doryleum Arabs beat Konrad III's crusaders.
1152 March 21 The marriage of Louis VII and Eleanor was annulled.
1153 Aug 20 Bernard de Clairvaux, French saint, died.
1171 Oct 18 Henry II (1133-1189) arrived in Ireland from France with an army and declared himself "Lord of Ireland".
1180 Sep 18 Louis VII died. He was succeeded by his son Philip II.
1189 Jan 21 Philip Augustus, Henry II of England and Frederick Barbarossa assembled the troops for the Third Crusade.
1190 Louvre Museum in Paris was built as a fortress.
1194 French cathedral at Chartres was mostly destroyed by fire.
1196 Chateau Gaillard in Normandy was built by Richard the Lionhearted,
1199 April 6 Richard I killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.
1202 April 28 King Philip II threw out John-without-Country, from France.
1204 France won back Normandy but the people of the isle of Jersey chose to remain loyal to England.
1204 April 1 Eleanor of Aquitaine (81), wife of Louis VII and Henry II, died.
1212 Stephen, a shepherd boy from Cloyes-sur-le-Loir, gathered 30,000 children who went to Marseilles
1213 Sep 12 Simon de Montfort defeated Raymond of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon at Muret, France.
1214 July 27 Battle of Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of England.
1215 Aug 24 Pope Innocent III, following a request from King John, declared the Magna Carta invalid.
1216 Oct 28 Henry III of England (9) was crowned.
1217 Aug 24 Eustace "the Monk", French buccaneer, was killed in battle.
1220 In France the main structure of Chartres cathedral was completed.
1223 July 14 Philip II Augustus died. Louis VIII succeeded his father.
1226 Nov 8 Louis VIII died. He was succeeded by Louis IX.
1238 Sep 28 James of Aragon retook Valencia, Spain, from the Arabs.
1241 June Louis IX announced that the County of Poitiers would go to his brother Alphonse
1242 May 20 Saintonge War: Henry III of England arrived with an army in support of Isabella's claim to Poitiers.
1242 June 6 Talmudic books were burned in Paris.
1244 Cathars, a group of Catholic heretics, settled at Montsegur, France, in the Ariege region.
1244 Aug 23 Turks expelled the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem.
1244 Oct 17 Sixth Crusade ended annihilated the Frankish army at Gaza.
c1244 Pope Innocent III launched the Albigensian Crusade,
1245 July 27 Frederick II of France was deposed by a council at Lyons, which found him guilty of sacrilege.
1246 May 22 Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.
1248 Nov 23 Seville, France surrendered to Ferdinand III of Castile after a two-year siege.
1250 April 30 King Louis IX of France was ransomed for one million dollars.
1253 July 23 Jews were expelled from Vienne, France, by order of Pope Innocent III.
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1269 June 19 King Louis IX of France decreed all Jews must wear a badge of shame.
1270 Aug 25 Louis IX died. He was succeeded by his son Philip III.
1274 May 7 Second Council of Lyons opened.
1274 Thomas Aquinas was summoned before a council at Lyons to answer for his opinions.
1275 May 23 King Edward I of England ordered a cessation to the persecution of French Jews.
1282 March 30 Furious inhabitants of Palermo attacked French occupation force in the "Sicilian Vespers."
1282 March 31 The great massacre of the French in Sicily, "The Sicilian Vespers," came to an end.
1282 April 28 Villagers in Palermo led a revolt against French rule in Sicily.
1285 Oct 5 Philip III died. He was succeeded by his son Philip IV.
1288 April 24 Jews of Yroyes France were accused of ritual murder.
1289 Oct 4 Louis X, the Stubborn, king of France (1314-16), was born.
1290 Aug 16 Charles of Valois married Margaret of Anjou.
1297 Louis IX was canonized by Pope Boniface VIII,
1300 Paris, with its population between 200,000 and 300,000, was at this time the largest city in the world.
1302 May 18 Bruges Matins: The exiled citizens of Bruges, in Flanders, returned to their hometown and killed every Frenchman.
1302 July 11 Battle of the Golden Spurs: Flemish insurrectionists soundly defeated a French occupation force.
1303 May 20 France returned Gascony to England’s Edward I.
1303 Sep 8 Anagni: French king Philip IV captured Pope Boniface VIII.
1306 July 22 King Phillip the Fair ordered the expulsion of Jews from France.
1307 Oct 13 Philip IV accused Knights Templar of heresy.
1307 Oct 19 Hearings in Paris begin.
1307 Oct 24 Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Temple, confesses for the first time.
1307 Nov 9 Confession of Hugues de Pairaud.
1308 Aug 17–20 Chinon parchment shows pardons for leadership of the Templars, including Jacques de Molay and Huges de Pairaud.
1310 April 7 Defense of the order led by Pierre de Bologna and Renaud de Provins.
1310 May 12 Fifty-four Knights Templar were burned at the stake as heretics in France.
1312 March 22 Order of the Knights Templar is officially suppressed.
1313 March 21 Hospitallers agree to pay Philip IV 200,000 livres tournois compensation
1314 March 18 Jacques de Molay Grand Master of the Templars, was burned at the stake along with his aides.
1314 Nov 29 Philippe IV, the Handsome, King of France (1285-1314), died.
1315 In France Parisian bakers were found guilty of mixing flour with animal droppings during the Great Famine.
1315 Louis X, Philip's brother and successor, allowed Jews back into France for financial considerations.
1315 Italian immigrants in France began the Western silk industry.
1316 June 4 Louis X (26), King of France (1314-16), died.
1316 Nov 15 Jean I became king of France, and died 4 days later.
1322 Jan 3 Philip V died. With no heir, his younger brother Charles IV succeeded him.
1322 June 24 Jews were expelled from France for a 3rd time.
1326 Richard de Bas, a paper manufacturer, was founded in Ambert d’Auvergne, France.
1328 Feb 1 Charles IV, the Handsome, King of France (1322-28), died.
1328 May 27 French king Philip VI Valois was crowned.
1340 June 24 English fleet defeated the French fleet at Sluys, off the Flemish coast.
1340 Nov 30 John, Duke de Berry, captain of Paris and art collector, was born.
1346 July 12 Edward III of England landed his army on the Normandy beaches unopposed.
 July 18 Edward III divided his army into 3 groups and began a march on Paris.
 Aug 16 Philip VI offered Edward III sovereignty over Aquitaine in return for peace.
 Aug 25 Edward III of England defeated Philip VI's army at the Battle of Crecy in France.
 Aug 26 Battle of Crecy.
 Sep 3 Edward III of England began the siege of Calais, along the coast of France.
 Sep 28 Edward III and Philip VI signed a temporary truce.
1347 Aug 3 Six burghers of the surrounded French city of Calais surrendered to Edward III of England in hopes of relieving the siege.
1347 Aug 4 English troops conquered Ft. Calais. After an 11 month siege, French Calais fell to England's King Edward III.
1347-1350 Oct Black Death
1348 Plague arrived at Montpellier in the spring and killed an estimated two-thirds of the 50,000 inhabitants.
1349-1830 The eldest son of king of France was referred to as dauphine, as an honor to Dauphine province after its cession to France.
1350 Aug 22 John II, also known as John the Good, succeeded Philip VI as king of France.
1355 Nov 1 English invasion army under Black Prince Edward (25) landed at Calais.
1356 Sep 19 English Prince Edward defeated the French at Poitiers. Jean de Clermont, French marshal, died in battle.
1357 The States-General passed Étienne Marcel's Great Ordinance in an attempt to impose limits on the monarchy,
1357 Nov 25 Charles IV issued a letter of protection of Jews of Strasbourg and Alsace.
1358 June 10 French Boer leader Guillaume Cale was captured.
1358 French peasantry staged an uprising that came to be called the Jacquerie revolt.
1360 March 15 French invasion army landed on English south coast and conquered Winchel.
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1364 April 8 John II died. He was succeeded by his son Charles V.
1370 April 22 The first stone of the Bastille was laid by order of King Charles V (1364-1380).
1378 Dec 18 Charles V denounced the treachery of John IV of Brittany and confiscated his duchy.
1380 Sep 16 Charles V died. He was succeeded by his son Charles VI.
1380 Nov 14 King Charles VI of France was crowned at age 12.
1380 Nov 16 French King Charles VI declared no taxes forever.
1382 March 1 French Maillotin rose up against taxes.
1382 Nov 27 French nobility crushed the Flemish rebels at Flanders.
1390 July 1 A French and Genovese armada sailed out against Barbary pirates.
c1392 Sir Jean Froissart authored "The Chronicles of England, France and Scotland."
1394 Sep 17 In France King Charles VI decreed as an irrevocable law and statute that thenceforth no Jew should dwell in his domains.
1394 Nov 3 Jews were expelled from France by Charles VI.
1395-1456 Jacques Coeur, financial adviser to Charles VII of France.
1396 April 30 Crusaders and the Earl of Nevers departed from Dijon.
1412 Jan 6 According to tradition, French heroine Joan of Arc was born Jeanette d'Arc, in the French village of Domrémy.
1415 Aug 13 Hundred Years' War (1415-1429): Henry V landed in the north of France.
1415 Oct 25 Battle of Agincourt.
1418 May 30 The army of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, captured Paris. The dauphin, the future Charles VII, fled.
1419 Sep 10 John the Fearless (48), was murdered at Montereau, France, by supporters of the dauphine.
1419 An English army under Henry V captured the duchy of Normandy.
1420 May 21 Treaty of Troyes. under which the throne was to pass to Henry V
1420 Dec 1 Henry V, King of England and de facto ruler of France, entered Paris.
1422 Aug 31 Henry V died. He was succeeded as King of England by his infant son Henry VI.
 Oct 21 Charles VI died. He was succeeded by his son Charles VII as king of France, a title disputed for Henry VI of England.
1429 April 29 Joan of Arc led French troops to Orleans
 May 7 English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.
 May 8 French troops under Joan of Arc rescued Orleans.
 July 16 Joan of Arc led French army in the Battle of Orleans.
 July 17 The dauphin, son of Charles VI, was crowned as king of France.
 Aug 26 Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris.
1430 May 23 Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
1430 July 14 Joan of Arc, was handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais.
1431 Feb 21 The interrogation of Joan of Arc (1412-1431) began France.
1431 May 30 Joan of Arc burned at the stake in Rouen, France.
1431 Dec 16 Henry VI of England (10) was crowned King of France.
1432 Zeeland became part of the Low Countries possession of Phillip the Good (1396-1467) of Burgundy.
1435 Sep 21 Treaty of Atrecht. Philippe le Bon of Burgundy and French king Charles VII signed a treaty at Arras.
1440 Oct 26 Gilles de Rais, French marshal, depraved killer of 140 children, was hanged over slow fire.
1443 Cardinal Beaufort (1375-1447) lent English monarchy funds
1444 Aug 26 Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs, fought near Basel in Switzerland,
1451 Jacques Coeur was charged with poisoning Agnes Sorel, mistress to King Charles VII.
1453 May 29 French banker Jacques Coeurs had his possessions confiscated.
1453 July 17 Battle at Castillon, France, ending the 100 Years' War.
1453 Oct 19 In the 2nd Battle at Castillon: France beat England, ending hundred year war.
1454 Feb 17 At a grand feast, Philip the Good of Burgundy took the "vow of the pheasant," by which he swore to fight the Turks.
