Timeline France (D) 1870-1920
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1870 Jan 9, Alexander Herzen (b.1812), Russian author, died in France. In 1961 US Prof. Martin Malia (1924-2004) authored “Alexander Herzen and the Birth of Russian Socialism (1812-1855).
(www.bookrags.com/biography/aleksandr-ivanovich-herzen/)(SFC, 11/24/04, p.B6)
1870 Jan 10, Victor Noir (22), French journalist, was killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte. Noir "had called on him with a companion to present his editor's challenge to a duel because of a journalistic dispute concerning Corsican politics." Public sentiment over Noir's death forces Napoleon III to abdicate. A statue of Noir’s prostrate figure became a magnet for infertile women rubbing themselves against him as a sexual charm.
(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.F9)(www.alsirat.com/silence/cemtime/time4.html)
1870 May 8, In France a national plebiscite voted confidence in the Empire with about 84% of votes in favor. On the eve of the plebiscite members of the Paris Federation were arrested on a charge of conspiring against Napoleon III. This pretext was further used by the government to launch a campaign of persecution of the members of the International throughout France.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Jun 21, A Chinese mob in Tianjin set upon the French consul and tore him limb from limb for firing his pistol at a Chinese official, wounding one of his retinue. The mob slaughtered about 20 foreigners including 2 priests and 10 nuns. Nearly 20 Chinese were later executed by the Qing to appease the French and avoid war. Diplomat Wanyan Chonghou soon sailed to France to issue a formal apology.
(Econ, 12/21/13, p.71)
1870 Jul 19, The Franco-Prussian War began. Napoleon declared war on Bismarck. Emperor Napoleon III of France declared war on Germany under Otto von Bismarck. Napoleon was defeated in three months and abdicated.
(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(AP, 7/19/07)
1870 Jul 23, In France Marx completed what will become known as his "First Address."
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Jul 26, In France Marx’s "First Address" was approved and internationally distributed by the General Council of the International Working Men's Association.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Jul 27, Hilaire Belloc, French writer (Cautionary Tales), was born.
(HN, 7/27/01)
1870 Aug 6, At the Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beat France. Crown Prince Frederick, commanding one of the three Prussian armies invading France, defeated French Marshal MacMahon at Worth and Weissenburg, pushed him out of Alsace, surrounded Strasbourg, and drove on towards Nancy. Two other Prussian armies isolated Marshal Bazaine's forces in Metz.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spicheren)(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Aug 18, Prussian forces defeated the French at the Battle of Gravelotte during the Franco-Prussian War. French Commander Bazaine's efforts to break his soldiers through the German lines were bloodily defeated at Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte. The Prussians advanced on Chalons.
(HN, 8/18/98)(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Sep 1, The Prussian army crushed the French under Marshal MacMahon at Sedan, the last battle of the Franco-Prussian War.
(HN, 9/1/99)(PCh, 1992, p.516)
1870 Sep 2, Napoleon III with 80,000 men capitulated to the Prussians at Sedan, France.
(PCh, 1992, p.516)(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)(HN, 9/2/98)
1870 Sep 4, At news of Sedan, Paris workers invaded the Palais Bourbon and forced the Legislative Assembly to proclaim the fall of the Empire. Emperor Louis Napoleon III was overthrown in a bloodless coup. The 3rd French Republic was proclaimed in Paris and a government of national defense was formed.
(HN, 9/4/98)(ON, 9/06, p.12)(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Sep 5, Author Victor Hugo returned to Paris from the Isle of Guernsey where he had lived in exile for almost 20 years.
(HN, 9/5/00)
1870 Sep 19, Two Prussian armies began a 135-day siege of Paris as the 2nd Empire collapsed. This forced the people of the city to eat Castor and Pollux, the 2 elephants in the zoo.
(PCh, 1992, p.516)(SFC, 4/17/99, p.B3)
1870 Sep 23, Prosper Merimee (66), French playwright (Carmen), died.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/merimee.htm)
1870 Sep 24, George Claude, French engineer, was born. He invented the neon light.
(HN, 9/24/00)
1870 Oct 7, French Minister of the Interior Leon Gambetta escaped besieged Paris by balloon, hoping to reach the French provisional government in Tours. Gambetta was slightly wounded when his balloon drops dangerously low over Prussian held territory, only rising to safety after the pilot jettisons the ballast.
(HN, 10/7/98)
1870 Oct 20, The Summer Palace in Beijing, China, was burnt to the ground by a Franco-British expeditionary force.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1870 Oct 27, The French fortress of Metz surrendered to the Prussian Army.
(HN, 10/27/98)
1870 Oct 30, French National Guard was defeated at Le Bourget.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Oct 31, Upon the receipt of news that the Government of National Defense had decided to start negotiations with the Prussians, Paris workers and revolutionary sections of the National Guard rose up in revolt, led by Blanqui. They seized the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and set up their revolutionary government, the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Blanqui. Flourens prevented any members of the Government of National Defense from being shot, as had been demanded by one of the insurrectionists.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Renoir painted the portrait "Rapha Maitre."
(SFC, 8/29/01, p.E1)
1870 Leo Delibe wrote his ballet "Coppelia." It was based on a tale by E.T.A. Hoffman and was first produced this year in Paris.
(WSJ, 7/16/96, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1870 In France the Hotel du Cap on the French Riviera was commercially opened as the Villa Soleil. This is the hotel described in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s opening of "Tender is the Night."
(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.218)
1870 Madame Pomeroy introduced the first brut champagne. Until this time champagne was sweet.
(Hem., 10/97, p.104)
1870 Sophus Lie (1842-1899), Norwegian mathematician, became a media sensation after he was found outside Paris with a backpack filled with undecipherable mathematical notes and arrested as a spy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophus_Lie)
1870 Frederic Bazille (29), artist and friend of Claude Monet, died.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A20)
1870 Alexandre Dumas (b.1802), French novelist and dramatist who wrote "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers," died. In 1851 he wrote "A Gil Blas in California" (A Year Along the Banks of the San Joaquin and Sacramento"). "I need several mistresses. If I only had one, she’d be dead inside of eight days."
(SFC, 7/24/02, p.D3)
1870-1871 "The best book on this period is Emile Zola’s historical novel The Debacle." In reference to the days of the Paris Commune.
(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)
1870-1871 During the Franco-Prussian War there was a shortage of beef and horse meat began to be used. Germany annexed Alsace after the war.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.T4)
1870s Edgar Degas, French painter journeyed to New Orleans. His time in New Orleans is covered in the 1997 book "Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable" by Christopher Benfey.
(SFEC, 1/4/98, BR p.9)
1871 Jan 8, Prussian troops began to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1871 Jan 18, The German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed in Versailles. William I of Prussia was proclaimed "German Emperor" (which was not the same thing as "Emperor of Germany"). The unification of Germany was the greatest geopolitical transformation of the period. Germany went on to adopt the mark as its common currency.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(AP, 1/18/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany)(WSJ, 5/6/08, p.A21)
1871 Jan 22, The Paris proletariat and the National Guards held a revolutionary demonstration, initiated by the Blanquists. They demanded the overthrow of the government and the establishment of a Commune. By order of the Government of National Defense, the Breton Mobile Guard, which was defending the Hotel de Ville, opened fire on the demonstrators. After massacring the unarmed workers, the government began preparations to surrender Paris.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1871 Jan 28, France, under a provisional republican government, continued the war against Germany, but was forced to surrender in the Franco-Prussian War. Surrounded by Prussian troops and suffering from famine, the French army in Paris surrendered. During the siege, balloons were used to keep contact with the outside world.
(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(AP, 1/28/98)(HN, 1/28/99)
1871 Jan, The bombardment of Paris began.
(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)
1871 Feb 8, Elections were held in France, unknown to most of the nation's population.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1871 Feb 12, In France the new National Assembly opened at Bordeaux. Two-thirds of members were conservatives and wished the war to end.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1871 Feb 26, France and Prussia signed a preliminary peace treaty at Versailles.
(HN, 2/26/99)
1871 Mar 1, Germans paraded down the Champs-Elysses, Paris, France during the Franco-Prussian War.
(HN, 3/1/99)(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)
1871 Mar 26, Paris Commune was founded. The Parisians revolted against their government and tried to secede by electing their own government. The Commune of Paris refused to obey Adolphe Thiers, the elected president of the country. Thiers asked the Germans to release thousands of French prisoners and organized a powerful force to overcome the Commune.
(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(SS, 3/26/02)
1871 May 12, Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber (89), French opera composer, died.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1871 May 21-May 28, French government troops attacked the Commune of Paris. As many as 10,000 communards were killed. Of 36,000 people arrested some 10,000 were executed, imprisoned or deported. In 2014 John Merriman authored “Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune of 1871."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune)(Econ, 11/29/14, p.74)
1871 May 23, In France extremists burned the Tuileries Palace.
(SFC, 10/8/07, p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Palace)
1871 May 28, The last French communards of the Paris commune were shot against the Mur des Federes in Pere Lachaise cemetery by troops from Versailles.
(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(HN, 5/28/98)
1871 Jul 10, Marcel Proust (d.1922), French novelist was born. His masterpiece was "Remembrance of Things Past." In 1998 it was turned into a comic book series. In 1999 Edmund White published the biography "Marcel Proust" for the Penguin Lives series. "We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full."
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/7/99, Par p.14)(AP, 8/2/99)(HN, 7/10/01)
1871 Sep 11, The 1st passenger train passed through the Mount Cenis Tunnel between France and Italy. Work on the 8-mile tunnel had begun in 1861 under the direction of French engineer Germain Sommeiller (d.7/11/1871).
(ON, 2/03, p.9)
1871 Oct 30, Paul Valery (d.1945), French poet and essayist, was born in Sete. "Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder."
(HN, 10/30/00)(AP, 6/10/00)(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.T10)
1871 Degas painted "Racehorses at Longchamp."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)
1871 In France James McNeill Whistler completed his best known work: "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother," aka “Whistler's Mother." His mother, Anna McNeill Whistler (d.1881), had moved into his apartment displacing his Irish model and sweetheart, Jo Heffernan. When his mother died Whistler borrowed £50 to get her portrait back from a pawn shop.
(WSJ, 5/31/95, p. A-14)(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.C6)
1871 The Rothschild banking empire bankrolled France's reparations to Germany.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)
1871 Charles Joseph Minard, French civil engineer, died. In 1861 he used techniques, which he had invented to display flows of people, to create a graphic display of Napoleon’s 1812-1813 march to and from Russia.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.74)
1872 Oct 23, Theophile Gautier (61), French poet, writer, historian, and critic, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1872 Edgar Degas, French painter, journeyed to New Orleans where his mother was born. He made 22 paintings there. His time in New Orleans is covered in the 1997 book "Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable" by Christopher Benfey.
(SFEC, 1/4/98, BR p.9)(SFC, 3/5/99, p.W12)
1872 Claude Monet created his painting: “Impression Sunrise." In 1985 it was stolen at gunpoint from the Marmottan Museum in Paris. In 1990 French police found it in an abandoned villa in southern Corsica.
(ON, 9/06, p.8)
1872 Camille Pissarro, French artist, painted "Louveciennes" and “The Fence."
(SFC, 1/20/99, p.E1)(SFC, 3/29/14, p.E5)
1872 Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897), French novelist, authored “Tartarin of Tarascon," the comic story of a big-hearted braggart.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W7)
1872 The French opera "Djamilah," composed by Georges Bizet, was set in Turkish-ruled Egypt. It told the story of a Muslim pasha who buys a young mistress in the Cairo slave market.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)(ON, 5/06, p.11)
1872 The opera "La Fille de Madame Angot" was written by Charles Lecocq. An English version in 1998 by David Scott Marley was titled "Daughter of the Cabinet."
(SFC, 7/17/98, p.D5)
1872 The light opera "Don Cesar de Bazan," was composed by Jules Massenet.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1872-1950 Leon Blum, French statesman: "Life does not give itself to one who tries to keep all its advantages at once. I have often thought morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice."
(AP, 8/22/98)
1873 Jan 7, Charles Peguy (d.1914), French poet and writer, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P%C3%A9guy)
1873 May 8, John Stuart Mill (b.1806), British philosopher and economist, died in Avignon, France. He completed his autobiography just before death. Here he wrote that happiness is the incidental by-product of pursuing some other worthy goal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill)(Econ, 4/21/12, p.84)
1873 May 24, Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1873 Jun 28, Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, was born. He won a Nobel Prize in 1912 for the development of blood vessel suture technique.
(HN, 6/28/99)(MC, 6/28/02)
1873 Jul 10, French poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) wounded Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) with a pistol.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud)
1873 Sep 20, A financial panic hit the US when the high-flying bond dealer, Jay Cooke, granted too many loans to the railroads. Panic spread to Europe as London and Paris markets crashed and the New York Stock Exchange closed for the first time for 10 days.
(WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-10)(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.C1)(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A22)
1873 Colette (d.1954), French author, was born. Her works included "Cheri" and "Gigi." "To talk to a child, to fascinate him, is much more difficult than to win an electoral victory. But it is also more rewarding." In 1999 Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier published a 2-part biography: "Creating Colette: Volume One: From Ingenue to Libertine 1873-1913. The 2nd volume was "From Baroness to Woman of Letters 1913-1954." Other biographies included: "The Difficulty of Loving" by Margaret Crossland; "Colette: A Taste for Life" by Yvonne Mitchell; "Colette" by Joanna Richardson; "Colette: A Passion for Life" by Genevieve Dorman.
(AP, 10/18/97)(SFEC, 3/21/99, BR p.8)
1873 Degas painted “Degas Blanchisseuses souffrant des dent" (Laundry women with toothache). It was stolen in 1973 while on loan from the Louvre and recovered at a NYC Sotheby’s auction in 2010.
(Econ, 11/27/10, p.83)
1873 Henri Fantin-Latour created his painting "Still Life: Corner of a Table."
(WSJ, 12/12/01, p.A16)
1873 Claude Monet painted "Sunrise," a depiction of the port of La Havre with ships in the Spring. Monet moved from Paris to Giverny in this year.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.C8)(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.T8)
1873 Pissarro painted "Street in Pontoise, Winter."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D1)
1873 A French expeditionary force in Vietnam sacked Hanoi's citadel.
(NG, May, 04, p.87)
1874 Feb 9, Jules Michelet (75), French historian (History of France), died. He was the first historian to use and define the word Renaissance ("Re-birth" in French), as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a drastic break from the Middle Ages.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Michelet)
1874 Feb 12, Auguste Perret, French architect, was born. He pioneered in designs of reinforced concrete buildings.
(HN, 2/12/01)
1874 Mar, By the spring of this year Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste-Renoir, Albert Sisley, Frederic Bazille and others formed the world’s first independent artistic association: the “Societe anonyme des peintres, sculpteurs, et graveurs." They gathered at Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine to relax and paint.
(WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W16)(ON, 9/06, p.7)
1874 Apr 15, Members of the “Societe anonyme des peintres, sculpteurs, et graveurs" opened their first show, The First Exhibition of Independent Artists" on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.
(ON, 9/06, p.7)
1874 Alfred Sisley painted "Snow Effect at Argenteuil."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1874 Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist, authored “The Temptation of St. Anthony."
(SFC, 7/13/13, p.E3)
1874 The Bordeaux Ecole de Management was founded. In 2002 the school introduced a master’s program in business administration for wine.
(WSJ, 3/19/02, p.B1)
1874 Bicycle couriers came into being in Paris taking messages from banks to telegraph offices.
(Econ, 4/23/11, p.89)
1875 Jan 14, Dr. Albert Schweitzer (d.1965), French theologian who set up a native hospital in French Equatorial Africa (Gabon) in 1913, was born. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.
(HN, 1/14/99)(MC, 1/14/02)(AP, 10/30/03)
1875 Jan 20, Jean Francois Millet (b.1814), French painter, died.
(www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=745)
1875 Mar 3, The opera Carmen, composed by Georges Bizet (1873), opened in Paris at the Opera-Comique. The opera was based on a novella by Prosper Merimee (1803-1870).
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/merimee.htm)(AP, 3/3/98)
1875 Mar 7, Composer Maurice Ravel (d.1937) was born in Cibourne, France.
(AP, 12/28/97)(AP, 3/7/98)
1875 Jun 3, Georges Bizet (36), French composer (Carmen, Pearl Fishers), died.
(ON, 5/06, p.12)
1875 Jul 16, The new French constitution is finalized.
(HN, 7/16/98)
1875 Aug 25, Captain Matthew Webb (1848-1883) became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 min. Swimming the Channel entails about 35 miles of swimming due to currents in waters that are 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
(AP, 8/25/97)(HN, 8/25/98)(ON, 2/05, p.12)
1874 Sep 12, François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (b.1787), French historian, orator, and statesman, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Guizot)
1875 Gabriel Guay exhibited his painting "The Awakening" at the Paris Salon. It featured a nude, life-size woman, just waking up.
(SFEM, 4/11/99, p.30)
1875 Claude Monet painted "The Seine at Argenteuil."
(SFC, 4/10/97, p.E1)
1875 In Paris, France, the first stone was laid for the Sacre Coeur basilica in Montmartre.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.91)
1875 The Jacquemart-Andre mansion in Paris was designed by Henri Parent. The building later became the Jacquemart-Andre Musee.
(SFEC, 3/26/00, p.T12)
1875 France’s Rouen Museum acquired a Maori head, offered by a Parisian named Drouet. In 2011 France returned the first of 16 such human heads it had displayed as exotic curiosities. The other 15 were to be returned in 2012.
(AP, 5/9/11)
1876 Jun 8, French author George Sand (b.1804 as Lucile Aurore Dupin Dudevant) died in Nohant, France. In 1975 Curtis Cate published the biography: "George Sand." French author. In 1993 Francis Steegmuller and Barbara Bray published their translation of correspondence between Flaubert and Sand. In 2000 Belinda Jack authored "George Sand: A Woman’s Life Writ Large." "I would rather believe that God did not exist than believe that He was indifferent."
(AP, 6/8/00)(AP, 10/17/98)(SFEC, 8/27/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.P10)
1876 Jun 10, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) embarked for the Dutch East Indies, or modern-day Indonesia. He arrived on July 22 and on August 15 he deserted, leaving his possessions to be sold for the benefit of the local orphanage. He reappeared only on December 31, 1876, when he returned to his mother in Charleville-Mezieres in northern France. Rimbaud, who wrote the anti-militarist "The Sleeper in the Valley," had embarked on the journey after signing up for six years in the Dutch colonial army. In 2011 American writer Jamie James authored "Rimbaud in Java: The Lost Voyage."
(AP, 1/28/12)
1876 Degas painted "Absinthe."
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W8)
1876 Jean-Leon Gerome painted "Solomon's Wall, Jerusalem."
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.W12)
1876 Monet painted "Dans La Prairie." It was expected to sell for $16-20 million in 1999. He also did "La Repos Dans le Jardin" this year.
(WSJ, 11/5/99, p.W16)(WSJ, 5/3/02, p.W12)
1876 Renoir painted "The Garden of the Rue Cortot" at what is now the Montmartre museum in Paris. He also did a portrait of Alfred Sisley about this time.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.T11)(DPCP 1984)
1876 The 2nd Impressionist exhibition opened in Paris featuring Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.9)
1876 Construction of the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), a gift to the US, began in France. The interior iron framework was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The design by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi included 7 rays on her crown to represent the seven seas and continents. Her tablet was engraved with the date July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals. Broken shackles at her feet represented tyranny. In 2014 Elizabeth Mitchell authored “Liberty’s Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty."
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.T10)(SSFC, 7/6/14, p.N4)
1877 Feb 19, Louis Francois-Marie Aubert, French composer (Habanera), was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1877 Mar 25, Alphonse de Chateaubriand, French writer (Instantanes aux Pays-Bas), was born.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1877 Apr 27, Jules Massenet's Opera "Le Roi de Lahore" was produced in Paris.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1877 Jun 3, Raoul Dufy, French Fauvist painter (Palm), was born.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1877 Sep 3, Adolphe Thiers, 1st president of the 3rd French Republic (1871-77), died at 80.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1877 Gustave Caillebotte French impressionist painter, painted his "Paris Street: Rainy Day." [see 1848-1894, Caillebotte]
(WSJ, 2/23/95, p.A-10)(SSFC, 11/16/03, BR p.6)
1877 Cezanne painted "Mme. Cezanne in a Red Armchair."
(WSJ, 2/20/96, p.A-14)
1877 Claude Monet painted "Old St. Lazare Station, Paris." He did a series of these and captured the atmospheric effects of steam and light through the glass roof of the train shed.
(DPCP 1984)
1877 The oriental opera "Le Roi de Lahore," was composed by Jules Massenet.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1877 Saint-Saens wrote his opera "Samson et Dalila."
(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A16)
1878 Feb 19, Charles Francois Daubigny (b.1817), French painter of the Barbizon school, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Fran%C3%A7ois_Daubigny)(SFC, 6/1/13, p.E2)
1878 May 1, The third Paris World’s Fair opened and continued to Nov 10. It showcased ice machines and electric street lights.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_%281878%29)(Econ, 6/13/15, p.52)
1878 Gustave Caillebotte painted his impressionist "View of Rooftops (Snow).
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.E1)
1878 William Adolphe Bouguereau debuted his painting "La Charite" at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
(WSJ, 3/24/00, p.W4)
1878 The French Academy accepted "humoristique" as a French word.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.75)
1878 A French Jewish woman purchased the Tomb of Kings property through the French consul in Jerusalem, and eight years later one of her heirs donated it to the French government.
(AP, 11/8/19)
1879 Feb 11, Honore Daumier (b.1808), French caricaturist, painter, died.
(WUD, 1994 p.369)( www.britannica.com/eb/article-9029447)
1879 Apr 16, Saint Bernadette, who had described seeing visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, died in Nevers, France.
(AP, 4/16/04)
1879 Aug 29, Jeanne Jugan (b.1792), a French nun, died. She had helped found the Little Sisters of the Poor. In 2009 she was canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church.
(AP, 10/11/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Jugan)
1879 Cezanne, French painter, painted his "Self-Portrait."
(WSJ, 9/28/95, p.A-16)
1879 Monet painted "Lavacourt in Winter."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1879 Pissaro painted "Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1879 Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "Two Little Circus Girls," a picture of Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, jugglers in the Spanish Cirque Fernande.
(DPCP 1984)
1879 French artist Renoir painted “Paysage bords de Seine." It was seized in 2012 by the FBI. A Virginia woman claimed to have bought it at a flea market for $7. In 2014 a federal judge cited evidence that it had been stolen over 60 years ago from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
(SFC, 1/11/14, p.A4)
1879 Edmond de Goncourt published his French novel "Les Freres Zemganno."
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.75)
1879 The first autoclave was by Charles Chamberland (1851-1908), French microbiologist.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave)
1879 A cylindrical lump of platinum-iridium alloy was cast in Hatton Garden, England, and then dispatched to the Int’l. Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France, as the standard measure for one kilogram. An ingot for the meter was deposited in 1889.
(Econ, 1/29/11, p.79)
1880 Jan 1, The building of the Panama Canal was symbolically begun under the direction of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. Actual construction began a year later. In 2007 Matthew Parker authored “Panama Fever: The Battle to Build the Canal."
(http://www.ared.com/history.htm)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.96)
1880 May 8, Gustave Flaubert (b.1821), French novelist, died. He revealed in painful detail the small foibles of a bourgeois life and believed in perfection of form and the absolute value of art. His work included "Madam Bovary," "Salammbo" and "A Simple Heart." "Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times." In 2006 Frederick Brown authored “Flaubert : A Biography."
(V.D.-H.K.p.278)(AP, 6/19/99)(HN, 12/12/99)(WSJ, 4/15/06, p.P8)
1880 Aug, Eight Inuit from Canada’s north-eastern coast agreed to travel to Europe to be exhibits in a human zoo. They soon died from smallpox. The skeletons of Abraham Ulrikab (1845-1881) and most of his companions were rediscovered in 2014 fully mounted for display in the storerooms of a French museum.
(Econ., 2/28/15, p.30)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Ulrikab)
1880 Jun 29, France annexed Tahiti.
(HN, 6/29/98)
1880 Oct 5, Jacques Offenbach (b.1819), French composer, died in Paris. His work included the operas "Orpheus" (1858) "La Belle Helene" (1864), and "Tales of Hoffman" (1881)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Offenbach)
1880 Nov 8, Sarah Bernhardt, French actress, made her US debut at NY's Booth Theater.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1880 Dec 11, Louis Pasteur (57), French scientist, began an experiment to identify the microbe that causes rabies.
(ON, 6/08, p.4)
1880 Rodin created his sculpture "The Thinker."
(HNQ, 12/6/00)
1880 Monet painted "Sunset on the Seine in Winter."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D1)
1880 Renoir began his painting "Luncheon of the Boating Party," ["The Rower’s Lunch"] the culmination of a decade of riverscapes. It depicted a scene at the Restaurant Fournaise on the banks of the Seine at a spot known as La Grenouillere (the frog pond). It was completed in 1881 and sold to Duncan Philips in 1923 for $125,000.
(WSJ, 9/10/96, p.A16)(SFC, 10/30/96, p.E7)(DPCP 1984)
1880 Paul Lafargue (1842-1911), French revolutionary and journalist, published “Le Droit a la Paresse" (The Right to Laziness), in which he recommended that men should work no more than three hours a day.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.51)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lafargue)
1880 Guy de Maupassant wrote his short story “Boule de Suif" (Butterball). In 2006 it premiered as an opera by composer Stephen Hartke and librettist Philip Littell.
(WSJ, 8/8/06, p.D5)
1880 The Hotel Concorde Saint-Lazare was built near the St. Lazare train station in Paris at the behest of the government to encourage travel by train. In 2006 the hotel was purchased by Westbrook Partners, an American private equity group.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.98)
1880 France resurrected Bastille Day as a national holiday. The July 14 holiday had been abolished by Napoleon Bonaparte. “La Marseillaise" was adopted as the French national anthem. In 2008 Christopher Prendergast authored “the Fourteenth of July: And the Taking of the Bastille."
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.91)
1880 The French colonized Polynesia.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.T12)
1880 The Hermes harness makers of France added saddle-making to their manufacturing list.
(Hem., 7/95, p.27)
c1880 The Durif grape was named by Francois Durif, French botanist and grape breeder, as the result of an unintended crossing between two varieties. California vines labeled Petite Sirah were later identified as Durif. In 1998 the Durif grape was identified as a cross between the French grape Peloursin and Syrah
(SFC, 1/20/05, p.F5)
1880-1900 Rodin worked on his "Gates of Hell" over this period. The work was later exhibited inside the Cantor Arts Center of Stanford Univ., Ca.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.D5)(Ind, 4/4/00,13A)
1881 Feb 4, Fernand Leger (d.1955), French painter, was born.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1881 Mar 23, Roger Martin du Guard, French novelist (Les Thibault-Nobel 1937), was born.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1881 Mar 23, Gas lamp set fire to Nice, France, opera house and 70 died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1881 May 1, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (d.1955), French Jesuit philosopher, paleontologist, was born. He authored the "Phenomenon of Man" wherein he proposed the idea of the noosphere, i.e. sphere of mind, in which all the minds of all the humans on earth could be conceived of as both separate and as combined in one great, single intelligence.
(V.D.-H.K.p.388)(MC, 5/1/02)
1881 May 12, The Treaty of Bardo established Tunis [Tunisia] as a French protectorate. The French withdrew their forces after signing the treaty. The terms of the agreement gave France responsibility for the defense and foreign policy decisions of Tunisia. Henceforth, Tunis became a French protectorate
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bardo)
1881 Jun 16, In France the first set of the Jules Ferry Laws were passed, making primary education free for both boys and girls. A 2nd set of laws on 28 March 1882 made primary education in France free, non-clerical and mandatory. Jules Ferry (1832-1893), French statesman, introduced compulsory, free, secular primary education.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Ferry_laws)(Econ, 9/30/17, SR p.7)
1881 Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "On the Terrace," a picture of a young woman and a pink-cheeked child with the Seine in the background.
(DPCP 1984)
1881 French composer Jules Massenet wrote the grand opera "Herodiade".
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1881 The French state finally relinquished its hold on the arts and turned power over to the Societe des artistes Français.
