Language/French/Culture/French-Major-Historical-Dates

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French Major Historical Dates - Short chronology of the history of France
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Understanding important events that influenced France is necessary to better comprehend its culture. Let's examine a brief timeline of French history with some of the most important moments that have influenced the nation throughout the ages.

Let's get started on our historical tour of France!

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: French Culture → French History and Society → Major Events in ..., French Culture and Arts: French Cuisine and Gastronomy, Funny idiomatic expressions & French Society and Lifestyle.

The Middle Age[edit | edit source]

481 Clovis, crowned king of the Franks
496 Conversion of Clovis to Christianity
511-751 The Merovingian kings
751 The Carolingians: Pepin the Short, King of the Franks
768 Charlemagne, king of the Franks
800 Charlemagne, crowned emperor
843 Charles the Bald, King of Francia Occidentalis
885 The Vikings lay siege to Paris
911 Creation of the Duchy of Normandy
987 Hugues Capet, first king of the Capetian dynasty
1066 Conquest of England by William, Duke of Normandy
1095 First crusade
1154 Henry II Plantagenêt, King of England
1229 Saint Louis crowned King of France
1337 Beginning of the Hundred Years' War
1347-1349 Black plague epidemic
1420 Treaty of Troyes, France is handed over to the King of England
1412-1431 Life of Joan of Arc
1427 Coronation of Charles VII in Reims
1453 End of the Hundred Years War

The old regime[edit | edit source]

1495 Beginning of the Italian wars
1515 François 1st, King of France
1534 Jacques Cartier in Canada
1560 Regency of Catherine de Medici
1572 Massacre of Protestants in Paris on Saint Bartholomew's Day
1594 Henry IV, King of France
1598 Edit of Nantes
1610 Assassination of Henri IV
1617 Louis XIII, King of France, assumes power after the regency of Marie de Medici
1624 Richelieu, adviser to the king
1628 Siege of La Rochelle, restrictions of the clauses of the Edict of Nantes
1635 Foundation of the French Academy by Richelieu
1642 Death of Richelieu
1643 Death of Louis XIII, regency of Anne of Austria
1648 Treaty of Westphalia
1642-1652 Revolts of the Fronde
1652 Beginning of the reign of Louis XIV
1661 Death of Mazarin, Louis XIV alone assumes power
1685 Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
1714 France concedes part of Canada to England
1715 Death of Louis XIV, regency of Philippe of Orleans
1728 Beginning of the reign of Louis XV
1748 The Spirit of the Laws of Montesquieu
1751 Beginning of publication of Diderot's Encyclopedia
1756 Essay on Mores and the Spirit of Nations by Voltaire
1762 The Social Contract, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1763 End of the Seven Years' War, France loses India and Canada
1774 Death of Louis XV, beginning of the reign of Louis XVI

The revolution[edit | edit source]

1788 Louis XVI convenes the States General
1789 June 20: Oath of the Jeu de Paume
July 9: Constituent Assembly
July 14: Storming of the Bastille
August 26: declaration of human and citizen rights
1791 June: Louis XVI is captured in Varennes in his attempt to flee the country
1792 April: declaration of war against Austria and Prussia, its ally
August 10: the Convention replaces the Constituent Assembly, Louis XVI is deposed
September 10: victory of the revolutionary troops at Valmy
September 11: proclamation of the Republic
1793 January 21: Louis XVI is executed
May: start of the Terror
1794 March-April: execution of the Hébertistes then the Indulgents, including Danton and Desmoulins.
Robespierre takes the head of the Committee of Public Safety
August 27: execution of Robespierre and end of the Montagnard Convention
1795 October: the Directory takes over from the Convention
1796-1798 Bonaparte's victorious military campaigns in Austria, Italy and Egypt
1799 November: Bonaparte's coup d'etat (18 Brumaire).
The Consulate succeeds the Directory

The 19th century[edit | edit source]