1456 July 7 Joan of Arc was acquitted, even though she had already been burnt at the stake on May 30, 1431.
1456 Nov 25 Jacques Coeur, French merchant and banker, died in battle.
1461 July 22 Charles VII died. He was succeeded by his son Louis XI.
1464 June 19 French King Louis XI formed a postal service.
1474 May 9 Peter van Hagenbach, Elzasser (Alsatian) knight, land guardian, was beheaded.
1476 Aug 4 Jacob van Armagnac-Pardiac, French duke of Nemours, was beheaded.
1476 Dec 24 Some 400 Burgundy soldiers froze to death during the siege of Nancy.
1476 Swiss overcame Burgundy’s Charles the Bold at the Battle of Murten.
1477 Jan 5 Swiss troops defeated the forces under Charles the Bold of Burgundy at the Battle of Nancy.
1477 The Seventeen Provinces, a union of states in Low Countries, became the property of the Habsburgs.
1480-1520 The fortress at Bonaguil in the Quercy province was built by a baron as a bulwark against his vassals.
1483 Aug 30 Louis XI died. He was succeeded by his son Charles VIII.
1488 July 28 Some 440 men from the Isle of Wight declared war on France.
1490 Anne of Brittany married by proxy the recently widowed Maximilian of Hapsburg
1494-1547 Cesspools and the guild that emptied them, the Maitres Fy-Fy, developed at this time.
1494-1553 Francois Rabelais, French satirist: "If you wish to avoid seeing a fool you must first break your mirror."
1495 Jan 28 Pope Alexander VI gave his son Cesare Borgia as hostage to Charles VIII of France.
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1498 April 7 Charles VIII died. With no heir, he was succeeded by his father's second cousin, the Duke of Orléans, LouisXII.
1498 Aug 17 French King Louis XII made Cesare Borgia (1475-1507) the Duke of Valentinois.
1499 Sep 10 French marched on Milan.
1500 April 8 Battle at Novara: King Louis XII beat duke Ludovico Sforza (Il Sforza del Destino).
1500 April 10 France captured duke Ludovico Sforza ("Il Sforza del Destino") of Milan.
1505 April 20 Jews were expelled from Orange, Burgundy, by Philibert of Luxembourg.
1507 Genoa was annexed by the French.
1508 Dec 10 War of the League of Cambrai:
1509 May 14 Battle of Agnadello, the French defeated the Venetians in Northern Italy.
1509-1564 John Calvin, French theologian. He started the Protestant Reformation in France in 1532.
1511 Sep 1 Council of Pisa opened. Louis XII of France called the council to oppose the Holy League of Pope Julius II.
1512 April 11 Holy League were heavily defeated by the French at the Battle of Ravenna.
1513 June 6 Battle at Novara: Habsburgers vs. Valois.
1513 Aug 16 Battle of the Spurs.
1513 Sep 9 Battle of Flodden Field.
1514 England and France declared a truce in their warfare. Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, married Louis XII.
1514 May 18 Claude, the duchess of Brittany, was married to Francis of Angoulême, the heir to the French throne.
1515 Jan 1 King Louis XII (b.1462) of France, died. He was succeeded by Francis I (1494-1547).
1515 Sep 13 King Francis of France defeated the Swiss at Marignano, northern Italy.
1515 The first nationalized French factories were set up in the manufacture of tapestries and arms.
1516 Treaty of Noyon brought peace between France and Spain.
1518 Cardinal Wolsey arranged the Peace of London between England, France, the Pope, Maximilian I and Spain.
1518-1589 Catherine de Medicis, queen of Henry II of France, mother of Francis II, Charles IX, and Henry III.
1519 May 2 Artist Leonardo da Vinci (67) died at Cloux, France.
1521 April 22 French king Francois I declared war on Spain.
 Nov 19 Battle at Milan: Emperor Charles V's Spanish, German, and papal troops beat France and occupied Milan.
 Chateau de Chenonceaux in the Loire Valley of France was built for the royal tax collector, Thomas Bohier.
 The manufacture of silk cloth was introduced to France. It had been made in Sicily since the 1100s.
1522 England declared war on France and Scotland.
1523 Oct 27 English troops occupied Montalidier, France.
1524 March 19 Giovanni de Verrazano of France sighted land around area of Carolinas.
1524 July 20 Claude died. Her eldest son Francis, Dauphin of France, became Duke of Brittany.
1524 Aug 19 Emperor Charles V's troops besieged Marseille.
1524 Chevalier Bayard, commander of French forces in Lombardy, was killed and the French were driven out.
1525 Feb 24 Charles V captured Francis I at the battle of Pavia, in Italy.
1525 March 20 Paris parliament began the pursuit of Protestants (Papists proudly participated).
1526 Jan 14 Francis of France, held captive by Charles V, signed the Treaty of Madrid, giving up claims in France and Italy.
1526 March 26 King François I returned Spanish captivity to France.
1527 April 30 Henry VIII and King Francis of France signed the treaty of Westminster.
1528 Jan 22 England & France declared war on Emperor Charles V of Spain.
1529 April 16 Louis de Berquin, French humanist, reformer, heretic, was burned at stake.
1530 Etienne Briard introduced round characters in musical engraving.
1532 John Calvin (1509-1564), French theologian, started the Protestant Reformation in France.
1532 Francis I issued an edict incorporating Brittany into the kingdom of France.
1533 Caterina de Medici (14) married the future Henry II (14) of France.
1534 April 20 Cartier departed St. Malo on the 1st of his 3 expeditions to the New World.
 June 9 Jacques Cartier became the first man to sail into the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.
 July 24 Jacques Cartier landed in Canada and claimed it for France.
 Aug 15 St. Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish ecclesiastic, founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in Paris
 Oct 18 A new pursuit of French protestants began.
1535 Sep 1 French navigator Jacques Cartier landed in Quebec.
1535 Oct 2 Jacques Cartier first saw the site of what is now Montreal and proclaimed "What a royal mountain," hence the name.
1535 France became the first country to have a permanent embassy at the Sublime Porte in Istanbul.
1536 July 6 Jaques Cartier returned to France after discovering the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
1536 July 14 France and Portugal signed the naval treaty of Lyons aligning themselves against Spain.
1536 Oct 6 William Tyndale, English translator of New Testament, strangled and burned at the stake for heresy at Vilvorde, France.
1538 June 18 Treaty of Nice ended the war between Emperor Charles V and King Francois I. It only lasted 10 months.
1538 France’s King Francois I closed the French bath houses by this time.
1539 Aug 10 King Francis of France declared that all official documents were to be written in French, not Latin.
1539 In Lyon printers went on strike against long hours, poor conditions and excessive profits by masters.
1541 Aug 23 Jacques Cartier landed near Quebec on his third voyage and established a short-lived community there.
1542 War was renewed between the Holy Roman Empire and France.
7
1543 Aug 22 French and Ottoman forces captured Nice following a siege of the city.
1544 Sep 14 Henry VIII's forces took Boulogne, France.
 Sep 19 Francis, the king of France, and Charles V of Austria signed a peace treaty in Crespy.
 Henry VIII crossed the Channel to Calais to campaign with Charles V against Francis I.
 Gustavus I of Sweden signed an alliance with France.
1545 Feb 13 William of Nassau became prince of Orange.
1545 April 12 French king Francis I ordered the Protestants of Vaudois killed.
1545 July 19 French troops landed on the Isle of Wight.
1546 June 7 Peace of Ardes ended the war between France and England.
1546 Aug 3 French printer Etienne Dolet, accused of heresy, blasphemy and sedition, was hanged and burned at the stake.
1546 Pierre Lescot, French architect, began the building of the Louvre in Paris.
1547 March 31 Francis I died. He was succeeded by his son Henry II.
1548 Aug 15 Mary Queen of the Scots (6), who was engaged to the Dauphin, landed in France.
1549 Aug 9 France declared war on England. England declared war on France.
1550 March 24 France and England signed the Peace of Boulogne. It ended the war of England with Scotland and France.
1551 June 27 France promulgated the Edict of Chateaubriand, a crackdown on Protestantism in France.
1552 Jan 15 France signed a secret treaty with German Protestants.
1553 Aug 2 An invading French army was destroyed at the Battle of Marciano in Italy by an imperial army.
1554 Henry II of France invaded the Netherlands.
1556 Feb 5 Henry II of France and Philip of Spain signed the truce of Vaucelles.
1557 Aug 10 Spanish and English troops in alliance defeated the French at the Battle of St. Quentin (San Quintino).
1557 The influx of New World silver caused bankruptcies in France and Spain.
1558 Jan 6 French seized the British held port of Calais.
1558 Jan 7 French, under the Duke of Guise, finally took the port of Calais from the English.
1558 March 5 Smoking tobacco was introduced in Europe by Francisco Fernandes.
1558 April 24 Mary, Queen of Scotland, married the French dauphin, Francis.
1558 June 22 French took the French town of Thioville from the English.
1558 July 13 Led by the court of Egmont, the Spanish army defeated the French at Gravelines, France.
1558 July 23 Battle at Grevelingen: Gen. Lamoral van Egmont beat France.
1559 April 3 Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France signed the peace of Cateau-Cambresis,
1559 July 10 Henry II died following a wound to the head by a tournament lance. prophecy by Nostradamus.
1559 The first synod of Calvinist, or Reformed, churches, met in Paris.
1560 Sep 16 Arnaud du Tilh, who had confessed to impersonating Martin Guerre, was hanged in front of Guerre’s house.
1560 Huguenot conspiracy of Amboise attempted without success to overthrow the Guises
1560 Dec 5 Francis II died. With no heir, he was succeeded by his brother Charles IX.
1561 Jan 28 Edict of Orleans suspended the persecution of French Huguenots.
1561 May, In Montpellier, a Calvinist stronghold, the Catholics marched in protest against the Calvinists
1561 Sep 20 Elizabeth of England signed a treaty at Hamptan Court with French Huguenot leader Louis de Bourbon
1561 Sep 23 Philip II of Spain gave orders to halt colonizing efforts in Florida. The French took advantage of the opportunity.
1561 Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Lisbon, sent tobacco seeds and powdered leaves back to France.
1562 Jan 17 French Protestant Huguenots were recognized under the Edict of St. Germain.
 March 1 Massacre of Vassy (Wassy)
 March - March 1563 First War of Religion
 May 1 The 1st French colonists in the US, landed in Florida.
 Dec 19 Battle of Dreux
1563 Feb 18 Huguenot Jean Poltrot de Merde shot French Gen. Francois De Guise (44).
 March 19 Peace of Amboise granted Rights for Huguenots.
 April 30 Jews were expelled from France by order of Charles VI.
1564 June 22 A 3-ship French expedition under René de Laudonnière arrived in Florida and built Fort Caroline.
 Sep 4 A 10-ship Spanish fleet under Pedro Menendez de Aviles made landfall in Florida.