(Calg. Glen., 1996)
1881 A French law restricted press freedom.
(Econ., 10/24/20, p.19)
1881 France scrapped blasphemy laws. They had carried the death penalty before the 1789 revolution.
(Econ, 1/24/15, p.53)
1881-1882 Although Pierre-Auguste Renoir embraced Impressionism early on, his travels to Algeria, Italy, and Provence from 1881-82 led him to reject the style. Renoir came from a family of artisans, who soon noticed and encouraged his aptitude for painting. When Renoir decided to study painting in earnest, he found himself stifled by the conventions and traditions of the day. Renoir and some of his fellow students (Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley) began meeting with young painters Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro and a style developed. Although critical and financial success did not come to the group with the first Impressionist exposition of 1874, Renoir's interest in the human figure (as opposed to landscapes) led him to receive several portrait commissions. The trips in the early 1880s exposed him to elements of classicism that he felt drawn to in terms of both color and brushstrokes. However, despite his newfound interest, he retained the use of vibrant coloration and a bucolic view of nature.
(HNQ, 5/23/01)
1882 Mar 19, Gaston Lachaise (d.1935), Franco-American sculptor (Standing Woman), was born.
(SFC, 2/2/02, p.D1)(MC, 3/19/02)
1882 Apr 25, French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi. Capt. Henri Riviere was later beheaded after he attempted to seize the coal deposits at Ha long Bay. The outraged French proceeded to colonize Vietnam.
(HN, 4/25/98)(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T4)
1882 May 13, Georges Braque (d.1963, French cubist painter, was born in Argenteuil, near Paris. He said of his work that: "The aim is not to reconstitute an anecdotal fact, but to constitute a pictorial fact." He was shot in the head during WW I and had his head drilled to relieve the pressure. His "Billiard Tables" series was painted between 1944 and 1949.
(V.D.-H.K.p.359-360)(AHD, 1971, p.160)(WSJ, 5/7/97, p.A16)(MC, 5/13/02)
1882 Sep 3, The French, Vietnamese and Chinese battled at Hanoi; hundreds died.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1882 Oct 29, Jean Giraudoux, French dramatist, novelist and diplomat, famous for his book "Tiger at the Gates," was born. His plays included "Eglantine" and "Provinciales."
(HN, 10/29/98)(MC, 10/29/01)
1882 Nov 18, Jacques Maritain, French Catholic philosopher (exponent of St Thomas), was born.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1882 Dec 31, Leon Michel Gambetta (44), French attorney and premier (1881-82), died.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1882 Gaston Lachaise (d.1935), Franco-American sculptor, was born.
(SFC, 2/2/02, p.D1)
1882 Paul Cezanne completed his painting “The Three Bathers." Matisse saw it in a gallery in 1899. He and his wife soon agreed to pawn her emerald ring in order to purchase it, which they held for 37 years.
(https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-cezanne/three-bathers)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.73)
1882 Claude Monet painted "The Cliff Walk (Pourville)." His series of seaside cliff scenes are among his most dramatic paintings.
(DPCP 1984)
1882 In France secular primary education became compulsory. A day off on Thursday was provided for students to attend religious education outside the school.
(Econ, 9/21/13, p.55)
1883 Mar 31, 1st performance of Cesar Franck's "Le Chasseur Maudit."
(MC, 3/31/02)
1883 Apr 14, Leo Delibes' opera "Lakme," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1883 Aug 19, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (d.1971), French fashion designer, was born: "My friends, there are no friends."
(HN, 8/19/00)(AP, 7/26/99)
1883 Sep 3, Ivan Turgenev (b.1818), Russian novelist and playwright, died in France. His best play was “A Month in the Country." In 1977 V.S. Pritchett authored the biography “The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev." In 2005 Robert Dessaiz authored “Twilight of Love: Travels With Turgenev," an exploration of Turgenev’s work.
(WSJ, 4/26/95, p.A-14)(www.nndb.com/people/697/000055532/)(SSFC, 9/18/05, p.F2)
1883 Oct 4, Orient Express made its 1st run linking Istanbul, Turkey, to Paris by rail.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1883 Claude Monet made a trip to Italy with Cezanne and Renoir and painted "The Monte Carlo Road."
(WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A14)
1883 Haiti made its final payment to France of the 1825 "debt," renegotiated in 1838. In 2004 Haiti demanded nearly 22 billion in restitution.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
1884 Jan 19, Jules Massenet's opera "Manon," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1884 Jun 23, A Chinese Army defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1884 Jul 4, The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States in ceremonies at Paris, France. The 225-ton, 152-foot statue was a gift from France in commemoration of 100 years of American independence. Created by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was installed on Bedloe Island (now Liberty Island) in New York harbor in 1885. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1884 Oct 13, Greenwich was established as the universal time meridian of longitude. 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C. for the International Meridian Conference. This conference selected the Greenwich Meridian as the official Prime Meridian due to its popularity. However, France abstained from the vote and French maps continued to use the Paris Meridian for several decades.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_13)
1884 French artist Paul Philippoteaux (1846-1923) and team of 20 created in Paris the massive Cyclorama painting titled “The Battle of Gettysburg." It was originally 377 feet in circumference. They then shipped it to the US, where it was first displayed in Boston. The US National Park Service acquired it in 1942. In 2008 a 5-year, $15 million restoration project was completed and it was reopened to the public at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pa.
(SSFC, 9/28/08, p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Philippoteaux)
1884 Edgar Degas began painting his series of pastels and oils of dancers. The first was done about this time and titled "Danseuses."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1884 Claude Monet painted "Bordighera." It was done on the French Riviera to which he returned after a visit there with Renoir in late 1883. The paintings were marked by bold, pure color in contrast to his earlier subdued pastels.
(DPCP 1984)
1884 Vincent Van Gogh painted the work, "Spring Garden." It depicts the garden of the parsonage where his father lived as pastor.
(The Week, 3/31/20)
1884 Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) painted the impressionist work "En Bateau sur le Lac de Boulogne." It was valued in 1998 at $600-800 thousand.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A19)
1884 Georges Seurat, French artist, painted "Bathers at Asnieres." He also began his 7x10 foot painting “Study for A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte." The work was completed in 1886 and heralded as a milestone of art theory.
(WSJ, 6/19/00, p.A44)(WSJ, 7/20/04, p.A1)(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
1884 The grand opera "Manon," was composed by Jules Massenet. The libretto was based on an 18th century novel was Abbe Prevost.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1884-1966 Georges Duhamel, French author: "If anyone tells you something strange about the world, something you had never heard before, do not laugh but listen attentively; make him repeat it, make him explain it; no doubt there is something there worth taking hold of." "It is always brave to say what everyone thinks."
(AP, 4/20/97)(AP, 11/19/99)
1885 May 22, Victor-Marie Hugo (b.1802), French novelist (Les Miserables) and poet, died. In 1998 Graham Robb published the biography: "Victor Hugo." Hugo also did a number of drawings, later appreciated by Andre Breton and Max Ernst, and in 1914 Henri Focillon published the first critical study of them. In 1998 Pierre Georgel and Marie-Laure Prevost published "Shadows of a Hand: The Drawings of Victor Hugo."
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A16)(HN, 2/26/98)(SFEC, 5/31/98, BR p.4)(MC, 5/22/02)
1885 May, Henri Rousseau, a self-taught artist, exhibited two of his paintings at the Salon of French Art in Paris without bothering to obtain permission. One painting was cut with a knife and authorities removed them as soon as they were noticed. That same month he exhibited his work at the Salon of the Independents.
(ON, 8/08, p.8)
1885 Jun 6, Leo Delibes' opera "Lakme" was produced in Paris.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1885 Jun 14, The 1st photo finish horse race was recorded by Luis-Jean Delton as Paradox beat Reluisant at the Grand Prix de Paris.
(SFC, 4/28/03, D1)
1885 Jun 26, Andre Maurois (d.1967), French writer (Balzac), was born as Émile Herzog. "Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form."
(AP, 7/6/00)(MC, 6/26/02)
1885 Jun 17, The French naval ship Isere arrived in NYC with a cargo of wooden crates containing the pieces of the Statue of Liberty.
(AP, 6/17/97)(ON, 4/03, p.3)
1885 Jul 6, French scientist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) successfully tested an anti-rabies vaccine on a boy bitten by an infected dog. Thanks to his vaccine the death rate from rabies dropped to almost zero by 1888.
(AP, 7/6/97)(ON, 6/08, p.6)
1885 Oct 11, Francois Mauriac, Nobel Prize-winning novelist, was born.
(HN, 10/11/00)
1885 Nov 30, Jules Massenet's opera "Le Cid" had its premier in Paris. It included text from the playwright Corneille's "Le Cid."
(WSJ, 11/18/99, p.A24)(MC, 11/30/01)
1885 Cezanne painted his watercolor of "Madame Cezanne with hydrangeas."
(WSJ, 2/20/96, p.A-14)
1885 Berthe Morisot (d.1895), French Impressionist, painted her self portrait.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.29)
1885 Emile Zola (1840-1902) authored his novel “Germinal," a fictional account of a French mining strike. It was the 13th novel in Zola's 20-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germinal_%28novel%29)(WSJ, 10/7/97, p.A20)
1885 Alphonse Bertillon of the Paris Police Dept. (Surete) developed the Bertillon system to help identify criminals. It was based on a variety or personal characteristics including hair and eye color and various body measurements.
(ON, 4/04, p.11)
1885-1957 Sacha Guitry, French director, actor and dramatist: "The little I know I owe to my ignorance." "You can pretend to be serious; but you can't pretend to be witty."
(AP, 5/27/98)(AP, 2/27/99)
1886 May 2, Edouard Lockroy, French Minister of Culture, announced plans for a tower for the 1889 Paris exhibition and invited proposals for the project. The winning design was submitted by engineer Gustave Eiffel.
(ON, 7/03, p.9)
1886 May 19, Camille Saint-Saens' 3rd Symphony in C ("Organ"), premiered.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1886 Jun 24, Ngazidja (Grande Comore) became a French protectorate.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Comoros.html)
1886 Oct 28, The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated by President Cleveland. It was designed by F.A. Bartholdi. It was a monument to republicanism and to the amity between the French and American nations. Later the poem "New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus was placed at the base.
(WUD, 1994, p.1389)(WSJ, 7/26/96, p.A9)(THC, 4/10/97)(AP, 10/28/97)
1886 Nov 30, Folies Bergere introduced an elaborate review featuring women in sensational costumes. Years later, the Folies followed the Parisian taste for striptease and gained a reputation for spectacular nudie shows. The Folies had originated as a hall for operettas, pantomime, and even political meetings.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1886 The last impressionist exhibition was held in France.
(SFC, 10/22/96, p.E8)
1886 French artist Jean-Leon Gerome painted "The First Kiss of the Sun."
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.W12)
1886 Henri Fantin-Latour painted "Vase With Autumn Asters."
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.B1)
1886 French sculptor Auguste Rodin created his marble sculpture "The Kiss."
(WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A5)
1886 Paul Durand-Ruel, a Paris art dealer, packed his bag with 300 Impressionist paintings and took them to sell in America.
(Econ, 11/28/09, SR p.13)
1886 Pierre Loti, French naval officer and author, wrote "An Iceland Fisherman."
(SFEC, 11/17/96, DB p.40)
1886 “Illuminations," the final work of Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), was published in France. By this time he had given up on poetry to become a trader in Africa.
(Econ, 6/25/11, p.98)
1886 Emile Zola (1840-1902), French author, wrote "The Masterpiece," the story of an artist in pursuit of his vision. Zola described the horror felt by much of the general public when presented with the work of the new Impressionists.
(WSJ, 4/29/06, p.P10)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.85)
1886 Frenchman Edouard Drumont authored “La France Juive," an anti-Semitic tract that became a best-seller.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.91)
1886 Rene Lalique, a pioneer of Art Nouveau style, set up his own jewelry workshop in Paris, France. He had already apprenticed under Louis Aucoq and worked for Cartier, Boucheron and other established houses.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.C4)
1886-1888 Vincent Van Gogh made his Paris sojourn.
(WSJ, 3/14/00, p.A28)
1886-1963 Robert Schuman, French statesman: "When I was a young man I vowed never to marry until I found the ideal woman. Well, I found her -- but, alas, she was waiting for the perfect man."
(AP, 6/26/97)
1887 May 18, Emmanuel Chabrier’s opera "Le Roi Malgré Luis" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1887 May 25, Gas lamp at Paris Opera caught fire and 200 died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1887 Jul 28, Marcel Duchamp (d.1968), French artist, was born. He is known best for "Nude Descending a Staircase," (1912) featured in the 1913 Armory Show in New York. Arturo Schwarz published his complete works in 1969 with a new edition in 1997. In 1996 Calvin Tompkins wrote "Duchamp: A Biography."
(V.D.-H.K.p.361)(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A18)(HN, 7/28/01)
1887 Sep 16, Nadia Boulanger (d.1979), conductor, was born in Paris, France. She became the 1st woman to conduct Boston Symphony (1939).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger)(www.glbtq.com/arts/boulanger_n.html)
1887 Nov 24, Victorien Sardou's "La Tosca," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1887 Van Gogh painted "The Courtesan." It was inspired by an 1820 work by the Japanese artist Keisai Eisen who pictured an intricately coifed woman that later appeared on the cover of a French magazine
(SFC, 11/16/98, p.E3)(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)
1887 Claude Monet painted "The Seine With the Pont de la Grande Jatte."
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.B2)
1887 Odilon Redon (1840-1916), French painter and etcher, made his "Spider" lithograph.
(WUD, 1994, p.1203)(SFEM, 6/29/97, p.4)
1887 Sadi Carnot (1837-1994) became president.
(WUD, 1994 p.225)
1887 The legendary 19-carat "Le Grand Mazarin" diamond was auctioned at a sale of French crown jewels. Originally from the Golconda mines in India, the stone was set in the crowns of almost all kings and emperors of France since the early 18th century. In 2017 the Christie’s auction house put a pre-sale estimate at $6 million to $9 million on the diamond and said the current owner selling the gem is remaining anonymous.
(AP, 10/18/17)
1887-1979 Nadia Boulanger, French music composer teacher. "Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece." "Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult."
(AP, 3/26/97)(AP, 2/23/99)
1888 May 7, Edouard Lalo's opera "Le roi d'Ys," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1888 Sep 12, Maurice Chevalier (d.1972), actor, was born in Paris, France.
(HN, 9/12/00)(www.jimpoz.com)
1888 Oct-1888 Dec, Vincent van Gogh shared a 4-room house in Arles, France, with Paul Gauguin. During this period Van Gogh painted his portrait “l’Arlesienne, Madame Ginoux" based on a drawing by Gauguin. In December Van Gogh cut off his ear with a razor during a quarrel with painter Paul Gauguin, who then fled to Paris. They never saw each other again. In 2006 martin Gayford authored “The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles."
