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

1601 - Georges de Scudéry (French writer)

1624 - Jean Renaud de Segrais (French writer)

1647 - Denis Papin (French physicist, mathematician, and inventor)

1679 - Pierre Guérin de Tencin (French cardinal)

1764 - Charles Percier (French architect)

1862 - Claude Debussy (French composer)

1867 - Maximilian Bircher-Benner (Swiss physician and nutritionist)

1908 - Henri Cartier-Bresson (French photographer)

1922 - Micheline Presle (French actress)


Deaths

1350 - Philippe VI (King of France)

1711 - Louis François, duc de Boufflers (French marshall)

1793 - Louis, 4th duc de Noailles (French marshall)

1797 - Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser (French-born Austrian general)

1806 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French artist)

1823 - Lazare Carnot (French general, politician, and mathematician)

1958 - Roger Martin du Gard (French writer)

2005 - Luc Ferrari, French composer)


Milestones/Events

1791 - Beginning of the Haitian Slave Revolution in Saint-Domingue

1798 - French troops came to aid of Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen's Irish Rebellion

1864 - Twelve nations signed the First Geneva Convention, formation of the International Red Cross

1911 - Theft of the Mona Lisa discovered

1914 - World War I: In Belgium, British and German troops clashed for the first time

1944 - World War II: Last transport of French Jews to concentration camps in Germany

1944 - World War II: Several dozen Spanish and French tackled a German column at La Madeiline, France

1962 - Assassination attempt on French president Charles de Gaulle


Errors and Omissions

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