 Sep 13 Jean Ribault's French fleet was scattered by a devastating storm.
 France adopted the reformed calendar and shifted the new year from April to Jan.
1565 Sep 20 A Spanish fleet under Pedro Menendez de Aviles wiped out some 350 Frenchmen at Fort Caroline, in Florida.
1566 July 2 French astrologer, physician and prophet Nostradamus died in Salon.
1567 Sep - March 1568 Second War of Religion, ended by the Peace of Longjumeau
1567 Nov 10 Battle of Saint Denis
1568 March 23 Treaty of Longjumeau: French Huguenots went on strike.
1568 May 3 French forces in Florida slaughtered hundreds of Spanish.
1568–70 Third War of Religion,, ended by the Peace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
1569 March 3 Battle of Jarnac
 March 13 Count of Anjou defeated the Huguenots at the Battle of Jarnac.
 June Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille
8
 Oct 3 Battle of Moncontour
1570 Aug 8 Treaty of St. Germain (Peace of St. Germain-en-Laye), ending the third war of religion.
1572 Aug 24 St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
1572–73 Fourth War of Religion,, ended by the Edict of Boulogne
1572 Nov - July 1573 - Siege of La Rochelle
1573 May Henry d'Anjou elected King of Poland
1574–76 Fifth War of Religion,, ended by the Edict of Beaulieu
1574 Death of Charles IX
1575 Nov 8 French Catholics and Huguenots signed a treaty.
1576 Feb 3 Henry of Navarre (future Henry IV) escaped from Paris.
 Feb 5 Henry of Navarre renounced Catholicism at Tours.
 May 6 The peace treaty of Chastenoy ended the fifth war of religion.
 Formation of the first Catholic League in France
1576–77 Sixth War of Religion,, ended by the Treaty of Bergerac (also known as the "Edict of Poitiers")
1579 Jan 6 Union of Atrecht
1579–80 Seventh War of Religion,, ended by the Treaty of Fleix
1580 March 15 Spanish king Philip II put 25,000 gold coins on head of Prince William of Orange.
1580 Nov 26 French Huguenots and Catholics signed a peace treaty.
1582 Oct 15 Gregorian (or New World) calendar adopted in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal; preceding ten days were lost.
1584 June death of François, Duke of Anjou, heir presumptive
1584 July 10 William of Orange (1533-1584) assassinated.
1584 Dec Treaty of Joinville
1585 July 7 King Henri III & Duke De Guise signed the Treaty of Nemours: French Huguenots lost all freedoms.
1585 Sep 9, Pope Sixtus V deprived Henry of Navarre of his rights to the French crown.
1585 The War of the Three Henries [Henry III, Henry of Guise, and Henry of Navarre]
1585–98 Eighth War of Religion,, ended by the Peace of Vervins and the Edict of Nantes
1587 Oct 20 Battle of Coutras, Battle of Vimory
1588 May 9 Duke Henri de Guise's troops occupied Paris.
1588 May 12 King Henry II fled Paris after Catholic League under duke Henry of Guise entered the city.
1588 Dec 23 Henri de Guise (37), French leader of Catholic League, was murdered.
1589 Jan 5 Catherine de Medici (b.1519), Queen Mother of France, died at age 69.
 Aug 2, Henry III, King of France, was assassinated by a Jacobin monk, Jacques Clement.
 Sep 21, Battle of Arques.
1589-1610 Henry of Navarre, as Henry IV became first Bourbon King of France
1590 March Battle of Ivry, Siege of Paris
1591 March 1 Pope Gregory XIV threatened to excommunicate French king Henri IV.
1591 Sep 21 French bishops recognized Henri IV as king of France.
1593 July 25 France's King Henry IV converted from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
1594 The first act of Henry of Navarre, when he entered Paris as Henry IV, was to touch 600 scrofulous [tuberculytic] persons.
1594 Henry IV proposed his "Grande Dessein" to join the Louvre with the nearby Tuileries palace,
1594 - Henry IV crowned in Chartres.
June 5, 1595 - Battle of Fontaine-Française
April – September 1597 - Siege of Amiens
April 13. 1598 - Edict of Nantes issued by Henry IV
1600s The contractor Jean-Christophe Marie built bridges on the Seine to the Ile St.-Louis and laid out lots on straight streets for sale.
1601 Jan 17, Treaty of Lyons ended a short war between France and Savoy. Savoy was ceded to France in 1860.
1602 July 29, Duke of Biron was executed in Paris for conspiring with Spain and Savoy against King Henry IV of France.
1605-1610 King Henry IV and his minister, Duc de Sully, built Place des Vosges, originally called the Place Royale.
1606 The order of the Sisters of Ursula was founded in France.
1607 Sep 28, Samuel de Champlain and his colonists returned to France from Port Royal Nova Scotia.
1608 July 3, The city of Quebec was founded by Samuel de Champlain.
1610 May 14, King Henri IV, Henri de Navarre (56), was assassinated by a fanatical monk, François Ravillac.
1610 May 15, Parliament of Paris appointed Louis XIII (8) as French king.
1610-1643 Louis XIII (1601-1643) was King of France. He was the son of Henry IV of Navarre.
1614 May 15, An aristocratic uprising in France ended with the treaty of St. Menehould.
1614 Louis XIII gave go-ahead to build the Pont Marie linking Paris’ Right Bank to the Ile Saint Louis.
1615 Feb 23, The Estates-General in Paris was dissolved, having been in session since October 1614.
1615 July 28, French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovered Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
1615-1680 Nicolas Fouquet, treasurer to Louis XIV of France. He used embezzled funds to build his chateau Vaux le Vicomte. [see
1616 Nov 20, Bishop Richelieu became French minister of Foreign affairs and War.
1617 Baron de Vitry murdered Marechal d’Ancre in a pavilion on the Place des Vosges.
1617 16-year old Louis exiled his mother and took control of the government.
9
1620 Aug 7, French king Louis XIII beat his mother Marie de Medici at the Battle at Ponts-the-Ca, Poitou.
1620 Dec 23, French Huguenots declared war on King Louis XIII.
c1620-1630 Marquisa de Rambouillet giving birth to the Paris salon culture.
1622 Sep 5, Richelieu became Cardinal.
1622 Oct 18, treaty of Montpellier.
1624 April 29, Cardinal Richelieu appointed chief minister of the Royal Council.
1624 Aug 13, Cardinal Richelieu first minister.
1620 Feb 10, Supporters of Marie de Medici, the queen mother, were defeated by the king’s troops at Ponts de Ce, France.
1626 Feb 6, Huguenot rebels and the French signed the Peace of La Rochelle.
 Richelieu ordered all fortresses destroyed and dueling outlawed.
1627 July 10, English fleet under George Villiers reached La Rochelle, France, a Huguenot stronghold.
1627 Aug 10, Cardinal Richelieu began a siege of La Rochelle.
1628 Oct 28, After a fifteen-month siege, the Huguenot town of La Rochelle surrendered
1630 March 23, French troops occupied Pinerolo, Piedmont.
1630 Nov 10, In France there was a failed palace revolution against Richelieu government.
1631 Oct 10, A Saxon army occupied Prague.
1632 April 20, Nicolas Antione, converted to Judaism, was burned at the stake.
1632 Oct 30, Henri de Montmorency, French duke and plotter, was beheaded.
1632 Dec 20, Nicolas Antoine, French Catholic pastor who converted to Judaism, was executed.
1635 May 19, Cardinal Richelieu of France intervened in the great conflict in Europe by declaring war on the Hapsburgs in Spain.
1635 June 28, The French colony of Guadeloupe was established in the Caribbean.
1636 Aug 8, Invading armies of Spain, Austria and Bavaria were stopped at the village of St.-Jean-de-Losne, 50 miles from France.
1638 Sep 5, Louis XIV, "The Sun King" (1643-1715) of France, was born.
1642 May 18, The Canadian city of Montreal was founded by French colonists.
1642 Sep 12, Cinq Mars, French plotter, was executed.
1642 Dec 4, Cardinal Armand-Jean Duplessis Richelieu (57), French statesman and bishop of Luzon, died.
1643 May 14, Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. Cardinal Mazarin became regent.
1643 May 18, Queen Anne, widow of Louis XIII, was granted absolute power as regent.
1643 May 19, A French army destroyed Spanish army at the Battle at Rocroi - Allersheim in France
1643-1715 Louis XIV was King of France. "L'etat c'est moi" (I am the state).
1647 March 14, The 1647 Treaty of Ulm was reached between the French and the Bavarians during the Thirty Years' War.
1648 Aug 26, There was a people's uprising, the Fronde, against Anna of Austria, and Cardinal Mazarin.
 Oct 24 Thirty Years' War: The Peace of Westphalia
1649 March 11, The peace of Rueil was signed between the Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government.
1651 Nov 7, King Louis XIV of France (13) was declared of full age.
1652 July 4, Prince of Cond‚ started a blood bath in Paris.
1652 July 22, Prince Conde's rebels narrowly defeated Chief Minister Mazarin's loyalist forces at St. Martin, near Paris.
1652 Oct 21, King Louis XIV returned to Paris.
1654 June 7, Louis XIV was crowned King of France in Rheims.
1657 March 23, France and England formed an alliance against Spain.
1659 Franco-Spanish War: Victorious France signs the Treaty of the Pyrenees
1661 March 9, Cardinal Jules Mazarin (58), the chief minister of France, died, leaving King Louis the 14th in full control.
1661 Fouquet, treasurer to Louis XIV, ordered his arrest and had him imprisoned for embezzlement.
1662 April 27, Netherlands and France signed a treaty of alliance in Paris.
1662 Oct 26, Charles II of England sold Dunkirk to France.
1663-1742 Jean Baptiste Massillon, French clergyman: "To be proud and inaccessible is to be timid and weak."
1664 May, Benoit Rencorel, a shepherd girl in the French Alps, alleged that she began receiving apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
1664 Aug 1, The Turkish army was defeated by French and German troops at St. Gotthard, Hungary.
1664-1769 French East India Company was chartered to carry on trade in the East Indies.
1665 Louis XIV began to systematically hollow out guarantees to the Protestants
1666 The French Academy of Sciences was founded.
1667 Louis XIV opened the 1st stretch of the Champs-Elysees
1667-1668
The War of Devolution was fought between France and Spain
1668 Feb 7, The Netherlands, England and Sweden concluded an alliance directed against Louis XIV of France.
1668 May 2, Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of Devolution.
1668 Louis XIV of France purchased the 112 carot blue diamond
1669 Feb 1, French King Louis XIV limited the freedom of religion.
1670 May 26, A treaty was signed in secret in Dover, ending hostilities.
1670 Le Notre, the royal landscaper of Louis XIV, laid out the Triumphal Way in Paris.
1670s French explorer Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Great Lakes region of the New World.
1671-1729 John Law, Scotsman and financier for France.