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.89)
1888 Vincent van Gogh painted the "Portrait of a Young Man in a Cap." The painting later went up for auction for as much as $8 mil. Van Gogh also painted his "Boats at Saintes-Maries," "The Bedroom," "Self Portrait as an Artist," "Postman Joseph Roulin," and "Le Pont de Trinquetaille" in this year. In 1990 Robert Altman directed a film titled "Vincent and Theo" about Van Gogh and his brother.
(WSJ, 4/27/95, p.C-18)(WSJ, 11/10/95, p. A-10)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.E3)(SFC, 1/14/98, p.D3)(SFEC, 10/25/98, Z1 p.12)(WSJ, 9/3/99, p.W10)(WSJ, 9/24/99, p.W9)
1888 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted the portrait “Madame Lili Grenier."
{France, Artist}
(SFC, 9/15/12, p.E1)
1888 Etienne Henri Dumaige (b.1830), French sculptor, died. He worked in marble, plaster and bronze. His subjects included Rabelais, Sappho, Perseus and other classical figures.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.G5)
1889 Feb 4, The Panama Canal project under Ferdinand de Lesseps (d.1894) went bankrupt. Over 5,000 French people died working on the project. In all over 25,000 people died during 8 years of work, mostly from malaria and yellow fever.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.97)(www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/185.html)
1889 Mar 31, French engineer Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion. Constructed of 7,000 tons of iron and steel, the 984-foot structure was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exhibition of 1889, commemorating the centennial of the French Revolution. The price for the Eiffel Tower was more than $1 million, but fees for the year 1889 alone nearly recouped the cost. Fifty-five years later, plans by Hitler to leave the tower and much of Paris a smoking ruin were foiled by an unlikely hero. After the Paris World Fair a church designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was dismantled and shipped to Santa Rosalia in Baja, Mexico.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, Par, p.23)(SFEC, 11/10/96, p.T11)(HNPD, 3/31/99)(AP, 3/31/08)
1889 May 6, The Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.
(AP, 5/6/97)
1889 May 18, Jules Massenet’s opera "Esclarmonde" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1889 May 30, The brassiere was invented in Paris. [see 1902]
(HN, 5/30/98)(WSJ, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1889 Jun 1, The first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l'Est). The train's eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Constantinople.
(Econ, 12/19/15, p.67)
1889 Jul 5, Jean Cocteau (d.1963), French artist, writer and actor, was born. "History is a combination of reality of History becomes a lie. The unreality of the fable becomes the truth."
(AP, 11/16/00)(HN, 7/5/01)
1889 Jul 13, Vincent van Gogh painted "Moonrise." The exact date was determined in 2003 by a physicist using a computer and moon data from the painting.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.D2)
1889 Aug 20, Leonide Lacroix of France was granted a US patent for a machine to cut and wind strips of paper for cigarettes. Rizla became a brand name for rolling papers.
(https://tinyurl.com/sxyd3hnf)(Econ., 1/16/21, p.54)
1889 Oct 6, The Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public. Women who made a living washing linen by day transformed themselves into dancers at night.
(AP, 10/6/97)(Reuters, 10/7/19)
1889 Oct 25, Abel Gance, French film director (Napoleon), was born.
(HN, 10/25/00)(MC, 10/25/01)
1889 Dec 23, Vincent van Gogh sliced his left ear in reaction to Gauguin’s announcement that he was leaving Arles for Paris.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.103)
1889 Van Gogh painted "The Gardener," while a patient in St. Remy-de-Provence as well as “Starry Night." He also did "Wheatfield with a Reaper" and "Crab on Its Back" in this year.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)(SFC, 1/18/99, p.B1)(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/18/08, p.W12)
1889 The 700-seat Elysee Montmartre was built near Pigalle by Gustave Eiffel as a dance hall.
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A16)
1890 May, Vincent van Gogh arrived in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, seeking a new life after a year in a mental asylum. He embarked on an explosion of creativity, producing more than 70 paintings within two months.
(AP, 6/12/07)
1890 cJun, Van Gogh painted his Portrait of Dr. Gachet. He described the painting in detail to his brother and sister. A 2nd portrait of Dr. Gachet, held by the Musee d'Orsay is a variant of the first and is suspected to be unfinished by Van Gogh and completed by someone else.
(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A20)
1890 Jul 27, Artist Vincent van Gogh shot himself in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. He survived the impact, but not realizing that his injuries were to be fatal, he walked back to the Ravoux Inn. He died 2 days later.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.95)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh)
1890 Jul 29, Artist Vincent van Gogh died 2 days following a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, while painting "Wheatfield with Crows." He spent his last 70 days in the care of Dr. Gachet and 78 paintings have been attributed to this period. Earlier in the year he painted his "Garden at Auvers." In 2009 his letters were published in a 6-volume edition titled: Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters." Earlier editions had appeared in 1914 and 1958. In 2011 Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith authored “Van Gogh: The Life."
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-12)(SFC, 5/26/96, Z1 p.2)(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A20)(AP, 7/29/07)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.95)(Econ, 11/5/11, p.102)
1890 Aug 15, Jacques Ibert, composer (Escales), was born in Paris, France.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1890 Oct, Dr. William Penny Brookes (81) met Baron Pierre de Coubertin (27) of France, widely regarded as the founder of the modern Olympics, over several hours at the Raven Hotel in Much Wenlock, England. The two spoke about de Coubertin's wish to stage an international Olympic festival in Athens.
(AP, 7/1/11)
1890 Oct, Ludovic Napoleon Lepic (b.1839), French Impressionist painter, died. His work included “Boats on the Beach at Berck" (1876).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovic-Napol%C3%A9on_Lepic)(SFC, 6/1/13, p.E2)
1890 Nov 22, Charles de Gaulle (d.1970), French general and president (1958-1969), was born in Lille, France. "Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so."
(AP, 11/22/97)(AP, 11/22/98)(HN, 11/22/98)
1890 French foreign legionnaires massacred the amazonian army of Dahomey (Benin).
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1890 The French restaurant Tour d’Argent began numbering its servings of Caneton Tour d’Argent, a meal of pressed duck.
(WSJ, 5/15/96, p.A-12)
1890-1892 Cezanne painted his oil on canvas: "Card Players." It is part of the Dr. Barnes collection and on the Corbis CD. [see 1972-1951, Barnes]
(Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.85)
1890-1912 In France a 151-km. private railroad was constructed from Nice to Digne above the River Var. It was brought under state control in 1933 and again privatized in 1972.
(Hem., 1/97, p.116)
1891 Jan 11, Georges-Eugene Haussmann (b.1809), French town planner, died. He designed modern-day Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Haussmann)
1891 Jan 24, Max Ernst, German-French surrealist painter, sculptor, was born. [see Apr 2]
(MC, 1/24/02)
1891 Jan 31, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (b.1815), French academic painter, died. His painting “Friedland, 1807," begun in 1863, was completed in 1875.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/10149a.htm)
1891 Mar 29, Georges-Pierre Seurat (31), French painter (Pointillism), died.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1891 Apr 1, Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), French painter, abandoned his wife and 5 children and left Marseille for Tahiti.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.T12)(MC, 4/1/02)(SSFC, 5/11/03, p.C7)
1891 Apr 1, The London-Paris telephone connection opened.
(OTD)
1891 Apr 2, Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor, founder of surrealism, was born. [see Jan 24]
(HN, 4/2/98)
1891 May 11, Alexandre Becquerel (b.1820), French physicist, died. In 1839, Becquerel observed the photoelectric effect via an electrode in a conductive solution exposed to light.
(www.patent-invent.com/electricity/inventors/alexandre_becquerel.html)
1891 May 15, Jules Massenet's opera "Griselde," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1891 Aug 5, Henry Charles Litolff (73), French pianist, composer, died.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1891 Sep 26, Charles Munch (d.1968), Alsatian conductor (French Legion D'Honeur), was born in Strasbourg.
(WUD, 1994 p.941)(MC, 9/26/01)
1891 Nov 10, J.N. Arthur Rimbaud (b.1854), French poet and arms merchant (Saison en Enfer), died in Marseille after doctors amputated his leg. In 1961 Enid Starkie authored a biography. In 2000 Graham Robb authored "Rimbaud." Rimbaud stopped writing poetry at age 21 and ended his last years in Africa as an arms dealer. In 2008 Edmund White authored “Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel."
(WUD, 1994 p.1234)(HN, 10/20/00)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.115)
1891 Claude Monet painted his impressionist "Grainstacks: Snow Effect."
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.E1)
1891 Camille Pissarro painted "Two Young Peasant Women." It was later analyzed as an attempt to marry painting and anarchism.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, BR p.8)
1891 Emile Zola (1840-1902), French novelist, authored “L’Argent" (Money), the story of a scheming financier. It was first published as a newspaper serial.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.W6)
1891 In France the Nantes Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul was completed. Construction had begun in 1434.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantes_Cathedral)(SSFC, 7/19/20, p.A5)
1891 In Paris Alexandre Darracq started Gladiator Cycles as one of the dozens of bicycle companies that saturated the market when the cycling craze boomed. The eccentric later became famous for manufacturing automobiles. The Golden Age of cycling reached its pinnacle in 1895, and that same year printer G. Massias unveiled one of the great Parisian advertising posters. Only four of these original posters exist today. The poster was later used by California vintner Hahn Family Wines, a led to a 2009 ban on the wine in Alabama.
(www.cyclesgladiator.com/AboutCyclesGladiator)
1891 Montaudon, a French champagne maker, began operations. In 2008 it was acquired by LVMH, a luxury goods conglomerate.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.59)(www.champagnemontaudon.com/uk/home_uk.html)
1891 Pierre Lallemont (47), French mechanic, died in Boston. In 1866 he was granted a US patented for his velocipede, a rotary crank bicycle.
(ON, 2/10, p.3)
1891 French Guinea was established in 1891, taking the same borders as the previous colony of Rivieres du Sud (1882–1891). Prior to 1882, the coastal portions of French Guinea were part of the French colony of Senegal.
{Guinea, France, Senegal}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guinea)
1892 Feb 16, The opera “Werther" premiered at the Imperial Theatre Hofoper in Vienna. It was composed in 1887 by French composer Jules Massenet based on Goethe’s 1774 novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther."
(SFC, 9/17/10, p.F1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werther)
1892 Mar 10, Arthur Oscar Honegger, composer (King David), was born in Le Havre, France.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1892 Jul 12, In France flood waters burst from a lake buried under a glacier on Mt. Blanc killing at least 175 people in the St. Gervais valley.
(SFC, 8/26/10, p.A4)(http://tinyurl.com/2aygvoz)
1892 Sep 4, Darius Milhaud, Aix-en-Provence France, composer, was born.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1892 Nov 8, In Paris, France, anarchist Emile Henry placed a time bomb at the offices of the Carmaux Mining Company that killed 5 policemen.
(www.marxists.org/reference/archive/henry/biography.htm)
1892 Nov 16, King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), led soldiers against the French.
(HN, 11/16/98)
1892 Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin authored "The Conquest of Bread". Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal Le Révolté. It was first published in Paris with a preface by Élisée Reclus, who also suggested the title. Between 1892 and 1894, it was serialized in part in the London journal Freedom, of which Kropotkin was a co-founder.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Bread)
1892 France introduced the Meline tariff on grain. Later studies showed that this halted a century-long decline in the birth rate and set educational development back 15 years in areas with the most employment in agriculture.
(Econ, 4/16/15, p.63)
1892 Camille Flammarion of France explained the changing brightness of features on Mars to seasonal changes of yellow vegetation and shallow seas.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.A16)
1893 Feb 9, Suez Canal builder De Lesseps and others were sentenced to prison for fraud.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1893 Mar 5, Hippolyte Taine (64), French philosopher, historian, died.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1893 Jun, Pierre de Coubertin convinced the General Assembly of the USFSA, an amateur sporting society, to host a congress in France that would examine the issue of amateurism in sports.
(ON, 8/07, p.3)
1893 Jul 7, Guy de Maupassant (42), writer, died.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1893 Oct 18, Charles F. Gounod, French composer (Faust, Romeo et Juliette), died at 75.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1893 Dec 9, Auguste Vaillant (b.1861) threw a nail bomb from the second row of the public gallery in the Palais Bourbon into the chamber: 20 deputies were slightly injured. A symbolic gesture, meant to wound rather than kill, Vaillant was condemned to death, and guillotined February 5 1894. The deputies use the event to suppress the anarchist press.
(http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/VaillantAuguste.htm)
1893 Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), French Impressionist painter, completed “Regatta at Argenteuil," in oil on canvas.
(SFC, 6/1/13, p.E1)
1893 Camille Pissarro painted "Place du Havre, Paris." It was the first of four urban scenes of his lifetime and was painted from his hotel window across from the St. Lazare train station.
(DPCP 1984)
1893 Claude Monet created his "water garden" at Giverney.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1893 Claude Debussy completed his only opera: "Pelleas et Melisande." It was based on a symbolist drama by Maeterlinck.
(SFEC,11/9/97, DB p.13)
1893 France began colonizing West Africa and Timbuktu came under French rule until Mali became independent in 1960.
(AP, 4/1/12)
1893 French colonialists seized control of Laos and tried to turn the Mekong River into a thoroughfare linking their Indochina colonies.
(Econ, 1/3/04, p.29)
1893 The first automobile license plates were issued in Paris, France.
(HNQ, 7/18/00)
1894 Jan 9, Georges Feydeau's "Un Fil a la Patte," ("Cat Among the Pigeons") premiered in Paris.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1894 Feb 12, In Paris, France, anarchist Emile Henry hurled a bomb into the Cafe Terminus killing one and injuring twenty.
(www.marxists.org/reference/archive/henry/biography.htm)
1894 Feb 21, Gustave Caillebotte (b.1848), French Impressionist painter, died and left nearly 70 of his friend’s painting to the French state. He was noted for his early interest in photography as an art form.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Caillebotte)(Econ, 3/18/17, p.84)
1894 Mar 16, The opera "Thais," composed by Jules Massenet, premiered in Paris. The libretto was by Louis Gallet. It was based on a novel by Anatole France. The heroine is a 4th century Egyptian courtesan.
