Today in Francophone History

Learn about important dates in French and francophone history: famous birthdays, holidays and celebrations, and other milestones. If the above does not match today's date or you wish to choose a specific date, please click here

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Birthdays

1602 - Jules Mazarin (French statesman and cardinal)

1634 - Pasquier Quesnel (French Jansenist theologian)

1671 - Jacques D'Allonville (French astronomer and mathematician)

1675 - Claude Alexandre de Bonneval (French soldier)

1816 - Arthur de Gobineau (French philosopher)

1933 - Robert Bourassa (Québécois politician)


Deaths

1223 - King Philip II of France

1723 - Claude Fleury (French historian)

1780 - Charles Batteux (French philosopher)

1789 - Jacques de Flesselles (French provost)

1789 - Bernard-René de Launay (governor of the Bastille)

1817 - Anne-Louise Germaine Necker, Madame de Staël (Swiss author)

1827 - Augustin-Jean Fresnel (French physicist)

1834 - Edmond Charles Genêt (French ambassador to the United States during the French Revolution )

1917 - Octave Lapize (French cyclist)


Holidays/Celebrations

France: Bastille Day - le quatorze juillet


Milestones/Events

1223 - Louis VIII became King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II

1789 - French Revolution: Citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille and freed seven prisoners

1790 - French Revolution: Citizens of Paris celebrated the constitutional monarchy and national reconciliation in the Fête de la Fédération

1827 - The first Roman Catholic Mass was celebrated in the Hawaiian Islands by Fathers Abraham Armand and Alexis Bachelot of France and Patrick Short of the United Kingdom

1981 - Mouvement Centrafricain de Libération Nationale (MCLN) bombed a cinema in Bangui, Central African Republic and issued a declaration demanding withdrawal of French troops from the country

2002 - France: During Bastille Day celebrations, President Jacques Chirac escaped an assassination attempt


Errors and Omissions

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