1672 April 29, King Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands.
10
1673 May 17, Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette began exploring the Mississippi.
1673 June 25, French commander Charles de Batz (b.1611), known as D’Artagnan, died at Siege of Maastricht.
1675 June 11, France and Poland formed an alliance.
1677 Feb 15, King Charles II reported an anti-French covenant with Netherlands.
1678 Louis XIV claimed the region of Alsace from Germany.
1678 Treaties of Nijmegen: A series of treaties ending the Franco-Dutch war.
1681 May 17, Louis XIV sent an expedition to aid James II in Ireland.
1681-1730 Huguenots, migrated in large numbers to England
1682 May 6, King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles, France.
1682 Pere Lachaise, a Jesuit priest, was confessor to Louis XIV.
1683 Louis XIV married Madame de Maintenon (1635-1719), his mistress
1684 For one year Paris was the world's biggest city.
1684 Aug 15 Truce of Ratisbon: End of the War of the Reunions.
1685 Oct 18, King Louis the XIV signed the Edict of Fontainebleau, revoking the Edict of Nantes
1687 Aug 12, At the Battle of Mohacs, Hungary, Charles of Lorraine defeated the Turks.
1687 Dec 31, The 1st Huguenots departed France to the Cape of Good Hope.
1688 Nov 26, Louis XIV declared war on the Netherlands.
1688 Dec 23, English King James II fled to France.
1689 April 15, French king Louis XIV declared war on Spain.
1689 May 11, The French and English naval battle took place at Bantry Bay.
1689 May 12, England’s King William III joined the League of Augsburg and the Netherlands.
1689 Aug 4-5, War between England and France led them to use their native American allies as proxies.
1689 Aug 25, Battle at Charleroi: Spanish and English armies chased the French.
1690 Feb 8, French and Indian troops set Schenectady, NY, settlement on fire.
1690 March 16, French king Louis XIV sent troops to Ireland.
1690 July 1, Led by Marshall Luxembourg, the French defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance at Fleurus in the Netherlands.
1691 July 12, William III defeated the allied Irish and French armies at the Battle of Aughrim, Ireland.
1692 May 29, Battle at La Hogue: An English & Dutch fleet beat France.
1692 Aug 3, French forces under Marshal Luxembourg defeated the English at the Battle of Steenkerke in the Netherlands.
1693 July 4, Battle at Boussu-lez-Walcourt: French-English vs. Dutch army.
1693 July 29, The Army of the Grand Alliance was destroyed by the French at the Battle of Neerwinden in the Netherlands.
1693 Heidelberg was torched by the troops of Louis XIV in a dispute over a royal title.
1697 Sep 20, The Treaty of Ryswick was signed in Holland.
1701 July 9 Battle of Carpi: In what was the first battle of the War of the Spanish succession,
1701 Sep 7, England, Austria, and the Netherlands formed an Alliance against France.
1702 Oct 12, [British] Admiral Sir George Rooke defeated the French fleet off Vigo.
1703 Sep 30, Battle of Hochstadt
1703 Nov 19, The "Man in the Iron Mask," a prisoner in Bastille prison in Paris, died.
1704 Aug 13, The Battle of Blenheim,
1706 May 23, Battle of Ramillies: Marlborough defeated the French
1707 April 25, Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeated Anglo-Portuguese.
1708 July 11, The French were defeated at Oudenarde, Malplaquet, in the Netherlands
1708 Dec 21, French forces seized control of the eastern shore of Newfoundland after winning a victory at St. John's.
1709 Sep 11, Duke of Marlborough, won against the French at Malplaquet.
1709 Oct 20, Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy took Mons in the Netherlands.
1709 Representatives of the Comedie-Francaise tore down the loges at the Foire de Saint-Germain.
1711 Sep 22, French troops occupied Rio de Janeiro.
1713 April 11, The Peace of Utrecht was signed, France ceded Maritime provinces to Britain.
1714 March 7 War of the Spanish Succession: The Treaty of Rastatt ended hostilities between France and Austria.
1715 Sep 1 Louis XIV died of gangrene.
1715 Sep 1, Louis XIV (b.1638), "the Sun King," died.
1715-1770 France reneged on the terms of its debt five times during this period.
1715-1774 Louis XV, great-grandson of Louis XIV, ruled as king.
1717 Aug 4, A friendship treaty was signed between France and Russia.
1717 The French notes of John Law's bank were made receivable for taxes and other royal revenue.
1717-1718 Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, was imprisoned in the Bastille for his lampoons of the Regency.
1718 Nov 18, Voltaire's "Oedipe" premiered in Paris.
1718 John Law's Bank was made the state-royal-bank.
1718 The Paris Meridian was first plotted. It was recalculated in the early 1800s by Arago.
1719 Sep, John Law announced that he would buy the entire debt of France.
1719 The fair theaters were closed through the intrigues of their enemies.
1719 The French government gave the Law company the right of coinage.
11
1720 cJan, John Law was appointed France's comptroller general.
 Feb 17 Treaty of The Hague: ending the War of the Quadruple Alliance.
 Feb 27, The government ordered that no person should have more than 500 livres in coins
 March 24, In Paris, banking houses closed in the wake of financial crisis.
 May 21, The government issued an edict that devalued all the notes and shares of the Law company and fixed their prices.
 May 25, "Le Grand St. Antoine" reached Marseille, plague killed 80,000.
 June 1, The French state bank closed for 10 days.
 June 10, The French state bank reopened and some people were crushed to death in the rush to get in.
 July 17, Barricades, placed at the state bank, incited a crowd and 12 people were killed.
 Nov 27, John Law's bank closed for the last time.
 Dec, John Law left France and returned to England.
 Paris, France, had 380 coffee houses by this time.
1721 The bandit Cartouche (The Cartridge) took refuge in a Belleville cabaret, Le Pistolet.
1723 Feb 15 Louis XV entered his majority.
1726 St. Louis-en-l'Ile Church was built on the Ile St. -Louis on the Seine in Paris.
1731 The ship Diligent left a Breton port to pick up some 250 slaves for Martinique.
1733 Oct 10, France declared war on Austria over the question of Polish succession.
1733 Voltaire authored his "Lettres Anglaises" in which he hailed England as a "nation of philosophers."
1735 A French expedition to South America was led by Charles-Marie de la Condamine.
1736 May 26, British and Chickasaw Indians defeated the French at the Battle of Ackia.
1737 Feb 20, French minister of Finance, Chauvelin, resigned.
1737 The French annual art exhibition known as the Salon was inaugurated.
1738 Nov 18 Treaty of Vienna: The signing of the treaty ended the War of the Polish Succession.
1741 May 8, France and Bavaria signed the Covenant of Nymphenburg.
1742-1752 Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau served as the inspector general of the navy.
1743 June 27, English defeated the French at Dettingen, Bavaria.
1744 Feb 9, Battle at Toulon: French-Spanish faced the English fleet of Adm. Matthews.
1744 Feb 21, The British blockade of Toulon was broken
1745 May 11, French forces defeated an Anglo-Dutch-Hanoverian army at Fontenoy.
1745 June 17, American New Englanders captured Louisburg, Cape Breton, from the French.
1745 Nov 28-29, French troops attacked Indians at Saratoga, NY.
1746 Sep 20, Bonnie Prince Charlie fled to France from Scotland.
1746 Sep 21, A French expeditionary army occupied Labourdonnais.
1747 July 2, Battle of Lauffeld.
1748 Oct 18 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle: ended the War of the Austrian Succession.
1749 July 24, Denis Diderot was arrested in Paris during a government crackdown on writers and publishers of subversive books.
1751 July 28, In France the 1st volume of the Encyclopedie, edited by Diderot and D’Alembert, was published with a print run of 1,625.
1751 Dec 23, France set plans to tax clergymen.
1752 Feb 7, Publication, of the 1st 2 volumes of the Encyclopedie were summarily forbidden by order of King Louis XV.
1753 March 25, Voltaire left the court of Frederik II of Prussia.
1753 May 9, King Louis XV disbanded the French parliament.
1754 July 3, George Washington surrendered the small, circular Fort Necessity (later Pittsburgh)
1754-1838 Talleyrand-Perigord, statesman, served as the minister of foreign affairs during the reign of Napoleon.
1755 July 8, Britain broke off diplomatic relations with France as their disputes in the New World intensified.
 Sep 8, Battle of Lake George, NY.
 Oct 24, A British expedition against Fort Niagara ended in failure.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote his "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,"
1756 May 17, Britain declared war on France, beginning the French and Indian War.
1756 Aug 31, The British at Fort William Henry, surrendered to Montcalm.
1756-1763 The Seven Years War.
1757 Jan 4, Robert Francois Damiens made an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate King Louis XV of France.
1757 Aug 9, English Ft. William Henry, NY, surrendered to French and Indian troops.
1757 Nov 5, Frederick II of Prussia defeated the French at Rosbach in the Seven Years War.
1758 Jan 2, The French began bombardment of Madras, India.
 July 8, British attack on Fort Carillon at Ticonderoga, New York, was foiled by the French.
 June 23, British and Hanoverian armies defeated the French at Krefeld in Germany.
 July 26, British fleet under Gen. James Wolfe captured France's Fortress of Louisbourg
 Nov 25, General John Forbes captured Fort Duquesne.
1759 March 8, Louis XV revoked the license of the Encyclopedie as the 8th volume was about to be printed.
 April 13, The French defeated European Allies in Battle of Bergen.
 April 23, British seized Basse-Terre and Guadeloupe in the Antilies from France.
 July 25, British forces defeated a French army at Fort Niagara in Canada.
12
 Aug 1, Battle of Minden, Germany.
 Aug 18, battle of Lagos Bay.
 Sep 3, Pope Clement XIII officially placed the French Encyclopedie on the Vatican’s Index of Prohibited Books.
 Sep 13, Battle of Quebec [Canada].
 Sep 18, Quebec surrendered to the British
 Voltaire wrote his novel Candide.
 Britain triumphed over France in the naval victory at Quiberon Bay.
1760 April 28, French forces besieging Quebec defeated the British in the second battle on the Plains of Abraham.
 July 31, Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, foiled French threat at Warburg
 Nov 29, Major Roger Rogers took possession of Detroit on behalf of Britain.
1760s Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour built the La Petit Trianon at Versailles as a retreat.
1762 Feb 5, Martinique, a major French base in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, surrendered to the British.
 March 10, Jean Calas, tortured and executed in Toulouse, charged killed his son prevent him from converting to Catholicism.
 Dec 3, France ceded to Spain all lands west of the Mississippi- the territory known as Upper Louisiana. [see Nov 3]
 Rousseau published "The Social Contract."
1763 Feb 10, Treaty of Paris ending the Seven Years' War
1764 Jan 1, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at 8 years old played for the Royal Family at Versailles in France.
 Nov 26, France banned Jesuits.
 Voltaire authored the "Philosophical Dictionary."
1768 May 15 Treaty of Versailles:
1769 April 22, Madame du Barry became King Louis XV's "official" mistress.
1770 May 16, Marie Antoinette (14), married the future King Louis XVI of France (15).
1774 May 10, Louis XV (64), died of smallpox
1774-1792
King Louis XIV ruled.