(AP, 3/16/00)(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)(WSJ, 12/19/02, p.D10)
1894 May 21, In France anarchist Emile Henry (22) went to the guillotine, his last words being: “Courage camarades! Vive l'anarchie!"
(www.marxists.org/reference/archive/henry/biography.htm)
1894 Jun 16, In France 49 sporting societies from 12 countries participated in a Congress in Paris where delegates discussed amateurism in sports and the revival of the Greek Olympics. By the end of the congress on June 23, Pierre de Coubertin won unanimous approval to revive the games.
(ON, 8/07, p.5)
1894 Jun 24, Sadi Carnot (b.1837), French Pres. (1887-1894), was assassinated by an Italian anarchist.
(AH, 10/01, p.25)(NG, 11/04, p.76)(http://tinyurl.com/78pc6)
1894 Jul 18, Charles Marie Leconte de Lisle (born 1818), French poet, died.
(MC, 7/18/02)(WUD, 1994, p.817)
1894 Jul 22, The first major automobile race with prizes and a promoter was organized as a reliability trial by Le Petit Journal of Paris. It took place on the 78-mile route between Paris and Rouen, France [see Aug 30, 1867]. Only 21 vehicles qualified for the race. The internal combustion engine was the clear winner.
(http://wapedia.mobi/en/Auto_racing)(Econ, 8/12/17, p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/ycbvsah)
1894 Sep 13, Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier, French composer (Espana, L'etoile), died at 53.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1894 Sep 15, Jean Renoir (d.1979), French film director, was born. He was the son of Pierre Renoir (1841-1919), the impressionist painter. His work included "Grand Illusion" and "The Rules of the Game." "When a friend speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting."
(HN, 9/15/00)(AHD, p.1215)(AP, 10/11/00)
1894 Oct 15, Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), a Jewish army officer in France, was arrested for allegedly betraying military secrets to Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus)
1894 Dec 5, Georges Feydeau's "L'Hotel du Libre Echange," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1894 Dec 9, Jules Regnault (b.1834), French economist, died. He first suggested a modern theory of stock price changes in Calcul des Chances et Philosophie de la Bourse (1863).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Regnault)
1894 Dec 22, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was fraudulently convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery captain on the General Staff, was accused of passing secret French military documents to the German embassy in Paris. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated. [see 1906]
(WSJ, 4/22/96, p.A-20)(AP, 12/22/97)
1894 Paul Gauguin painted "Breton Village in the Snow."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1894 Monet completed his painting "Cathedral at Rouen (La Cour d’Albane)."
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.D1)
1894 Le Douanier Rousseau painted "War, or the Ride of Discord."
(WSJ, 2/3/00, p.A24)
1894 Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940), French artist, painted his “Landscape of the Ile-de-France" about this time.
(SFC, 3/29/14, p.E5)
1894 Prince Henri d’Orleans (1822-1897) published a book of his journey through France’s empire. His account soured over the northern coastline of Vietnam, where red tape interfered with exploitation of the area’s coal reserves. In 1897 Emile Roux authored “Searching for the Sources of the Irrawaddy: With Prince Henri D'Orleans from Hanoi to Calcutta Overland (1895-1896)."
(www.dco.co.th/product_info.php?products_id=1130)(Econ, 8/31/13, p.34)
1894 French poet Pierre Louys (1870-1925) authored “The Songs of Bilitis" (1894) a book of lesbian love poetry.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Songs_of_Bilitis)
1894 In south-west France a paleolithic figurine was discovered. It became known as the Venus of Brassempouy.
(Econ, 10/20/12, p.78)
1894 In Mali Touareg nomads first rebelled against the French and were bloodily suppressed.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.58)
1895 Jan 5, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. He was ultimately vindicated. Dreyfus, a Jew falsely accused of spying for the Germans, was imprisoned alone on Devil’s Island until 1899.
(AP, 1/5/98)(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.L5)
1895 Feb 28, Marcel Pagnol, French playwright, director (Marchands de Gloire), was born.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1895 Mar 2, Berthe Morisot (b.1841) French impressionist painter, died of pneumonia.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.10)
1895 Apr 23, Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
(HN, 4/23/99)
1895 Sep 28, Louis Pasteur (b.1822), French chemist (Pasteurization), died at 72. In 1995 Gerald Geison (d.2001) authored "The Private Science of Louis Pasteur.
(SFC, 7/13/01, p.D6)(MC, 9/28/01)
1895 Nov 27, Alfred Nobel, explosives magnate, signed his last will and testament at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death (see Dec 10, 1896). He named Ragnar Sohlman (25), his favorite lab assistant, as his executor and Rudolf Lilljequist as co-executor.
(http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/will/will-full.html)(ON, 4/07, p.6)
1895 Paul Cezanne began his oil painting “Gustave Geffroy." It was completed in 1896.
(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
c1895 Degas painted "Jockeys."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)
c1895 Elizabeth Jane Gardner, American artist, painted “The Shepherd David" and exhibited it at the Paris Salon of 1895. She was the 1st American woman to exhibit in the Paris Salon.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.28)
1895 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French artist, painted “The Lady Clown Cha-U-Kao."
(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
1895 In Paris, France, the Castel Beranger at 14 Rue la Fontaine, designed by Hector Guimard (1867-1942), was completed. The Art Nouveau building was nicknamed “Castel Derange" (Mad Castle).
(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.P16)
1895 French Guinea was made a dependent colony, and its Governor then became a Lieutenant Governor to a Governor-General in Dakar.
{Guinea, France, Senegal}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guinea)
1895 In Senegal French authorities, fearing his growing influence, exiled religious leader Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba to their other colonial holdings in West Africa.
(AP, 4/22/03)
1896 Feb 8, Georges Feydeau's "Le Dindon," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1896 Feb 11, Oscar Wilde's "Salome," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1896 Feb 18, Andre Breton (d.1966), French writer, founder and principal provocateur of the surrealist movement, was born. An exhaustive biography was published in 1995 by Mark Polizzotti titled: Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton.
(WSJ, 8/1/95, p.A-9)(MC, 2/18/02)
1896 Feb, Georges Melies, a French professional magician, purchased a film projector from Robert Paul, an English camera maker. He then designed his own camera based on the projector and began making movies in March.
(ON, 1/00, p.8)
1896 Apr 4, Tristan Tzara, [Samuel Rosenfeld] French poet (Approximate Man), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1896 Jun 16, Jean Peugeot, French auto manufacturer, was born.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1896 Aug, The new chief of French military intelligence, Lt Colonel Picquart, reported to his superiors that he had found evidence to the effect that the real traitor in the Dreyfus case was a Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. Picquart was silenced by being transferred, in November 1896, to the southern desert of Tunisia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus)
1896 Sep 10, Elsa Schiaparelli, French fashion designer, was born.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1896 Oct 7, Nicholas and Alexandra of Russia made a state visit with Pres. Felix Faure laid the cornerstone for the Pont Alexandre III.
(WSJ, 6/26/96, p.A16)
1896 The Ida Tarbell biography of Madame Roland, a republican sympathizer during the French Revolution, was published.
(WSJ, 3/28/08, p.W5)
1896 A French cinematic society held a screening in Turin, Italy.
(SFC, 2/11/06, p.E10)
1896 The Michelin brothers introduced pneumatic tires in the Paris-to-Bordeaux automobile race. They had come up with the removable tire, but the pneumatic tire was invented in the US by John Dunlap.
(WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1896 Charles Field Haviland, US-born porcelain manufacturer, died. In 1876 he took over the Alluaud factory, one of the oldest porcelain factories in Limoges, France.
(SFC, 8/2/06, p.G7)
1897 Apr 19, 1st performance of Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande."
(MC, 4/19/02)
1897 Aug 28, Charles Boyer (d.1978), French actor of film and stage, was born. Films included "Algiers,'' “Fanny," and "Gaslight.''
(RTH, 8/28/99)
1897 Sep 12, Irene Joliot-Curie, French physicist (neutron, Nobel 1935), was born.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1897 Sep 18, Alberto Santos-Dumont crashed his 1st dirigible into trees at the Zoological Gardens in Paris.
(ON, 3/03, p.10)
1897 Sep 20, Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully flew his repaired motorized dirigible around the Zoological Gardens in Paris.
(ON, 3/03, p.10)
1897 Dec 28, Edmond Rostand’s play on Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655), French poet, was unveiled at the Theatre de la Porte-Saint-Martin in Paris. Cyrano’s noted nose was an invention of the poet Theophile Gautier introduced in an 1844 book.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, DB p.3)
1897 Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) created his painting “Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie." In 1939 the family of Lilly Cassirer gave it up in exchange for visas allowing them safe passage to England ahead of the Holocaust. It was later acquired by Spain’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and was appraised at more than $30 million.
(SFC, 12/5/16, p.A4)
1897 "The Theater of the Great Puppet" - known as the Grand Guignol – opened as a theater in the Pigalle area of Paris (at 20 bis, rue Chaptal). From its opening until its closing in 1962, it specialised in naturalistic horror shows.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignol)
1897 A French scientist at the Pasteur Institute made the crucial connection between rats and fleas as carriers of bubonic plague.
(SFC, 9/20/14, p.C2)
1897 Alphonse Daudet (b.1840), French novelist, died. In 2002 Julian Barnes translated writings from his last 12 years, "In the Land of Pain," in which he conveyed his thoughts on pain from his tertiary-stage syphilis.
(WUD, 1994 p.369)(WSJ, 1/24/03, p.W9)
1897 St. Theresa of Lisiex, known to her followers as The Little Flower, died.
(SFC, 1/11/00, p.A15)
1897 Ragnar Sohlman, executor of Alfred Nobel’s will, moved Nobel’s stock certificates and papers out of France to Sweden, and thus beyond the jurisdiction of French courts.
(ON, 4/07, p.7)
1898 Jan 10, In France a court-martial against Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy began behind closed doors. The next day the defendant was found not guilty. Writer Emile Zola followed this action 2 days later with a 4-thousand word letter in support of Captain Dreyfus and accusing the French military of a conspiracy in the case. Zola was soon found guilty of libel and sentenced to prison, but fled to England and stayed for almost a year.
(ON, 2/09, p.6)(Econ, 1/21/17, p.70)
1898 Jan 13, Emile Zola's famous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, "J'accuse," was published in Paris. The open letter to French President Felix Faure accused the French judiciary of giving into pressure from the military to perpetuate a cover-up in the Dreyfus treason case.
(AP, 1/13/98)(MC, 1/13/02)
1898 Feb 23, Writer Emile Zola was imprisoned in France for his letter J’accuse in which he accused the French government of anti-Semitism and the wrongful imprisonment of army captain Alfred Dreyfus.
(HN, 2/23/01)
1898 Jul 4, The French liner "La Bourgogne" collided with bark Cromartyshire, and 560 people died.
(Maggio, 98)
1898 Jul, Marie and Pierre Currie published their discovery of polonium from radiation in pitchblende.
(ON, 3/00, p.1)
1898 Sep 13, 20,000 Paris construction workers went on strike.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1898 Nov 11, Rene Clair, French film director, was born.
(HN, 11/11/00)
1898 Dec 10, A treaty was signed in Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American War.
(AP, 12/10/97)
1898 Dec 21, French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered 2 new elements that they later named radium and polonium.
(AP, 12/21/97)(http://fi.edu/case_files/curie/pandr.html)
1898 Pissaro painted "Avenue de L’Opéra, Place du Téâtre Français: Misty Weather."
(WSJ, 1/7/02, p.A22)
1898 In France the Michelin Tire company began using its tire-man logo. The first ad offered a toast with broken nails and glass and told consumers that the Michelin tire "drinks up obstacles."
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.A3)(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.T3)
1898-1900 Cezanne painted his sketchy red-ochre study "In the Quarry of Bibemus" and his lush green and linear "Woodland Scene."
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-12)
1899 Feb 25, Paul Julius Reuter (b.1816), founder of the British news agency that bears his name, died in Nice, France. In 2003 Brian Mooney and Barry Simpson authored "Breaking news: How the Wheels Came off at Reuters."
(AP, 2/25/99)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.81)
1899 Mar 27, The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
(HN, 3/27/99)
1899 Apr 11, The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect. Spain ceded Puerto Rico to US. [see Apr 12, 1898]
(AP, 4/11/97)(MC, 4/11/02)
1899 May 25, Marie-Rosalie "Rosa" Bonheur (68), French painter, died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1899 Jun 3, A French court overturned the 1894 guilty verdict against Capt. Dreyfus.
(ON, 2/09, p.7)
1899 Jun 20, Jean Moulin, French Resistance fighter against Nazi Germany, was born.
(HN, 6/20/98)
1899 Sep 19, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus won a pardon after a retrial was forced by public opinion. He was soon released from Devil's Island in French Guiana.
(PCh, 1992, p.628)(www.spiritus-temporis.com/alfred-dreyfus/)
1899 Oct, An int'l. tribunal in Paris ruled on a border dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana (Guyana). Britain received most of the claim for the Essequibo region, close to 111,000 square miles. Venezuela was represented by 2 US judges and the chairman of the panel was Russian jurist Frederic de Martens. Venezuela rejected this decision in the 1960s.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.A12)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.44)
1899 Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) painted “Man with Crossed Arms."
(SSFC, 10/23/11, p.M5)
1899-1900 Claude Monet painted his first "Lily Pond" series.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1900 Feb 2, Gustave Charpentier's opera "Louise" premiered in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_%28opera%29)
1900 Feb 4, Jacques Prevert, French poet, screenwriter, was born. His work included "The Visitors of the Evening" and "The Children of Paradise."
(HN, 2/4/01)
1900 Mar 19, [Jean] Frederic Joliot-Curie, French physicist (Nobel 1935), was born.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1900 Apr 14, Gates opened to the World Fair, the Great Exposition in Paris. For a few months 210 temporary pavilions from different countries and architectural styles lined the Seine. The Exposition Universale included the Exposition Decennale, an art show of painting and sculpture from the previous decade. The first working escalator (patented in 1859), was manufactured by the Otis Elevator Company for the Paris Exposition. During the expo Rudolf Diesel demonstrated an engine that ran on peanut oil.
(http://tinyurl.com/hbldt)(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A14)(HN, 8/9/00)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.71)
1900 May 14, The Olympic games opened in Paris, held as part of the 1900 World's Fair.
(AP, 5/14/07)
1900 Jun 29, Antoine de Saint-Exupery (d.1944), aviator and writer, was born. In 1970 Curtis Cate published the biography: "Antoine de Saint-Exupery."