1800 Bonaparte appointed first consul
1801 Concordat
1802 Constitution of Year X: Bonaparte consul "for life"
1804 Civil Code, Banque de France
Napoleon 1st, emperor
1805 Defeat at Trafalgar; Victory at Austerlitz
1808 Beginning of the continental blockade against England
1812 Russian campaign
1814 Defeat of Leipzig, Napoleon deported to Elba Island
Louis XVIII, King of France
1815 The Hundred Days (March 20-June 20)
Defeat at Waterloo; Napoleon exiled to Saint Helena
Beginning of the Restoration
1824 Charles X, King of France
1830 Three Glorious Days (July 27, 28, 29)
Louis Philippe, King of France, start of the July Monarchy
Capture of Algiers
1840 Beginning of the Guizot ministry
1848 February 24: Abdication of Louis Philippe, proclamation of the Second Republic
Universal suffrage (only for men)
November: Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, President of the Republic
1852 Napoleon III, beginning of the Second Empire
1857 Conquest of Algeria
1870 Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III prisoner in Sedan.
Proclamation of the Third Republic (September 4)
1871 February: Insurrection of the Paris Commune
May 10: Treaty of Frankfurt, France loses Alsace and Lorraine
May 18: Crushing of the Municipality
1882 Jules Ferry Ministry: Decree on free, secular and compulsory education from 6 to 13 years old
1883 Protectorate on Annam (Vietnam)
1887 Creation of French Indochina
1898 Dreyfus Affair: Zola publishes "I accuse! "In Aurora

The twentieth century[edit | edit source]

1900 Intervention of French troops against the Boxer uprising in China
1905 Separation of Church and State
1913-1920 Raymond Poincaré, President of the Republic
1914 Beginning of the First World War
1916 February-November: Battle of Verdun
1918 November 11: signing of the armistice
1919 Treaty of Versailles: Alsace and Lorraine returned to France
1923 First Poincaré Ministry (until 1924)
Occupation of the Ruhr by French troops
1926-1929 Second Poincaré Ministry
1929 Start of construction of the Maginot line between France and Germany
1931 Beginning of the economic recession (until 1935)
1936 Popular Front: Ministry of Léon Blum
1938 September: signature by President Daladier of the Munich Agreements
1939 Declaration of war on Germany
1940 May: Germany invades France north of the Maginot Line
June 18: from London, call from General de Gaulle for French resistance
June 22: signature of the armistice by the Pétain government
July 11: proclamation of the Vichy government
October 24: Pétain meets Hitler in Montoire
1941 First arrests of Jews
1942 November 11: the free zone in the south is invaded by the Germans
1944 June 6: Allied landing in Normandy
August 15: Landing of Franco-American troops in Provence
August 25: Liberation of Paris
1945 Provisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF), led by General de Gaulle: laws on the vote for women, nationalizations, creation of Social Security
1946 January: Resignation of General de Gaulle from the GPRF
1951 Creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), ancestor of the European Union
1954 May 7: Defeat of Diên Biên Phu, end of the French occupation in Indochina
November 1: start of the Algerian war
1956 Independence of Morocco and Tunisia
1957 Treaty of Rome: creation of the Economic and European Commission (EEC)
1958 June: de Gaulle returns to power following the Algerian crisis
September: adoption of the new constitution of the Fifth Republic
December: de Gaulle is elected President of the Republic
1962 Algeria’s independence following the Evian agreements
1963 De Gaulle opposes Britain's entry into the EEC
Franco-German Treaty of Friendship
1966 Withdrawal of France from NATO's military system
1968 May events
1969 April: resignation of General de Gaulle.
Georges Pompidou is elected President of the Republic in June
1971 François Mitterrand, first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS)
1973 First oil shock
1974 Valéry Giscard d´Estaing, President of the Republic. Jacques Chirac was Prime Minister until 1976
1979 First elections to the European Parliament
1981 François Mitterrand, President of the Republic
1986 First cohabitation: Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister
1988 Re-election of François Mitterrand as President of the Republic
1995 Jacques Chirac, President of the Republic (reelected in 2002)

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