1774 Sep 13, Tugot, the new controller of finances, urged the king of France to restore the free circulation of grain in the kingdom.
1774 Dec, In Paris nearly 100 feet of the Rue d'Enfer ("street of Hell") collapsed to a depth of 100 feet.
1776 May 12, Turgot, French minister of Finance, resigned.
1776 Dec 23, Continental Congress negotiated a war loan of $181,500 from France.
1777 Feb 13, The Marquis de Sade was arrested without charge and imprisoned in Vincennes fortress.
 July 27, The Marquis of Lafayette arrived in New England to help the rebellious colonists fight the British.
 Aug 16, France declared a state of bankruptcy.
 Dec 17, France recognized American independence.
1778 Feb 6, The US won official recognition from France as the nations signed a treaty of aid in Paris.
 May 30, Voltaire died.
 July 2, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (b.1712, died
 July 10, In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI declared war on England.
 July 27, first Battle of Ushant.
1778-1781 Under the Treaty of Commerce and Friendship, France aided the American revolutionaries.
1779 June 18, French fleet occupied St Vincent.
 July 4, French fleet occupied Grenada.
 July 24, The Siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish and French was begun. It was finally lifted on Feb 7, 1783.
 Benjamin Franklin presented his credentials to the French court,
1780 Aug 24, King Louis XVI abolished torture as a means to get suspects to confess.
1781 April 29, French fleet stopped Britain from seizing the Cape of Good Hope.
 Aug 30, The French fleet arrived in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution.
 Sep 5, British fleet arrived off the Virginia Capes and found 26 French warships in three straggling lines.
1782 April 12, Battle of Les Saintes
 Sep 13, Gibraltar came under attack by French and Spanish forces.
 Nov 30, US and Britain signed preliminary peace articles in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
1783 Jan 20, The fighting of the Revolutionary War ended.
 Feb 7, The Siege of Gibraltar, lifted.
 Sep 3, The Treaty of Paris ended the Revolutionary War.
 Oct 15, Francois Pilatre de Rozier (Jean Piletre de Rozier) made the first manned flight in a hot air balloon.
1784 Jan 14, The US ratified a peace treaty with England, the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
 Feb 29, Marquis de Sade was transferred from Vincennes fortress to the Bastille.
 May 20, Peace of Versailles ended the war between France, England, and Holland.
1785 Jan 7, The first balloon flight across the English Channel was made.
 July 17, France limited the importation of goods from Britain.
 Aug 15, French cardinal De Rohan (51), Bishop of Strasbourg, was arrested in the affair of the diamond necklace.
 Thomas Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as US ambassador to France.
1786 Sep 26, France and Britain signed a trade agreement in London.
1787 July 2, The Marquis de Sade shouted from Bastille that prisoners were being slaughtered.
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 July 30, The French parliament refused to approve a more equitable land tax.
 Sep 4, Louis XVI of France recalled parliament.
 Nov 29, Louis XVI promulgated an edict of tolerance, granting civil status to Protestants.
 Thomas Jefferson toured Bordeaux while serving as US ambassador to France.
1788 July 6, Ten thousand troops were called out in Paris as unrest mounted in the poorer districts over poverty and lack of food.
 July 15, Louis XVI jailed 12 deputies who protest new judicial reforms.
 July 19, Prices plunged on the Paris stock market.
 Aug 8, King Louis XVI called the French States and Generals together.
 Aug 27, Jacques Neeker was named French minister of Finance.
 Sep 19, Charles de Barentin became lord chancellor of France.
 Sep 23, Louis XVI of France declared the Parliament restored.
 Sep 24, After having been dissolved, the French Parliament of Paris reassembled in triumph.
1789 May 5, In France the Estates General, summoned by King Louis XVI, convened to repair the national finances.
 June 17, The Third Estate in France declared itself a national assembly, and undertook to frame a constitution.
 June 20, Oath on the Tennis Court in Versailles
 July 9, French National Assembly declared itself the Constituent Assembly and began to prepare a French constitution.
 July 11, tavern keepers and wine merchants of Belleville, sacked the local tax collector's office.
 July 13, Parisians rioted over an increase in price of grain.
 July 14 Bastille Day.
 July 15, The electors of Paris set up a "Commune" to live without the authority of the government.
 July 18, Robespierre, a deputy from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.
 July 23, The Great Fear swept through France as the Revolution continued.
 Aug 4, The Constituent Assembly in France dissolved feudal system by abolishing the privileges of nobility.
 Aug 26, The Constituent Assembly in Versailles, France, approved the final version of the Declaration of Human Rights.
 Aug 27, French National Assembly issued "Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen."
 Sep 13, Guardsmen in Orleans, France, opened fire on rioters trying to loot bakeries, killing 90.
 Sep 16, Jean-Paul Marat set up a new newspaper in France, L'Ami du Peuple (The Friend of the People).
 Nov 2, The property of the Church in France was taken away by the state.
 Nov 5, French National Assembly declared all citizens equal under law.
 Dec 13, The National Guard was created in France.
 Marquis de Lafayette wrote the original version of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
 Sieyes, a delegate to the Estates General, said the third estate is everything, has nothing but wants to be something.
 The bankruptcy of the French government brought banks across Europe to their knees.
1790 Jan 21, Joseph Guillotine proposed a new, more humane method of execution:
 Feb 26, France was divided into 83 departments.
 March 31, Robespierre was elected president of the Jacobin Club.
 May 21, Paris was divided into 48 zones.
 July 12, The French Assembly approved a Civil Constitution providing for the election of priests and bishops.
 July 26, An attempt at a counter-revolution in France was put down by the National Guard at Lyons.
 Sep 4, Jacques Necker was forced to resign as finance minister in France.
 Oct 21, The Tricolor official flag of France.
1791 March 10, Pope condemned France's Civil Constitution of the clergy.
 April 18, National Guardsmen prevented Louis XVI and his family from leaving Paris.
 June 20, Flight to Varennes.
 June 21, King Louis XVI and the French royal family were arrested in Varennes.
 July 16, Louis XVI was suspended from office until he agreed to ratify the constitution.
 July 17, National Guard troops opened fire in Paris on a crowd of demonstrators calling for the deposition of the king.
 July 24, Robespierre expelled all Jacobins opposed to the principles of French Revolution.
 Sep 3, The French National Assembly passed a French Constitution passed.
 Sep 9, French Royalists took control of Arles and barricaded themselves inside the town.
 Sep 13, France's King Louis XVI accepted a constitution.
 Sep 14, Louis XVI solemnly swore his allegiance to the French constitution.
 Sep 27, Jews in France were granted French citizenship. Jews were granted religious and civic rights in 1791.
 Oct 1, National Legislative Assembly held its first meeting.
1792 March 20, Legislative Assembly approved the use of the guillotine.
 April 14, France declared war on Austria, starting French Revolutionary Wars.
 April 20, France declared war on Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia, marking the start of the French Revolutionary wars.
 April 25, Highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person executed by guillotine.
 Aug 10, Some 10,000 Parisians attacked the Tuileries Palace of Louis XVI at the instigation of Danton
 Aug 11, A revolutionary commune was formed in Paris, France.
 Aug 13, Revolutionaries imprisoned the French royal family
 Sep 2, Verdun, France, surrendered to the Prussian Army.
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 Sep 2, In the "September Massacres"- French mobs removed nobles and clergymen from jails, and some 1,600.
 Sep 3, Princess de Lamballe (b.1749),best friend of Marie Antoinette, was killed and her body mutilated by an angry mob.
 Sep 5, Robespierre was elected to the National Convention in France.
 Sep 21, Collot D'Herbois proposed to abolish the monarchy in France.
 Sep 22, The first French Republic was proclaimed.
 Nov 6, Battle at Jemappes: French army beat the Austrians.
 Dec 11, France's King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason.
 The crown jewels of France were stolen including the 67 carot Blue Diamond.
1793 Jan 19, French King Louis XVI was sentenced to death. [see Jan 21]
 Jan 21, Louis XVI (38), last of the French Bourbon dynasty, was executed on the guillotine.
 Feb 1, France declared war on Britain and the Netherlands.
 March 4, French troops conquered Geertruidenberg, Netherlands.
 March 18, The 2nd Battle at Neerwinden: Austria army beat France.
 March 26, Pro-royalist uprising took place in Vendée region of France.
 April 6, In France all executive power was conferred upon a Committee of Public Safety.
 April 14, A royalist rebellion in Santo Domingo was crushed by French republican troops.
 June 2, Robespierre, initiated the "Reign of Terror,".
 June 24, The first republican constitution in France was adopted.
 July 13, Pierre Dupont de Nemours was ordered arrested in Paris
 July 13, Jean Paul Marat was stabbed to death in his bath by Charlotte Corday,
 July 23, The French garrison at Mainz, Germany, fell to the Prussians.
 July 27, Robespierre became a member of the Committee of Public Safety.
 Aug 14, Republican troops in France laid siege to the city of Lyons.
 Aug 22, Louis Duke de Noailles (80), marshal of France, was guillotined.
 Aug 27, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety in Paris, France.
 Aug 28, Adam-Philippe Custine, Duke de Lauzun was guillotined in Paris.
 Sep 5, The Reign of Terror began
 Sep 6, Battle at Hondschoote.
 Oct 10, Lyons surrendered to Revolutionary troops.
 Oct 16, Marie Antoinette was beheaded.
 Oct 31, Execution of 21 Girondins (moderates) in Paris, stepping up the Reign of Terror. Pierre V.
 Nov 8, The Louvre opened in Paris as a museum.
 Nov 10, France outlawed the forced worship of God.
 Nov 12, Jean-Sylvain Bailley (53), French astronomer and mayor of Paris, was guillotined.
 Nov 19, The Jacobin Club was formed in Paris.
 Nov 26, Republican calendar replaced the Gregorian calendar in France.
 Dec 6, Comtesse du Barry, was guillotined in Paris.
 Dec 19, French troops recaptured Toulon from the British.
 Jacques-Louis David painted "Death of Marat."
1794 Feb 4, France’s First Republic (Convention) voted for the abolition of slavery in all French colonies.
 April 5, Georges-Jacques Danton (b.1759), French revolutionary leader, was guillotined along
 May 6, In Haiti (L’Ouverture), ended his alliance with the Iberian monarchy and embraced French Republicans.
 May 8, Lavoisier, was executed on the guillotine during France's Reign of Terror.
 May 10, Elizabeth (30), the sister of King Louis XVI, was beheaded.
 May 18, The 2nd battle of Bouvines was between France and Austria.
 June 1, English fleet under Richard Earl Howe defeated the French. (MC, 6/1/02)
 June 4, Robespierre was unanimously elected president of the Convention in the French Revolution.
 June 8, Robespierre, staged the "Festival of the Supreme Being" in Paris.
 June 15, The Guillotine was moved to outskirts of Paris.
 June 26, The French defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus.
 July 8, French troops captured Brussels, Belgium.
 July 13, Robespierre boycotted Committee of Public Safety and the National convention after being denounced as a dictator.