(WUD, 1994, p.1261)(SFEC, 6/15/97, p.A2)(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.A15)(HN, 6/29/01)
1900 Aug 22, Gabriel Fauré’s opera "Promethee," premiered in Beziers.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1900 Sep 19, President Loubet of France pardoned Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, twice court-martialed and wrongly convicted of spying for Germany.
(HN, 9/19/98)
1900 Nov 12, A World Fair, the Great Exposition in Paris, closed. 50 million visitors attended the fair, which included Art Nouveau architecture, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, posters, glass, textiles, and metalwork. Jewelry by Rene Lalique was also exhibited at the fair. [see Apr 14]
(www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/exhibit_fair.shtm)
1900 Nov 30, The French government denounced the British government and declared sympathy for the Boers.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1900 Nov 30, Irish author Oscar Wilde (b.1856) died in a Paris hotel room after saying of the room's wallpaper: "One of us had to go." In 2000 "the Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde," edited by Merlin Holland, Wilde’s grandson, was published
(V.D.-H.K.p.279)(AP, 11/30/97)(HN, 11/30/00)(SFC, 12/1/00, p.C12)
1900 Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), French artist, painted "Siesta."
(WSJ, 6/24/98, p.A16)(www.abcgallery.com/B/bonnard/bonnardbio.html)
1900 Edouard Vuillard, French artist, painted a portrait of painter “Felix Valloton."
(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
1900 Gustave Charpentier composed his opera "Louise," about a Parisian seamstress.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.B1)
1900 Louis Bachelier (1870-1946), financial economist, wrote a dissertation in Paris, "Theorie de la Spéculation." This and his subsequent work (esp. 1906, 1913) anticipated much of what was to become standard fare in financial theory: efficient market hypothesis, random walk of financial market prices, Brownian motion and martingales. He was a student of French mathematician Henri Poincare. Bachelier’s insights later underpinned the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
(WSJ, 7/16/03, p.D8)(Econ, 12/19/09, p.130)
1900 The Lohner-Porsche was introduced at the World’s Fair in Paris. The hybrid car relied on batteries and a generator to produce electricity for its motors. Ferdinand Porsche working for Jacob Lohner in Vienna put electric motors into the hubs of the wheels of the Lohner-Porsche.
(Econ, 4/24/10, p.78)
1900 Belgian horse rider Constant van Langhendonck (1870-1944) won an Olympic gold medal in Paris with a 6.1 meter jump in the equestrian long jump.
(Econ., 7/25/20, p.12)
1900 The sport of Cricket was included at the Paris Olympics. France was the runner up to Britain.
(Econ, 5/9/15, p.16)
1900 At the Olympics in Paris a Belgian sharpshooter killed 21 live pigeons. The event was abolished shortly thereafter. Separately the game of croquet was featured for the first and last time.
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A6)
1900-2000 This period in French history was covered by British Historian Rod Kedward in his 2005 work: “La Vie en Bleu: France and the French Since 1900."
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.73)
1901 Feb 20, Rene Dubos, French-US microbiologist who developed the first commercial antibiotic, was born in France. He authored "Health & Disease."
(HN, 2/20/01)(MC, 2/20/02)
1901 Jan 23, First female intern was accepted at a Paris hospital.
(HN, 1/23/99)
1901 Mar 19, Jo Mielziner, set designer (Carousel, Death of a Salesman), was born in Paris.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1901 Jun 24, The 1st exhibition by Pablo Picasso (19) opened in Paris.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1901 Jul 13, Santos-Dumont flew his powered dirigible around the Eiffel Tower but failed to make it in an allotted half hour time frame to win a 100,000 franc prize.
(ON, 3/03, p.11)
1901 Jul 31, Jean Dubuffet, French sculptor and painter, was born.
(HN, 7/31/01)
1901 Aug 8, Santos-Dumont flew his powered dirigible around the Eiffel Tower a 2nd time but sprang a leak and caught suspension wires in his propeller blades.
(ON, 3/03, p.11)
1901 Aug 17, Henri Tomasi, composer (Don Juan de Manara), was born in Marseilles, France.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1901 Sep 9, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (b.1864), French painter, died at 36.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec)
1901 Oct 19, Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully circled Eiffel Tower in his Santos-Dumont No. 6 dirigible within a half hour and won a 100,000 franc prize. An initial ruling said that he failed by 40 seconds because the race wasn’t finished until he touched ground. A 2nd vote granted him the win. This proved the airship maneuverable.
(ON, 3/03, p.12)
1901 Oct 26, 1st use of "getaway car" occurred after the hold-up of a shop in Paris.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1901 Andre Malraux (d.1976), French author, was born. His work included "Man’s Fate" (La Condition Humaine), "The Conquerors" (about a 1925 uprising in Canton), and "The Royal Way." He worked as a journalist in Indochina against a corrupt French colonial regime. In 1997 Curtis Cate wrote the biography "Andre Malraux."
(WSJ, 5/5/97, p.A16)
1901 Henry Dunant (1828-1910), Swiss businessman, won the 1st Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in establishing the Int’l. Red Cross and the First Geneva Convention covering treatment of those wounded in war. The prize was shared with Frederic Passy (1822-1912), French economist, for his efforts toward international peace.
(ON, 4/08, p.12)(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1901/passy-bio.html)
1902 Jan 4, The French offered to sell their Nicaraguan Canal rights to the U.S.
(HN, 1/4/99)
1902 Jan 11, Maurice Durufle, French organist, composer, was born.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1902 Jan 19, The magazine "L'Auto" announced the new Tour de France.
(HN, 1/19/99)
1902 Jan 31, A French soccer team played in England for the first time: Paris lost, 4-0, to Marlow FC.
(HC, 2003, p.64)
1902 Feb 9, Doctor Doyen of Paris, performed a successful operation on Siamese twins from the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1902 Feb 19, Smallpox vaccination became obligatory in France.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1902 Mar 20, France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance, but asserted their right to protect their interests in China and Korea.
(HN, 3/20/98)
1902 Apr 5, Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1902 Apr 13, Philippe de Rothschild, manager (Bordeaux Vineyard), was born in Paris.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1902 Apr 20, Radium was isolated as a pure metal by Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radium chloride solution. Pierre and Marie Curie had discovered the element in 1898.
(AP, 4/20/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium)
1902 Apr 30, Debussy's opera "Pelleas et Melisande" premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1902 May 2, "A Trip To The Moon," the 1st science fiction, was film released. The French film "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" (Voyage to the Moon) was a 14-minute silent film directed by Georges Melies. It displayed early efforts in trick photography to show a group of scientists traveling to the moon after being shot from a giant cannon.
(WSJ, 3/19/98, p.R4)(MC, 5/2/02)
1902 Jun 28, Congress passed the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the isthmus of Panama. The US purchased a concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million.
(HN, 6/28/98)(MC, 6/28/02)
1902 Aug 3, Ray Block, orchestra leader (Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason), was born in France.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1902 Aug 8, Jean Y.Y. Tissot, French painter, illustrator, died.
(MC, 8/8/02)
1902 Aug 24, Fernand Braudel (d.1985), French historian, was born. He was one of the most important historiographers of the 20th century: "History may be divided into three movements: what moves rapidly, what moves slowly and what appears not to move at all."
(AP, 9/5/97)(DT internet 11/28/97)
1902 Sep 28, Emile Zola (b.1840), novelist (Nana, Germinal, J'accuse), died by asphyxiation in his Paris apartment at age 62. In 1895 he began taking photographs and took some 7,000 pictures before his death.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.C6)(MC, 9/28/01)
1902 Dec 22, Jacques-Philippe Leclerc, French WW II hero (liberator of Paris), was born.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1902 Nov 24, The first Congress of Professional Photographers convened in Paris.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1902 Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), French chef, authored “Le Guide Culinaire," a collection of some 5,000 recipes.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.141)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Escoffier)
1902 Charles R. Debevoise invented the brassiere, but the market rejected it. No early bra did well until elastic came out in 1913. [see May 30, 1889]
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.10)
1903 Jan 19, L'Auto announced the first Tour de France. It was organized by Henri Desgrange (1865-1940). He devised the tour to help publicize his sports newspaper. The new bicycle race began on July 1 with 60 cyclists competing in a 2,500 km, 19-day race.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Desgrange)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(Econ, 7/27/19, p.44)
1903 Feb 21, Anais Nin (d.1977), novelist (Winter of Artifice, House of Incense), was born in Paris: "People do not live in the present always, at one with it. They live at all kinds of and manners of distance from it, as difficult to measure as the course of planets. Fears and traumas make their journeys slanted, peripheral, uneven, evasive."
(AP, 9/7/97)(MC, 2/21/02)
1903 Mar 20, Henri Matisse exhibited at the Salon des Independants.
(HN, 3/20/98)
1903 Apr 6, French Army Nationalists were revealed for forging documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dreyfus, an officer accused of giving plans for France's defense to Germany.
(HN, 4/6/99)
1903 May 8, Joseph Desire Fernandel, comedian (Grand Chef), was born in Marseilles, France.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1903 May 8, Paul Gauguin (b.1848), French born painter, died at his home on the Marquesas Islands. He was buried at Atuona on Hiva Oa Island.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6)(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.C9)
1903 Jun 7, Professor Curie revealed the discovery of Polonium. [see 1898]
(HN, 6/7/98)
1903 Jun 17, Joseph-Marie Cassant (b.1878), a French monk, died. He frequently meditated about Jesus on the cross. In 2004 he was beatified by Pope John Paul VI.
(AP, 10/3/04)(www.vatican.va/news_services)
1903 Jun, Marie Curie received her doctorate from the univ. of Paris.
(ON, 3/00, p.2)
1903 Jul 1, The 1st Tour de France bicycle race began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France)
1903 Sep 13, Claudette Colbert (d.1996), actress, was born in France as Lily Claudette Chauchoin. She won an Oscar for "It Happened One Night."
(HN, 9/13/00)(www.concise.britannica.com)
1903 Nov 12, The Lebaudy brothers of France set an air-travel distance record of 34 miles in a dirigible.
(HN, 11/12/98)
1903 Nov 13, Camille Pissarro (b.1830), French impressionist born in St. Thomas, Dutch West Indies, died in Paris.
(WSJ, 1/14/97, p.A16)(www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pissarro/)
1903 Dec 10, The Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Pierre and Marie Curie and fellow physicist Henri Becquerel for their work with radioactivity. Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, had coined the term radioactivity. Working together after their marriage in 1895, the Curies made several significant discoveries. They showed that the elements uranium and thorium emitted radiation that Becquerel had detected in uranium and had found to be similar to X-rays. They also found that radioactivity caused particles to be electrically charged, and they discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. Their daughter Irène, later a famed scientist in her own right, was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the synthesis of new radioactive elements.
(HNPD, 12/10/98)
1903 In France Count Hallez d’Arros founded his Society of Heraldic Faience of Pierrefonds. The society’s pottery used a “P" and “H" mark and became well-known for its crystalline glazes.
(SFC, 10/19/05, p.G2)
1903-1908 Claude Monet worked on his 2nd series of water lily paintings.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1904 Jan 18, Henri-Georges Adam, French etcher, painter, sculptor (Grand Nude), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1904 Apr 8, Britain and France signed a series of agreements dubbed the entente cordial. It marked the end of almost a century of intermittent conflict between the two nations and their predecessor states. King Edward VII gifted French president Emile Loubet a richly-decorated casket to seal the deal. It was in fact a series of agreements between Britain and France on issues from colonialism in North Africa to fishing rights in Newfoundland. The casket contained a roll of parchment inscribed with a text celebrating Anglo-French friendship and, on the lid, a golden sculpture, the allegorical figure of Peace crowning France and Britain with laurels. The Entente cordiale, along with the Anglo-Russian Entente and the Franco-Russian Alliance, later became part of the Triple Entente among the UK, France, and Russia.
(Econ, 3/26/11, p.64)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entente_cordiale)(AP, 1/23/21)
1904 Apr 16, Lily Pons, soprano diva, was born in Draguignan, France.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1904 May 17, Jean Gabin, one of France's most popular film actors, was born in Paris.
(AP, 5/17/04)
1904 May 17, Maurice Ravel's "Sheherezad," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1904 Oct 4, Frederic Auguste Bertholdi (b.1834), French sculptor, died in Paris. He is best known for designing Liberty Enlightening the World (aka the Statue of Liberty).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Auguste_Bartholdi)
1904 Nov 21, Motorized omnibuses replaced horse-drawn cars in Paris.
(HN, 11/21/98)
1904 Paul Cezanne, French painter, declared that he wanted "to do Poussin over from nature," by which he meant that he hoped to transport Poussin’s ancient gods and lucid geometries into a breezy impressionist outdoors. Cezanne began his painting "Nature Morte: Rideau a Fleur et Fruits," (Still Life with Flowered Curtain and Fruit). In 1997 it sold for $50 million to Ronald Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Int’l.
(WSJ, 2/26/96, p.A-10)(WSJ, 1/31/97, p.B1)
1904 Matisse painted his pointillist "Luxe, Calme et Volupte."
(WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20)
1904 Claude Monet painted "Water Lilies." The work was acquired by art-dealer Paul Rosenberg and then stolen by the Nazis and put into the collection of Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. After the war it reverted to the French government. In 1998 the Rosenberg family again laid claim.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A2)
1904 The film "The Impossible Journey" was made by Georges Melies.
(ON, 1/00, p.9)
1905 Jan 21, Christian Dior, fashion designer (long-skirted look), was born in Normandy, France.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1905 Feb 1, Germany contested French rule in Morocco.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1905 Feb 21, France violated the 1880 Treaty of Madrid by demanding control in Morocco of the Sultan's army and police. These demands were made without consulting Germany. In the “Morocco Crisis" German Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow sent the Kaiser to visit Tangier on March 31 to see if France would mobilize.
(http://www.worldwar1.com/tlmorcri.htm)
1905 Mar 11, The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
(HN, 3/11/98)
1905 Mar 24, Jules Verne (b.1828), French sci-fi author (Around the World in 80 Days), died in Amiens.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/verne.htm)
1905 Apr 1, Berlin and Paris were linked by telephone.
(HN, 4/1/98)
1905 Jun 21, Jean-Paul Sartre (d.1980), French philosopher and existentialist, was born. He won the Nobel Prize in 1964 but declined it. His works include "The Road to Freedom."
