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

1433 - Francis II (Duke of Brittany)

1612 - André Tacquet (Belgian mathematician)

1683 - Étienne Fourmont (French orientalist)

1750 - Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu (French geologist)

1763 - Josephine de Beauharnais (Empress of France)

1887 - Thyde Monnier (French writer)

1903 - Louis Seigner (French actor)

1903 - Paul Joseph James Martin (Canadian politician)

1910 - Jean Anouilh (French dramatist)

1919 - Muhammad Boudiaf (Algerian political leader)

1955 - Jean Tigana (Malian-French soccer player)

1972 - Zinedine Zidane, aka Zizou (French soccer player)

1976 - Patrick Vieira (Sénégalese-French soccer player)

Deaths

1806 - Mathurin Jacques Brisson (French naturalist)

1959 - Boris Vian (French writer and musician)

2001 - Yvonne Dionne (one of the Canadian Dionne quintuplets)

Holidays/Celebrations

Luxembourg - Grand Duke's Official Birthday

Milestones/Events

1305 - Athis-sur-Orge: Flemish-French peace treaty signed

1532 - Henry VIII and François I signed a secret treaty against Emperor Charles V

1713 - French residents of Acadia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia

1758 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld - British forces defeated French troops

1894 - Paris: International Olympic Committee founded at the Sorbonne, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin

1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveyed newly defeated Paris in now occupied France

1942 - World War II: The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz took place on a trainload of Jews from Paris

Errors and Omissions

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