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

1822 - César Franck (Belgian composer and organist)

1870 - Pierre Louÿs (French author)

1907 - Lucien Laurent (French soccer player)

1908 - Olivier Messiaen (French composer and ornithologist)


Deaths

1508 - René II, Duke of Lorraine

1850 - François Sulpice Beudant (French mineralogist and geologist)

1865 - King Léopold I of Belgium

1917 - Sir Mackenzie Bowell (Prime Minister of Canada)


Milestones/Events

1508 - League of Cambrai formed as an alliance against Venice

1848 - Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Napoléon III) elected president of the Second Republic

1996 - Rwandan Genocide: Maurice Baril recommended that the UN forces in Zaïre stand down


Errors and Omissions

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