(HN, 6/21/98)(AP, 2/15/00)
1905 Jul 2, Jean-Rene Lacoste, tennis champ, alligator shirt designer, was born in France.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1905 Sep 14, Pierre de Brazza (b.1852), Franco-Italian explorer, died and was buried in Algeria. He was born in Italy and later naturalized French. Brazza single-handedly opened up for France entry along the right bank of the Congo that eventually led to French colonies in West Africa. In 2006 his remains were exhumed and moved to a mausoleum in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Savorgnan_de_Brazza)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.6)
1905 Dec 9, The French Assembly National voted for separation of church and state. Laicite was enshrined in law to keep religion out of public bodies while protecting freedom of private worship.
(http://tinyurl.com/yyvx2d)(WSJ, 4/25/03, W13)(Econ, 9/5/15, p.57)
1905 The Gallery VII Salon d’Automne in France featured the Fauves. It featured works by Matisse, the acknowledged leader, along with Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and others. Louis Vauxelles described 2 classic marble sculptures as "Donatello chez les fauves" (D. among the wild beasts).
(WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20)
1905 Matisse painted his "Femme au Chapeau," (Woman with the Hat). It later became part of the Elise S. Haas collection bequeathed to the San Francisco MOMA.
(SF E&C, 1/15/1995, SFE Mag. p.21)
1906 Mar 3, Vuia I aircraft, built by Romanian Traja Vuia, was tested in France.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1906 Mar 10, 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine."
(MC, 3/10/02)
1906 Mar 10, A coal dust explosion killed 1,060 at Courrieres, France.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1906 Mar 25, Jean Sablon, French crooner, was born.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1906 Mar, Matisse first exhibited his 6x8 foot untraditional, pastoral canvas “Le Bonheur de vivre" at the Salon des Independants in Paris. It was purchased from the salon by Leo and Gertrude Stein.
(WSJ, 12/2/06, p.P12)
1906 Apr 13, Samuel Beckett (d.1989), Irish (French) playwright, Nobel Prize winner in 1969, (Waiting for Godot), was born. He settled in France and wrote in French and then translated to English. Sometimes he reversed the process. His work included "Act Without Words" (1956), "Happy Days" (1960-61), "Rough for Theater II" (1976), "Catastrophe" (1982) and "What’s There" (1983). Also the prose trilogy "Molloy," "Malone Dies" and "The Unnamable." In 1996 James Knowlson wrote his study of Beckett: "Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett."
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(SFEC, 10/27/96, BR p.5)(HN, 4/13/98)
1906 Apr 17, In France the wife of a miner who had refused to strike was attacked by 150 women in her home in the Pas de Calais district.
(SFC, 4/18/06, p.A15)
1906 Apr 19, Pierre Curie, French physicist, chemist (Nobel 1903), died. Curie, was hit by a truck and killed as he crossed a street in Paris.
(ON, 3/00, p.2)(MC, 4/19/02)
1906 May 31, France and Germany signed an accord in which France agreed to yield control of the Moroccan police, but otherwise retained effective control of Moroccan political and financial affairs.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Moroccan_Crisis)
1906 Jun 24, Pierre Fournier, cellist (Paris Conservatoire), was born in Paris, France.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1906 Jun 26, Ferenc Szisz won the first French Grand Prix. Szisz won the race in a 13 liter, 90 horsepower Renault. The car was not particularly powerful compared to other cars in the race, but it did have the important advantage of removable tire-carrying rims. The removable rims meant tire changes took a speedy four minutes compared to the regular 15 minutes required with fixed rim tires. Szisz finished a little over a half hour ahead of the second-place car.
(HNQ, 7/25/00)(AHDD, p.26)
1906 Jul 12, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus was found innocent in France of his earlier court-martial for spying for Germany. Dreyfus had served over 4 years on Devil’s Island before a top French court rehabilitated his name in what came to be called the Dreyfus Affair.
(PC, 1992, p.664)(SFC, 7/13/06, p.A16)
1906 Aug 11, In France, Eugene Lauste received the first patent for a talking film.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1906 Oct 22, Paul Cezanne (b.1839), French post-impressionist painter, died in Aix-en-Provence. In 2012 Alex Danchev authored “Cezanne: A Life."
(AP, 10/22/06)(SSFC, 11/4/12, p.F1)
1906 Oct 31, Louise Talma, composer (Summer Sounds), was born in Arcachon, France.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1906 Claude Monet painted "Water Lilies." His last great series was devoted to the water lilies of the pond in his Japanese garden in Giverney. This series of paintings lasted to 1916 and became increasingly abstract.
(DPCP 1984)
1906 Auguste Rodin began his sculpture "Large Left Clenched Hand With Figure."
(WSJ, 4/1/97, p.A16)
1906 Maurice de Vlaminck painted "The Seine at Chatou." In 2002 it was valued at an estimated $4.4-5.8 million.
(WSJ, 3/15/02, p.W14)
1906 The French film "Madame Has Her Cravings" was a comedy by Guy-Blache, an early female filmmaker.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.D5)
1907 Mar 2, Georges Feydeaus' "La Puce à l'Oreille" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1907 May 10, Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1907 Jun 10, In China 11 men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later.
(AP, 6/10/07)
1907 Jun, Pablo Picasso stumbled on the African and Oceanic collection at the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadero in Paris, as he was working on "Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon." The experience from that point on put an African influence on much of his work.
(WSJ, 11/13/96, p.A20)(Econ, 2/11/06, p.81)
1907 Aug 31, England, Russia and France formed their Triple Entente.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1907 Oct 13, Yves Allégret, French film director, was born. His work included "Dédée d'Anvers" and "Une si jolie petite plage."
(HN, 10/13/00)
1907 Nov 13, The 1st helicopter was piloted by French engineer Paul Cornu (1881-1944). The copter hovered a foot off the ground for 20 seconds [see Apr 12, 1905].
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cornu)(SSFC, 12/14/03, p.D2)
1907 Nov 20, Henri-Georges Clouzot, French director (Le salaire de la peur), was born.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1907 Nov 30, Jacques Barzun, French author, was born. Hi books included “The House of Intellect" (1959).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Barzun)
1907 Dec 2, Spain and France agreed to enforce Moroccan measures adopted in 1906.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1907 In France the bowling game of petanque or boule assumed its current form after possible origins in ancient Greece or Egypt. Similar to bocce ball it is played on a dirt court with baseball sized steel balls. In 1998 it was seeking Olympic recognition. The French version was born near Marseille as a sport for the masses. In 1959 France held the 1st annual petanque world championship.
(WSJ, 1/5/98, p.20)(WSJ, 8/30/07, p.A7)
1907 In France the physicist Georges Claude discovered that high voltage electricity shot through certain gases radiated color. He patented a neon tube in 1909.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.T6)
1907 Explorations under Louis Deleporte and the French School of the Far East began at the ancient city of Angkor. Found artifacts were shared between France and Cambodia.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.60)(SFC, 2/4/04, p.D10)
1907 In France Eugene Schuller created a hair dye in the kitchen of his Paris apartment and named it Aureale. In 1939 the business was renamed L’Oreal.
(SFC, 9/22/17 p.D8)
1908 Jan 9, French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris.
(AP, 1/9/08)
1908 Jan 12, A wireless message was sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1908 Feb 29, The artist known as Balthus was born in Paris.
(AP, 2/29/08)
1908 Mar 15, 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Rhapsodie Espagnole."
(MC, 3/15/02)
1908 Mar 21, Frenchman Henri Farman carried a passenger in a bi-plane for the first time.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1908 May 5, Jacques Massu, French general (Algeria), was born.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1908 Jul 30, An around the world automobile race ended in Paris. The American Thomas Speedway Flyer, was declared the winner over teams from Germany and Italy. In 1966 driver George Schuster authored “The Longest Auto Race." The restored Flyer was later displayed at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.
(ON, 4/08, p.10)(AP, 7/30/08)
1908 Aug 18, Edgar Faure (d.1988), thriller writer, PM of France (1952, 52-56), was born.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1908 Aug 22, Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer, was born in Chanteloup, France.
(HN, 8/22/00)(MC, 8/22/02)
1908 Nov 8, Victorien Sardou (77), French opera author (Madame Sans-Gene), died.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1908 Nov 28, Claude Levi-Strauss, French anthropologist, was born.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1908 Dec 10, Oliver Messian, French composer, was born. His work included "Quartet for the End of Time."
(HN, 12/10/00)
1908 Robert Schreiber founded Les Echos as a marketing brochure. It grew to become France's premier financial and corporate newspaper.
(www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Groupe-Les-Echos-Company-History.html)
1908 Rene Lalique was making glass perfume bottles for Francois Coty.
(SFC, 3/26/97, z1 p.7)
1909 Jan 17, Wilbur and Orville Wright opened the world’s first flying school at Pau, France, and refused to accept women as students.
(ON, 4/10, p.11)
1909 Feb 3, Simone Weil (d.1943), French philosopher, member of the French resistance in WWII, was born. "All sins are attempts to fill voids." "Man alone can enslave man."
(HN, 2/3/01)(AP, 12/10/97)(AP, 8/23/98)
1909 Feb 9, France agreed to recognize German economic interests in Morocco in exchange for political supremacy.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1909 Feb 20, F.T. Marinetti (1876-1944), Italian poet, published the 1st Futurist Manifesto in the Paris newspaper Le Figaro. It included statements such as “We want to glorify war - the only cure for the world… and contempt for women" and We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness."
(www.unknown.nu/futurism/)(SFEC, 1/3/99, DB p.27)(WSJ, 10/23/08, p.A15)(Econ, 2/22/14, p.71)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.72)
1909 Mar 2, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy asked Serbia to set no territorial demands.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1909 Apr 18, Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1909 Jul 25, French aviator Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) made the first crossing of the English Channel from Calais to the grounds of Dover Castle in a powered aircraft, winning a £1,000 prize offered by the London Daily Mail. Piloting his Type XI monoplane at an average of 39 miles per hour, Blériot made the trip of 23.2 miles in just under 36 minutes.
(AP, 7/25/97)(HNPD, 7/25/98)(ON, 6/07, p.9)
1909 Aug 28, American Glenn Curtiss won the James Gordon Bennett Cup at the first major international air show held in Rheims France.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Wright_Bros/Patent_Battles/WR12.htm)
1909 Oct 2, Raymonde de Larouche (1918), Franch actress, flew a Voisin airplane during a taxiing lesson under Gabriel Voisin at Chalons, establishing the first recorded flight by a woman.
(ON, 4/10, p.11)
1909 Oct 9, Jacques Tati, French actor and director, was born.
(HN, 10/9/00)
1909 Jean Cocteau (19) published his 1st book of poems: "La Lampe d'Aladin."
(SFC, 10/6/03, p.D8)
1909 The Ballet Russes of Serge Diaghilev exploded onto the stage of the Chatelet in Paris.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.E3)
1909 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel opened her 1st shop, a millinery, in Paris.
(WSJ, 10/13/03, p.A1)
1909 In France the physicist Georges Claude perfected the neon tube and patented a long lasting electrode that he developed for it. 2 English chemists had discovered neon in 1898.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)
1909 Milanese engineer Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) founded a car factory in the then German town of Molsheim in the Alsace region, later part of France.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Bugatti)
1910 Jan 4, Leon Walrus (b.1834), French economist, died. In 1874 he wrote and published the first edition of his magnum opus, the “Elements of Pure Economics."
(http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/walras.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/pdw34)
1910 Jan 7, Alain JG de Rothschild, banker and baron, was born in France.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1910 Jan 24, Louis Paulhan, French aviator, made an aerial display at the Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno, Ca., before a crowd of 75,000. He flew his biplane 1,300 (700) feet high at 70 mph. Earlier he took William Randolph Hearst for a ride.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)(Ind, 8/17/02, 5A)(SSFC, 1/24/10, DB p.42)
1910 Feb 7, Edmond Rostand's "Chanticleer," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1910 Mar 8, Baroness de Laroche became the first women to obtain a pilot's license in France.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1910 Mar 28, The first seaplane took off from water at Martinques, France.
(HN, 3/28/98)
1910 Jun 11, Jacques Cousteau (d.1997), pioneer sea explorer, was born in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, France. He invented the aqualung and wrote "The Living Sea."
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A7)(HN, 6/11/99)
1910 Jun 23, Jean Anouilh, French playwright, was born.
(HN, 6/23/01)
1910 Sep 2, Henri "le Douanier" Rousseau (b.1844), French customs officer and painter, died in Paris. He had recently completed his masterpiece “The Dream."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Rousseau)(WSJ, 9/13/06, p.D10)
1910 Sep 5, Marie Curie demonstrated the transformation of radium ore to metal at the Academy of Sciences in France.
(HN, 9/5/98)
1910 Sep 8, Jean-Louis Barrault, director and actor (Les Enfants du Paradis), was born in Vesinet, France.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1910 Sep 27, 1st test flight of a twin-engined airplane was made in France.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1910 Oct 18, M. Baudry was the first to fly a dirigible across the English Channel--from La Motte-Breil to Wormwood Scrubbs.
(HN, 10/18/98)
1910 Dec 3, Neon lights were 1st publicly seen at the Paris Auto Show.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1910 Dec 19, Jean Genet, criminal, novelist, dramatist (The Blacks), was born in Paris, France. In 1993 Edmund White published "Jean Genet: A Life."
(WUD, 1994, p.590)(SFEC, 10/5/97, Z1 p.3)(MC, 12/19/01)
1910 Matisse painted "La Danse." "The Dance II" later ended up at the Hermitage.
(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20)
1910 Coco Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer, moved to Rue Cambon, Paris.
(WSJ, 10/13/03, p.B1)
1910 Paris was menaced by a great flood. "The streets were like rivers, the squares, like great lakes." Severe flooding ravaged Monet's pond at Giverny.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, BR p.5)(SFEC, 9/21/97, BR p.4)(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1910 Le Divan bookstore was founded in the Left Bank of Paris. It was put up for sale in 1996 by its owners, the Gallimard publishing house.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, T9)
1910 In France a hairdresser devised the permanent wave for hair.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1910 French Equatorial Africa was a former administrative grouping of four French territories in west central Africa. It was first formed by the federation of 3 French imperial colonies: Gabon, Middle Congo, and Ubangi-Shari-Chad. It comprised a total area of 969,112 square miles (2,500,000 sq km). Chad was separated from Ubangi-Shari in 1920 to form a fourth colony.