 July 23, Chaos and anarchy were averted temporarily when Robespierre joined conciliation talks in Paris.
 July 26, Robespierre demanded that the National Convention punish "traitors" without naming them.
 July 26, The French defeated an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus in France.
 July 27, Robespierre was overthrown executed the following day.
 July 29, Seventy of Robespierre's followers were guillotined.
 Aug 21, France surrendered the island of Corsica to the British.
 Sep 28, The Anglo-Russian-Austrian Alliance of St. Petersburg, which was directed against France, was signed.
 Nov 3, Thomas Paine was released from a Parisian jail with help from the American ambassador James Monroe.
 Nov 22, Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine, prohibited circumcision and the wearing of beards.
1795 Feb 4, France abolished slavery in her territories and conferred slaves to citizens.
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 Feb 21, Freedom of worship was established in France under constitution.
 May 4, Thousands of rioters entered jails in Lyons, France, and massacred 99 Jacobin prisoners.
 May 6, Dr. Pierre-Joseph Dessault visited the incarcerated 10-year-old dauphin, the heir to the French throne.
 May 15, Napoleon entered the Lombardian capital of Milan in triumph.
 May 16, Treaty of Basel
 June 8, Dauphin (Louis XVII), son and sole survivor of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, died
 July 7, Thomas Paine defended the principal of universal suffrage at the Constitutional Convention in Paris.
 July 14, "La Marseillais," written in 1792, became the French national anthem.
 July 22, Spain signed a peace treaty with France and ceded Santo Domingo to France.
 Sep 23, A national plebiscite approved the new French constitution.
 Sep 23, Conseil of the Cinq-Cents (Council of 500), formed in Paris.
 Oct 4, Napoleon led the rout of counterrevolutionaries in the streets of Paris,
 Oct 26, Napoleon , second-in-command, became the army's commander
 Nov 2 Directory seized power over the Convention.
1796 March 9, Napoleon , age 26, married Josephine Tascher de Beauharnais (32) in Paris.
 April 2, Haitian revolt leader Toussaint L’Ouverture commanded French forces at Santo Domingo.
 April 13, Battle at Millesimo, Italy: Napoleon beat the Austrians.
 April 22, Napoleon defeated the Piedmontese at Battle of Mondovi.
 May 10, Napoleon won a brilliant victory against the Austrians at Lodi bridge in Italy.
 Nov 17, Napoleon defeated an Italian army near the Alpone River, Italy, in the Battle of Arcole.
 1796-1797 Napoleon conquered northern Italy.
1797 Jan 14, Napoleon defeated Austrians at Rivoli in northern Italy.
 Feb 19, Pope Pius VI ceded papal territory to France in the Treaty of Tolentino.
 Feb 22, The last invasion of Britain took place when some 1,400 Frenchmen landed at Fishguard, in Wales.
 April 18, France and Austria signed a cease fire.
 Oct 17 War of the First Coalition – The Treaty of Campo Formio
 French forces attacked Britain at the port of Fishguard.
 The Republic of Liguria in NW Italy was set up by Napoleon.
1798 Feb 20, Pope Pius VI fled Rome to Siena following an invasion of French forces.
 May 19, A French armada of 335 ships carrying nearly 40,000 men set sail for Alexandria,
 July 1, Napoleon took Alexandria,
 July 7, Napoleon 's army began its march towards Cairo, Egypt, from Alexandria.
 July 7 US Congress rescinded treaties with France, the semi-official beginning of the Quasi-War.
 July 21, Battle of the Pyramids, thus becoming the master of Egypt.
 July 22, Napoleon captured Cairo, Egypt.
 Aug 1, Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay,
 Sep 2, Maltese people revolted against the French occupation,
 Dec 24, Russia and England signed a Second anti-French Coalition.
 Napoleon expelled the Knights of Malta from their base in Malta.
 1798-1857 Auguste Comte, the French founder of the philosophical system of Positivism.
1799 March 6, Napoleon captured Jaffa
 March 12, Austria declared war on France.
 March 17, Napoleon Acra,
 March 19, Napoleon began the siege of Acre
 April 14, Napoleon called for establishing Jerusalem for Jews.
 May 20, Napoleon withdrawal from his siege of St. Jean d'Acre in Egypt.
 June 17, Napoleon incorporated Italy into his empire.
 July 17, Ottoman captured Aboukir, Egypt from the French.
 July 30, The French garrison at Mantua, Italy surrendered to the Austrians.
 Aug 22, Napoleon returned to France.
 Oct 7, Napoleon landed at Saint Raphael, 50 miles east of Toulon.
 Oct 16, Napoleon arrived in Paris.
 Nov 9 Coup of 18 Brumaire: Napoleon 1st consul, of France.
 Dec 10, The metric system was established in France.
 Dec 24, A Jacobin plot against Napoleon was uncovered.
 Dec 25, Napoleon’s new constitution went into effect.
1800 Jan 20, Carolina, the sister of Napoleon I, married King Joachim Murat of Naples.
 March 20, French army defeated Turks at Heliopolis, Turkey, and advanced to Cairo.
 June 14, Battle of Marengo.
 Sep 5, Malta surrendered to British after they blockaded French troops.
 Oct 1, Spain ceded Louisiana to France in a secret treaty.
 Dec 3, Battle of Hohenlinden, near Munich.
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1801 Feb 9 Treaty of Lunéville, Second Coalition war end.
 July 16, Pope Pius VII and 1st consul Napoleon signed a concord.
 Oct 6, Napoleon imposed a new constitution on Holland.
 Napoleon opened the Louvre to the public.
 Napoleon's army in Egypt surrendered to Turkish and English forces.
1802 Jan 25, Napoleon was elected president of Italian (Cisalpine) Republic.
 Feb, Napoleon sent Leclerc, to regain control of St. Domingue.
 March 27, Treaty of Amiens was signed. The French Revolutionary War ended.
 April 8, French Protestant church became state-supported and controlled.
 May 19 Napoleon established the French Order of Legion d'Honneur award (Legion of Honor).
 May, Toussaint L’Ouverture surrendered to French forces.
 July 8, Toussaint L'Ouverture sent to France in chains.
 Aug 2, Napoleon was proclaimed "Consul for Life"
 Aug 7, Napoleon ordered the re-instatement of slavery on St. Domingue (Haiti).
 Aug 25, Toussaint L'Ouverture was imprisoned in Fort de Joux, Jura, France.
 Sep 11, Piedmont, Italy, was annexed by France.
 Dec 20, The US bought the Louisiana territory from France. [see Jan 11, 1803]
 The Rosetta Stone was seized by the British
1803 April 7, Toussaint L'Ouverture died in a dungeon at Fort Joux in the French Alps.
 May 18, Great Britain declared war on France after General Napoleon continued interfering in Italy and Switzerland.
 May 23, Lord Elgin and his family were detained in Paris.
 Dec 20, The Louisiana Purchase formally transferred from France to the US
1804 Jan 1, Dessalines proclaimed the Republic of Haiti
 March 21, The French civil code, later called the "Code Napoleon," was adopted.
 April 20, Dessalines, Haitian rebel leader, commanded a massacre of the French at town of Cape Francois.
 May 18, The French Senate proclaimed Napoleon emperor.
 Dec 1, Napoleon married Josephine de Beauharnais, of Martinique.
 Dec 2, Napoleon crowned himself emperor
1805 May 26, Napoleon was crowned king of Italy.
 May 28, Napoleon was crowned in Milan, Italy. [see May 26]
 Aug 9, Austria joined Britain, Russia, Sweden and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia in the Third Coalition
 Sep 30, Napoleon's army entered the Rhine valley.
 Oct 20, Austrian general Karl Mac surrendered to Napoleon’s army at the battle of Ulm.
 Oct 21, Battle of Traflagar
 Dec 2 Battle of Austerlitz
 Dec 31, The French Revolutionary calendar law was abolished.
 Napoleon defeated Austria and Prussia.
 Liguria was incorporated into France.
1806 June, Lord Elgin was paroled by the French government.
 July 12 Napoleon dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, and created the Confederation of the Rhine,
 July 12, Napoleon granted Liechtenstein sovereignty.
 Oct 8, British forces laid siege to French port of Boulogne
 Oct 14, The forces of Napoleon I defeated the Prussians in the twin battles of Jena and Auerstadt.
 Oct 27, Napoleon entered Berlin.
 Nov 21, In the Decree of Berlin Napoleon banned all trade with England.
 Nov 28, French forces led by Joachim Murat entered Warsaw.
 Dec 26, Napoleon’s army was checked by the Russians at the Battle of Pultusk.
 Jean Ingres painted his magnificent: "Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne."
 In Paris the 3-mile Canal St. Marten waterway was built to connect the Seine to northeast France.
 Napoleon issued his Berlin Decrees. They established the Continental System to restrict European trade with Britain.
 Napoleon ordered that all French citizens be vaccinated against smallpox.
 1806-1813 Trieste was held under French rule.
1807 Jan 7, Responding to Napoleon's blockade of the British Isles, The British blockaded Continental Europe.
 Jan 20, Napoleon convened the great Sanhedrin in Paris.
 Feb 8, At Eylau, Poland, Napoleon’s Marshal Pierre Agureau attacked Russian forces in a heavy snowstorm.
 Feb 9, French Sanhedrin was convened by Napoleon.
 June 14 Battle of Friedland
 June 25, Napoleon and Czar Alexander I met near Tilsit,
 July 7, Napoleon and Czar Alexander signed a treaty at Tilsit
1808 March 1, In France, Napoleon created an imperial nobility.
 March 23, Napoleon's brother Joseph took the throne of Spain.
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 March 31, French created the Kingdom of Westphalia and ordered Jews to adopt family names.
 April 17, The Bayonne Decree by Napoleon I of France ordered the seizure of U.S. ships.
 May 2 Beginning of the Peninsular War
 May 30, Napoleon annexed Tuscany and gave it seats in French Senate.
 July 20, Napoleon decreed that all French Jews adopt family names.
 Aug 1, Joachim Murat (1767-1815), became king of Naples (1808-1815) and Sicily.
 Aug 21, Junot was defeated by Wellington at Battle of Vimiero, Portugal.
 Napoleon chased Portugal’s royal family to Brazil.
 Napoleon codified the French educational curriculum
1809 March 12, Great Britain signed a treaty with Persia forcing the French out of the country.
 April 10, Austria declared war on France and her forces entered Bavaria.
 April 20, Napoleon defeated Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria.
 April 22, At the Battle at Eckmahl Napoleon beat Austrian archduke Karl.
 May 17, The Papal States were annexed by France. Pope Pius VII responded by excommunicating Napoleon.
 July 5, Pope Pius VII was taken prisoner to France and held there until 1814.
 July 5-6, Battle of Wagram.
 July 27-28, Battle of Talavera
 Oct 14, The Treaty of Schönbrunn ended hostilities between France and Austria.
 Dec 16, Napoleon was divorced from the Empress Josephine
 Nicholas Appert won a French prize of 12,000 francs for his method of keeping food in glass bottles.
1810 Jan 10, French church annulled the marriage of Napoleon I & Josephine.
 March 11, Napoleon of France was married by proxy to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.
 Aug 21, Sweden’s Riksdag elected Bernadotte, as heir apparent to the Swedish throne.
 Oct 4, Alexander Walewski, French earl, foreign minister, son of Napoleon I, was born.
1811 March 20, Napoleon II, the Duke of Reichstadt, was born. He was the son of Napoleon .
1811 Napoleon gave to his wife, Empress Marie Louise, a tiara with 950 diamonds (700 carats).
1811-1882 Louis Blanc, French utopian socialist, "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."
1812 March 9, Swedish Pomerania was seized by Napoleon.
 June 24, Napoleon crossed the Nieman River [in Lithuania] and invaded Russia.
 July 22, English troops under the Duke of Wellington defeated the French at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain.
 Aug 12, British commander the Duke of Wellington occupied Madrid, Spain, forcing out Joseph Bonaparte.
 Aug 17, Napoleon 's army defeated the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk during the Russian retreat to Moscow.
 Sep 7, On the road to Moscow, Napoleon won a costly victory over the Russians under Kutuzov at Borodino.
 Sep 14 The Fire of Moscow marks, The Russian army left Moscow.
 Sep 18, A fire in Moscow (set by Napoleon's troops) destroyed 90% of houses and 1,000 churches. [see Sep 14]
 Oct 18, The Russian army attacked French forces on the outskirts of Moscow.
 Oct 19, French forces under Napoleon began their retreat from Moscow.
 Oct 23, There was a failed coup against emperor Napoleon.
 Nov 14, As Napoleon 's army retreated form Moscow, temperatures dropped to 20 degrees below zero.
 Nov 27, One of the two bridges across the Beresina River collapsed.
 Nov 29, The last elements of Napoleon 's Grand Armee retreated across the Beresina River in Russia.

Dec 6, The majority of Napoleon 's Grand Armeé staggered into Vilnius, Lithuania,
 Dec 13, The last remnants of Napoleon 's Grand Armeé reached the safety of Kovno, Poland,
 Dec, 14, The last French units of Napoleon’s Grand Armeé crossed the Nieman River of Lithuania, leaving Russia.
 Dec 18, Napoleon arrived in Paris after his disastrous campaign in Russia.
1813 Feb 28, Russia and Prussia formed the Kalisz union against Napoleon.
 March 4, Russians fighting against Napoleon reached Berlin.
 June 26, Metternich met with Napoleon at Dresden
 July 15, Napoleon 's representatives met with the Allies in Prague to discuss peace terms.
 Aug 23, Battle of Grossbeeren Prussians under Von Bulow repulsed the French.
 Aug 26-27, Battle of Dresden
 Oct 16-19, Battle at Leipzig (aka Battle of the Nations)
 Oct 18, Allies defeated Napoleon at Leipzig.
 Nov 2, Treaty of Fulda.
 Dec 31, Some 83,000 Prussian and Russian soldiers pursued Napoleon across the Rhine at Pfalzgrafenstein Castle.
 A new 45 carat blue diamond emerged in France.
1814 Feb 10, Napoleon victory over the Russians at Champaubert.
 Feb 27, Oudinot was pushed back at Barsur-Aube by
 March 10, Napoleon was defeated at the battle of Laon, in France.
 March 30, Britain and allies marched into Paris after defeating Napoleon.
 March 31, Forces allied against Napoleon captured Paris.
 April 4, Napoleon first abdicated at Fontainebleau. He was allowed to keep the title of emperor.
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 April 11, Napoleon (45) abdicated at Fontainebleau a 2nd time and was banished to the island of Elba,
 April 20, Napoleon departed for exile in Elba.
 April 24 First Restoration:
 April 26, King Louis XVIII landed on Calais from England.
 April, The Duke of Wellington capture Toulouse
 May 4, Bourbon reign was restored in France.
 May 29, Empress Josephine died.
 May 30, The First Treaty of Paris.
 Sep, The Congress of Vienna convened in late September and continued to June 8, 1815.
 Alexander I of Russia entered Paris.
 The Marquis de Sade died.
1815 Feb 25, Napoleon left his exile on the Island of Elba, intending to return to France.
 Feb 26, Napoleon, escaped from the Island of Elba, and 1,200 of his men started the 100-day re-conquest of France.
 March 1, In France, returning from Elba, Napoleon landed at Cannes with a force of 1, 500 men and marched on Paris.
 March 20, Napoleon entered Paris, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
 April, British General Arthur Wellesley, duke of Wellington, began assembling troops at Brussels, Belgium.
 June 16, Napoleon defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Ligny, Belgium.
 June 16, Napoleon marched into Belgium
 June 17, A heavy rainstorm prevented French forces from catching up with Wellington’s army as they retreated to Waterloo.
 June 18, Battle of Waterloo
 June 22, Napoleon abdicated a second time.
 July 7, After defeating Napoleon at Waterloo, the victorious Allies marched into Paris.
 July 9, King Louis XVIII left Ghent for France.
 July 15, Napoleon was captured by the British Navy at Rochefort, France, while attempting to escape to America.
 Aug 8, Napoleon set sail for St. Helena,
 Oct 7, Marshal Ney, was condemned to death and shot for having left the services of the King.
 Oct 13, Joachim Murat, marshal of France and King of Naples (1808-15), was executed.
 Oct 17, Napoleon (d.1821) arrived in St. Helena.
 Nov 20, The treaties known collectively as the 2nd Peace of Paris were concluded.
1816 Jan 12, France decreed the Bonaparte family to be excluded from the country forever.
 Sep 5, Louis XVIII of France dissolved the chamber of deputies, which had been challenging his authority.
 France adopted the Paris meridian as the standard clock time for the country. Sundials were used up to this time.
1821 May 5, Napoleon , emperor France (1799-1815), died
1821 Aug 19, There was a failed liberal coup against French King Louis XVIII.
1823 April French invasion of Spain:
1825 May 20, Charles X became King of France.
1825 June 20, Coronation of French king Charles X, the surviving brother of guillotined Louis XVI.
1825 Gendarmerie Coloniale, for law enforcement across its colonial empire.
1827 Oct 20, British, French and Russian squadrons entered Navarino, Greece, and destroyed most of the Egyptian fleet.
1827 The first Egyptian Museum was housed in the Louvre’s Cour Caree
1830 July 5, The French occupied the North African city of Algiers.
 July 26, King Charles X of France issued five ordinances limiting the political and civil rights of citizens.
 July 27, A second Revolution broke out in Paris opposing the laws of Charles X.
 July 28, July Revolution or French Revolution of 1830
 July 29, Liberals led by the Marquis of Lafayette seized Paris
 July 31, Charles X of France was forcibly ejected
 Aug 9, Louis Philippe (d.1850) formally accepted the crown of France,
 Henry Philip Hope purchased the 45 carot blue diamond. It later the "Hope Diamond."
1831 Nov 22 First Canut revolt: first clearly defined worker uprising of the Industrial Revolution.
1832 June 5, insurrection took place during General Lamarque's funeral
1832 Honore Daumier, French artist, was imprisoned for 6 months for his barbs against King Louis-Philippe.
1834 May 20, Lafayette died.
1835 July 28, King Louis Philippe survived an assassination attempt
1835 FAlexis de Tocqueville (25) wrote "Democracy in America."
1835 The French government prohibited political caricature.
1836 July 6, French General Thomas Bugeaud defeated Abd al-Kader's forces beside the Sikkak River in Algeria.
1836 Nov 6, Charles X (79), King of France (1824-30), died.
1836 Nov 10, Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon , failed in coup at Strasbourg
1836 The 107-foot-tall Egyptian Obelisk reached Paris.
1838 Nov 30, Mexico declared war on France.
1838 Frederic Chopin, began a volatile affair with French novelist George Sand.
1838 France agreed to reduce Haiti's 1825 "debt" to 60 million fold francs to be paid over 30 years.
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1839 March 9 French troops withdraw from Mexico after their demands were satisfied.
1839 Parisian tailors revolted and destroyed the new sewing machines.
1844 Lefevre, engaged in a plot with other priests to overthrow Thieu Tri, the emperor of Cochin China (later Vietnam).
1845 Sep 8 A French column surrendered at Sidi Brahim in the Algerian War.
1848 Feb 24 Feb Revolution or French Revolution of 1848:
 Feb 26 Second French Republic was proclaimed. [see Feb 24]
 April 27 Slave trade was abolished in the French colonies.
 April 28 The last slaves in French colonies were freed.
 June 23, A bloody insurrection of workers in Paris
 July 26, The French army suppressed the Paris uprising.
 Nov 21, Alfred de Musset's "Andre del Sarto," premiered in Paris.
 Dec 10, Napoleon III, Louis Napoleon (nephew of Napoleon ), was elected president of France.
 Dec 20 Louis Napoleon Bonaparte starts his term as the first president of the French Republic.
 France abolished slavery. Victor Schoelcher was a major force in the abolition of slavery in France.
1849 April 30, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian republican patriot and guerrilla leader, repulsed a French attack on Rome.
 Alphonse Karr, French: "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
 Victor Hugo addressed an appeal for European unity to Germany, France and Russia.
 The Minie ball
1851 Nov 2, Louis Napoleon staged a coup and took power in France as Napoleon III of the Second Empire.
 1851 Nov 13, The London-to-Paris telegraph opened.
 1851 Dec 4, Pres. Louis Napoleon forces crushed a coup d'etat in France.
1852 Dec 2, Louis Napoleon, the little nephew of Napoleon , established the Second Empire in France
1852 France established its penal colony at Devil’s Island, French Guiana.
1853 Jan 19, Napoleon III married Eugenie de Montijo.
 July, Supported by Britain, the Turks took a firm stand against the Russians
 The island of New Caledonia was made a French possession.
1854 March 28, During the Crimean War, Britain and France declared war on Russia.
 Sep 14, Allied armies, including those of Britain & France, landed in Crimea.
 Oct 25, During the Crimean War, Charge of the Light Brigade,
 Nov 5, The British and French defeated the Russians at Inkerman, Crimea.
1855 June 17, Heavy French-British shelling of Sebastopol killed over 2000.
1856 March 30, Russia signed the Treaty of Paris ending the Crimean War.
1856 Napoleon III decided to quell an impending revolt in Algeria by sending a magician,
1857 March 3, Under pretexts, Britain and France declared war on China.
1858 Jan 14, Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie escaped unhurt assassin attempt.
1858 Feb 11, vision of the Virgin Mary near Lourdes.
1859 April 29, In the Italian Campaign
 May 3, France declared war on Austria.
 May 9, Austrian army retreated across the River Sesia in Italy.
 May 10, French emperor Napoleon III left Paris
 May 28, French army launched a flanking attack on the Austrian army
 June 2, French forces crossed the Ticino River,
 June 4, The French army under Napoleon III took Magenta
 June 24, Battle of Solferino,
 July 8, signing of the truce at Villafranca
1860 Oct 12, British and French troops captured Beijing.
 Oct 18 Second Opium War: British and French troops entered the Forbidden City in Beijing.
 Savoy was ceded to France.
 France sent 5,000 troops to Syria to stop the massacre of Maronite Christians at the hands of the Druze,
 The 1st French gendarmes arrived in Vietnam.
1861 Dec, French, British and Spanish troops landed at Veracruz, Mexico,
1862 May 5, Battle of Pueblo,
 June 24, U.S. intervention saved the British and French at the Dagu forts in China.
 Victor Hugo published "Les Miserables."
1863 June 7, Mexico City was captured by French troops.
 Jules Verne (1828-1905) authored his novel “Five Weeks in a Balloon.” This was his first published book.
 French forces captured Puebla, Mexico.
1864 April 19, Naval Engagement at Cherbourg, France: USS Kearsarge vs. CSS Alabama.
 June 19, The CSS "Alabama" was sunk by the USS "Kearsarge" off Cherbourg, France.
 Sep 5, British, French & Dutch fleets attacked Japan in Shimonoseki Straits.
1865 May 17, The International Telegraph Union, was set up in Paris
1865 Dec 23, France, Belgium, Italy and Switzerland formed the Latin Monetary Union (LMU).
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1866 May 18, French Government of De Putte resigned.
 May 31 French intervention in Mexico: French troops start withdrawing from the country.
 French colonial officials sent an expedition to explore the Mekong River
1867 April 1, International Exhibition, Exposition Universelle, opened in Paris.
1868 The first known bicycle race was held in Paris.
1869 April, France’s Emp. Louis Napoleon ordered the dissolution of the Public Works Fund.
1869 Nov 17, The Suez Canal was opened in Egypt,
1870 Jan 10, Victor Noir (22), French journalist, was killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte.
 May 8, plebiscite voted confidence in the Empire with about 84% of votes in favor.
 July 19, The Franco-Prussian War began.
 July 23, In France Marx completed what will become known as his "First Address."
 July 26, In France Marx’s "First Address" was approved and internationally distributed
 Aug 6, At the Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beat France.
 Aug 18, Battle of Gravelotte
 Sep 2, Napoleon III with 80,000 men capitulated to the Prussians at Sedan, France.
 Sep 4, Paris workers forced the Legislative Assembly to proclaim the fall of the Empire.
 Sep 19, Two Prussian armies began a 135-day siege of Paris as the 2nd Empire collapsed.
 Oct 7, French Minister of the Interior Gambetta escaped besieged Paris by balloon,
 Oct 20, The Summer Palace in Beijing, China, was burnt to the ground by a Franco-British expeditionary force.
 Oct 27, The French fortress of Metz surrendered to the Prussian Army.
 Oct 30, French National Guard was defeated at Le Bourget.
 Oct 31, Paris workers and revolutionary sections of the National Guard rose up in revolt, led by Blanqui.
1871 Jan 8, Prussian troops began to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
 Jan 18, German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed in Versailles.
 Jan 22, The Paris proletariat and the National Guards held a revolutionary demonstration, initiated by the Blanquists.
 Jan 28, France, provisional republican government
 Jan, The bombardment of Paris began.
 Feb 8, Elections were held in France, unknown to most of the nation's population.
 Feb 12, In France the new National Assembly opened at Bordeaux.
 Feb 26, France and Prussia signed a preliminary peace treaty at Versailles.
 March 1, Germans paraded down the Champs-Elysses, Paris, France during the Franco-Prussian War.
 March 26, Paris Commune was declared and lasted 2 months
 May 21-July 28, French government troops attacked the Commune of Paris; 17,000 died.
 May 23, In France extremists burned the Tuileries Palace.
 May 28, The last communards were shot
 The Rothschild banking empire bankrolled France's reparations to Germany.
 Aug 31 Adolphe Thiers began his term as president of France.
1873 May 24 Patrice de Mac-Mahon began his term as president of France.
 Sep 20, A financial panic hit the US Panic spread to Europe as London and Paris markets crashed
 A French expeditionary force in Vietnam sacked Hanoi's citadel.
1874 Bicycle couriers came into being in Paris taking messages from banks to telegraph offices.
1875 July 16, The new French constitution is finalized.
1875 Aug 25, Captain Matthew Webb first person to swim across the English Channel,
1879 Jan 30 Jules Grévy began his term as president of France.
1880 June 29, France annexed Tahiti.
 1880 Dec 11, Louis Pasteur (57), French scientist, began an experiment to identify the microbe that causes rabies.
 1880 France resurrected Bastille Day as a national holiday.
 1880 The French colonized Polynesia.
1881 March 23, Gas lamp set fire to Nice, France, opera house and 70 died.
1881 May 12, The Treaty of Bardo established Tunis [Tunisia] as a French protectorate.
1882 April 25, French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi.
1882 Sep 3 French, Vietnamese and Chinese battled at Hanoi; hundreds died.
1883 Oct 4 Orient Express made its 1st run linking Istanbul, Turkey, to Paris by rail.
1883 Haiti made its final payment to France of the 1825 "debt," renegotiated in 1838.
1884 June 23 A Chinese Army defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina.
1884 July 4 Statue of Liberty was presented to the US in ceremonies at Paris, France.
1885 June 14 The 1st photo finish horse race was recorded
1885 Paris Police Dept. (Surete) developed the Bertillon system to help identify criminals.
1886 Oct 28 Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Cleveland.
1886-1888 Vincent Van Gogh made his Paris sojourn.
1887 Dec 3 Marie François Sadi Carnot began his term as president of France.
1889 Feb 4 Panama Canal project under Ferdinand de Lesseps (d.1894) went bankrupt.
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1889 March 31 Eiffel Tower, completion.
1889 May 6 Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.
1889 Oct 6 Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public.
1890 May, Vincent van Gogh arrived in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, seeking a new life after a year in a mental asylum.
1890 July 29 Artist Vincent van Gogh died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound
1890 French foreign legionnaires massacred the amazonian army of Dahomey (Benin).
1891 April 1 London-Paris telephone connection opened.
1892 Nov 8 In Paris anarchist Emile Henry bomb killed 5 policemen.
1892 Nov 16 King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), led soldiers against the French.
1893 Feb 9 Suez Canal builder De Lesseps and others were sentenced to prison for fraud.
1893 Dec 9 nail bomb in the chamber: 20 deputies were slightly injured.
1893 French colonialists seized control of Laos
1894 Jan 4 Franco-Russian Alliance was confirmed.
1894 Feb 12, anarchist Emile Henry hurled a bomb into the Cafe Terminus killing one and injuring twenty.
 May 21 Emile Henry (22) went to the guillotine,
 June 24 Sadi Carnot French Pres. (1887-1894), was assassinated by an Italian anarchist.
 June 27 Jean Casimir-Perier began his term as president of France.
 July 22 The first major automobile race between Paris and Rouen, France
 Oct 15 Captain Alfred Dreyfus was arrested for allegedly betraying military secrets to Germany.
 Nov Dreyfus affair begins,
 Dec 22 Dreyfus was fraudulently convicted of treason
 In Mali Touareg nomads first rebelled and were bloodily suppressed.
1895 Jan 5, Dreyfus was publicly stripped of his rank.
1895 Jan 17 Félix Faure began his term as president of France.
1895 April 23 Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
1895 In Senegal exiled religious leader Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba to their other colonial holdings in West Africa.
1896 Aug, Lt Colonel Picquart, reported that the real traitor in the Dreyfus case was a Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy.
1896 Oct 7, Nicholas and Alexandra of Russia made a state visit with Pres.
1898 Jan 10 court-martial against Major Esterhazy began behind closed doors.
 Jan 13 Emile Zola's famous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, "J'accuse," was published in Paris.
 Feb 23 Zola was imprisoned in France for his letter J’accuse
 Sep 13 20,000 Paris construction workers went on strike.
 Dec 10 A treaty was signed in Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American War.
 Dec 21 French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered 2 new elements that they later named radium and polonium.
 1899 March 27 The first international radio transmission between England and France
 1899 April 11 Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.
 1899 June 3 A French court overturned the 1894 guilty verdict against Capt. Dreyfus.
 1899 Sep 19 Dreyfus won a pardon after a retrial was forced by public opinion.
1899 Feb 18 Émile Loubet began his term as president of France.
1900 April 14 Gates opened to the World Fair, the Great Exposition in Paris.
 May 14 Olympic games opened in Paris,
 Sep 19 Dreyfus pardoned
 Nov 12 World Fair, the Great Exposition in Paris, closed.
 Nov 30 French government declared sympathy for the Boers.
1901 June 24 The 1st exhibition by Pablo Picasso (19) opened in Paris.
1901 Henry Dunant won the 1st Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in establishing the Int’l. Red Cross
1902 Jan 4 French offered to sell their Nicaraguan Canal rights to the U.S.
 March 20 France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance,
 April 20 Radium was isolated as a pure metal by Curie and André-Louis Debierne
 May 2 "A Trip To The Moon," the 1st science fiction, was film released.
 June 28 Congress passed the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the isthmus of Panama.
1903 Jan 19 The new bicycle race, "Tour de France," began with 60 cyclists competing in a 2,500 kilometer, 19-day race.
 April 6 French Army Nationalists were revealed for forging documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dreyfus,
 June, Marie Curie received her doctorate from the univ. of Paris.
 July 1 The 1st Tour de France bicycle race began.
 Dec 10 Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Pierre and Marie Curie
1904 April 8 Entente Cordiale was signed
1905 Feb 1 Germany contested French rule in Morocco.
 March 11 Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
 April 1 Berlin and Paris were linked by telephone.
 Dec 9 French Assembly National voted for separation of church and state.
1906 Feb 18 Armand Fallières began his term as president of France.
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1906 July 12 Dreyfus was found innocent in France of his earlier court-martial for spying for Germany.
1907 June 10 In China 11 men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris.
 Aug 31 England, Russia and France formed their Triple Entente.
 Dec 2 Spain and France agreed to enforce Moroccan measures adopted in 1906.
 Explorations began at the ancient city of Angkor.
1908 Jan 12 A wireless message was sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
1908 July 30 An around the world automobile race ended in Paris.
1909 Jan 17 Wilbur and Orville Wright opened the world’s first flying school at Pau, France,
1909 Feb 9 France recognize German economic interests in Morocco in exchange for political supremacy.
1909 March 2 Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy asked Serbia to set no territorial demands.
1909 April 18 Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
1910 French Equatorial Africa was a former administrative grouping of four French territories in west central Africa.
1911 Aug 21 Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre Museum.
1912 March 4 French council of war unanimously voted a mandatory three-year military service.
1912 Nov 24 Austria denounced Serbian gains in the Balkans;
1912-1956 French ruled Morocco.
1913 Jan 21 Aristide Briand formed a French government.
1913 Feb 18 Raymond Poincaré began his term as president of France.
1913 May 29 The premier of the ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)
1914 Aug 1 France and Germany mobilized.
 Aug 2 German press falsely reported that French bombed Nuremberg.
 Aug 3 Germany invaded Belgium and declared war on France.
 2011 May 6, France ordered 14 diplomats loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to leave the country within 48 hours.