(www.discoverfrance.net)
1911 Apr 12, Pierre Prier completed the first non-stop London-Paris flight in three hours and 56 minutes.
(HN, 4/12/99)
1911 Jul 5, George Pompidou, Prime Minister of France, 1968, was born.
(HN, 7/5/98)
1911 Aug 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum. It had hung there for more than 100 years. Vincenzo Perugia, a former Louvre employee, stole the painting. It turned up in Italy two years later. In 2009 R.A. Scotti authored “Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa."
(AP, 8/21/06)(SSFC, 5/10/09, Books p.H5)
1911 Apr 23, Simone Simon, French actress (All Money Can Buy, Ladies in Love), was born.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1911 Apr, The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panthersprung, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco. France thus broke both with the Act of Algeciras that had ended the First Moroccan Crisis, and the Franco-German Accord of 1909. Germany reacted by sending the gunboat Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadir_Crisis)
1911 May 19, Maurice Ravel’s opera "L'Heure Espagnole," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1911 Aug 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum. The painting turned up in Italy two years later.
(AP, 8/21/06)
1911 Aug 22, It was announced in Paris that Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa had been stolen from the Louvre Museum the night before. It had hung there for more than 100 years. Vincenzo Perugia stole the painting, which was recovered in Italy in 1913.
(AP, 8/22/97)(HN, 8/22/98)
1911 Nov 18, Alfred Binet, French child psychologist, died.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1911 Debussy composed "Trois Ballades de Francois Villon" set to poems by the poet.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, DB p.9)
1911 The bar in Paris at 5 Rue Dannou, later named Harry’s, was founded.
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.B12)
1911 Under the Treaty of Fez, signed in 1912 signed to settle the Agadir Crisis, France ceded territories to the east and south to Cameroon.
(https://tinyurl.com/y9478eyl)
1912 Mar 4, The French council of war unanimously voted a mandatory three-year military service.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1912 Mar 7, French aviator, Heri Seimet flew non-stop from London to Paris in three hours.
(HN, 3/7/98)
1912 Mar 30, The Treaty of Fez was signed. Sultan Abdelhafid made Morocco a French protectorate, resolving the Agadir Crisis of July 1, 1911.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fez)
1912 Apr 21, Marcel Camus, French film director (Black Orpheus), was born.
(HN, 4/21/01)
1912 Jul 25, The Comoros were proclaimed to be French colonies.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1912 Aug 13, Jules E.F. Massenet (70), French opera composer (Werther, Manon), died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1912 Jul 17, Henri Poincare (b.1854), French mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, died. He investigated the idea of space and led to the notion that space is too complex for mathematics. In 2002 Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman solved the 1904 Poincare Conjecture. In 2007 Donal O’Shea authored “The Poincare Conjecture."
(V.D.-H.K.p.272)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9)
1912 Sep 7, French aviator Roland Garros set an altitude record of 13,200 feet.
(HN, 9/7/98)
1912 Sep 10, In France J. Vedrines became the first pilot to break 100 m.p.h. barrier.
(HN, 9/10/98)
1912 Nov 3, The first all metal plane was flown near Issy, France, by pilots Ponche and Prinard.
(HN, 11/3/98)
1912 Nov 24, Austria denounced Serbian gains in the Balkans; Russia and France backed Serbia while Italy and Germany backed Austria.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1912 Valentine de Saint-Point (1875-1953), French artist, authored “Manifesto of Futurist Woman."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine_de_Saint-Point)
1912 The Archbishop of Paris stated that "Christians must not tango."
(SFEC,11/30/97, Z1 p.3)
1912 Helena Rubinstein, following her success in Australia and London opened a beauty salon in Paris.
(SFEM, 8/23/98, p.29)
1912 The 1st neon sign illuminated the Palais Coiffeur, a Parisian beauty shop.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.T6)
1912 The Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, with its two pointed spires and five crucifix-topped onion-shaped domes, was built under Nicholas II, nearly 50 years after his grandfather, Alexander II, bought the land it sits on.
(AP, 1/20/10)
1912 France chose Casablanca as the capital of its “protectorate" over Morocco.
(SSFC, 11/18/12, p.G5)
1912-1956 The French ruled Morocco.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
1913 Jan 21, Aristide Briand formed a French government.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1913 Feb 18, Marcel Duchamp’s painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" was displayed at the Armory Show in NYC.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1913 Apr 14, Jean Fournet, French conductor, was born.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1913 May 29, The premier of the ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky in Paris caused rioting in the theater. The orchestra was led by Pierre Monteux and décor was by Nikolai Roerich.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.B9)(HN, 5/29/01)(WSJ, 12/8/04, p.D12)
1913 Aug 20, 700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely.
(HN, 8/20/00)
1913 Sep 21, The 1st aerobatic maneuver, a sustained inverted flight, was performed in France.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1913 Nov 7, Albert Camus (d.1960), French philosopher, novelist, and dramatist best known for his book "The Stranger" (1942) was born on an Algerian farm.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(HN, 11/7/98)
1913 Nov 28, Heavyweight Jack Johnson KO’d Andre Spaul in Paris.
(DT internet 11/28/97)
1913 Henri Fournier (1886-1914) authored “Le Grand Meaulnes" under the pen name Alain-Fournier. It became one of France’s most popular novels.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.134)
1913 The avant-garde of pre-WW I Paris was chronicled in 1958 by Roger Shattuck’s "The Banquet Years."
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.W8)
1913 Camille Flammarion, astronomer, proposed a sundial for the Place de la Concorde. [see June 21, 1999]
(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A24)
1913-1927 Marcel Proust (1871-1922), French novelist wrote his 7-volume "Remembrance of Things Past." In 1998 it was turned into a comic book series.
(WSJ, 2/11/06, p.P18)
1914 Mar 4, Doctor Fillatre of Paris, France successfully separated Siamese twins.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1914 Mar 25, Frederic Mistral, French poet (Nobel-1904), died.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1914 Jul 31, Jean Jaures (b.1859), French Socialist leader, was assassinated by French nationalist Raoul Villain (29).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Jaur%C3%A8s)(Econ., 3/7/15, p.52)
1914 Aug 1, France and Germany mobilized.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1914 Aug 2, In Joncherey, northeastern France, French corporal Jules-Andre Peugeot and German lieutenant Albert Mayer died in a firefight, the first official casualties of World War I.
(AFP, 2/7/14)
1914 Aug 2, German press falsely reported that French bombed Nuremberg.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1914 Aug 3, Germany invaded Belgium and declared war on France at the onset of World War I. The German plan for victory in France was known as the Schlieffen Plan, and was based on a quick strike and the capture of Paris.
(HN, 8/3/98)(AP, 8/3/08)(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Aug 15, Lt. Charles de Gaulle (24) was injured during a German assault at Dinant.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1914 Aug 19, The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in France.
(HN, 8/19/98)
1914 Aug 20, Battle at Morhange: German troops chased French, killing 1000s.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1914 Aug 20-24, Battle of Boundaries: Lorraine, Ardennen, Sambre & Meuse, Mons.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1914 Aug 22, Some 27,000 soldiers died in the bloodiest battle of French history.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1914 Aug 25, German troops marched into France and pushed the French army to the Sedan.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1914 Aug 26, The French government appointed Gen. Joseph Simon Gallieni (65) as military governor of Paris. He had been called out of retirement at the onset of war to serve in the Ministry of War in Paris.
(ON, 8/08, p.4)
1914 Aug 30, The 1st German plane bombed Paris and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 8/24/96, p.E3)(MC, 8/30/01)
1914 Aug, The British Flying Corps (RFC) was sent to France to support the British Expeditionary Corps.
(AH, 1/97)
1914 Aug, Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), Brazilian aviation pioneer, burned his aeronautical papers after French neighbors labeled him a German spy.
(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.M1)
1914 Sep 3, The French capital was moved from Paris to Bordeaux as the Battle of the Marne began. The British expeditionary army under general Lanrezacs army attacked the Marne. French troops vacated Reims.
(HN, 9/3/98)(MC, 9/3/01)
1914 Sep 4, General von Moltke ceased German advance in France.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1914 Sep 5, The First Battle of the Marne began during World War I. The German First Army was led by Gen. Alexander von Kluck.
(AP, 9/5/97)(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A10)
1914 Sep 5, Charles Peguy (d.1914), French poet and writer, died. "It is impossible to write ancient history because we lack source materials, and impossible to write modern history because we have far too many."
(AP, 7/28/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P%C3%A9guy)
1914 Sep 6, In the Battle of Marne German forces bypassed Paris to chase retreating allied forces. French Gen. Gallieni orchestrated an attack using the British Expeditionary Force along with the French 3rd, 5th and 6th armies.
(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Sep 7, In the Battle of Marne French Gen. Gallieni commandeered some 600 hundred Paris taxicabs to deliver overnight 6,000 men of the 3rd army to reinforce the 6th Army at the Battle of the Marne, which allowed the French army to hold.
(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Sep 9, In the Battle of Marne the German advance stalled and a retreat began back to the Aisne River.
(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Sep 12, The First Battle of the Marne ended in an Allied victory against Germany. The German advance into France was stopped. 20th century history turned on this pivotal event.
(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A10)(AP, 9/12/06)
1914 Sep 15, The Battle of Aisne began between Germans and French during WW I.
(MC, 9/15/01)
1914 Sep 18, Battle of Aisne ended with Germans beating the French during WW I.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1914 Sep 24, In the Alsace-Lorraine area between France and Germany, the German Army captured St. Mihiel.
(HN, 9/24/98)
1914 Oct 12, The 1st battle at Ypres, France, began.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1914 Oct 31, Great Britain and France declared war on Turkey. [see Nov 5]
(MC, 10/31/01)
1914 Nov 5, The French and British declared war on Turkey. [see Oct 31]
(HN, 11/5/98)
c1914 Edith Wharton authored "French Ways and Their Meaning." She argue in the book for American Intervention in WW I.
(SFEM, 3/12/00, p.50)
1914 The bones of a Neanderthal baby were found in southwestern France and shipped to Paris for analysis. The 40,000 year-old "Le Moustier 2" bones were put away and re-discovered in 1996.
(SFC, 9/5/02, p.A16)
1914-1940 In 2014 Frederick Brown authored “The Embrace of Unreason: France 1914-1940."
(Econ, 4/26/14, p.83)
1915 Jan 14, The French abandoned five miles of trenches to the Germans near Soissons.
(HN, 1/14/99)
1915 Jan 31, Thomas Merton (d.1968), French Trappist monk, poet, essayist , was born. "A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found; for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy."
(AP, 4/17/01)(MC, 1/31/02)
1915 Jan, French and German soldiers faced off at the Hartmannswillerkopf peak in eastern France. Over the next year some 25,000 soldiers from both sides perished in the fighting there. In 2017 a museum was inaugurated at the peak.
(AP, 11/7/17)
1915 Feb 16, Emil Waldteufel, [Charles Levy], French composer (Estudiantina), died.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1915 Feb 19, British and French warships began their attacks on the Turkish forts at the mouth of the Dardenelles, in an abortive expedition to force the straits of Gallipoli. Winston Churchill was the architect of the disastrous campaign. Allied forces were evacuated at the end of the year after both sides had suffered appalling hardships and losses. In 2011 Peter Hart authored “Gallipoli."
(HN, 2/19/99)(NW, 12/24/01, p.64)(Econ, 10/8/11, p.103)
1915 Mar 13, The Germans repelled a British Expeditionary Force attack at the battle of Neuve Chapelle in France.
(HN, 3/13/99)
1915 Mar 20, The French called off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.
(HN, 3/20/98)
1915 Mar 22, A German Zeppelin made a night raid on Paris railway stations.
(HN, 3/22/97)
1915 Apr 1, Roland Garros (d.1918), French aviator, shot down 2 German aviators over Belgium, with bullets shot through his propellers. Corp. August Spachholz and Lt. Walter Grosskopf became the 1st to be killed by an enemy pilot flying alone.
(ON, 10/02, p.8)
1915 Apr 22, Germans made the first use of poison gas in World War I at the Second Battle Ypres. Chlorine gas was used along 4 miles of the French line at Ypres.
(NH, 10/98, p.18)(HN, 4/22/99)
1915 May 9, German and French forces fought the Battle of Artois.
(HN, 5/9/98)
1915 Jun 5, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (23), French sculptor, died on the Western Front. In 1931 H.S. Ede authored “Savage Messiah: Gaudier Brzeska. In 2004 Paul O’Keeffe authored “Gaudier-Brzeska: An Absolute Case of Genius."
(Econ, 3/6/04, p.76)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9036204/Henri-Gaudier-Brzeska)
1915 Jun 20, There was a German offensive in Argonne.
(MC, 6/20/02)
1915 Jun 21, Germany used poison gas for the first time in warfare in the Argonne Forest.
(HN, 6/21/98)
1915 Jun 30, The Second Battle Artois ended as the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1915 Jul 2, Porfirio Diaz, former president of Mexico, died in Paris.
(SFC, 12/14/00, p.A8)
1915 Sep 8, Germany began a new offensive in Argonne on the Western Front.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1915 Sep 25, An allied offensive was launched in France against the German Army.
(HN, 9/25/98)
1915 Oct 8, The WWI Battle of Loos ended with virtually no gains for either side. There was loss of over one hundred thousand French, British, and German lives in this battle. It marked the first use of poisonous gas by the British, which drifted back to the British trenches.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1915 Oct 21, The 1st transatlantic radio-telephone message was transmitted from Arlington, Va., to Paris.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1915 Dec 19, Edith Piaf, internationally famous French cabaret singer, was born. She is best remembered for her songs "La Vie en rose" and "Non, je ne regrette rein."
(HN, 12/19/99)
1915 Dec 25, At the war front near Laventie, France, British and German soldiers exchanged greetings, cigarettes and engaged in a short game of free-for-all soccer.
(SFC, 8/3/01, p.D5)
1915 In France Le Canard Enchaine, a satirical newspaper, was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Canard_encha%C3%AEn%C3%A9)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.64)
1915 The French government banned absinthe, the "Green Goddess," which had become renowned for causing convulsions, hallucinations and psychosis. In 1988 the European Union lifted the ban on making absinthe.
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W8)(http://tinyurl.com/5mqxvs)
1915-1916 The 10-part silent serial "Les Vampires" by Louis Feuillade was produced.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.D3)
1916 Jan 2, The U.S. instructed Ambassador Sharp to tell the Entente in Paris that America would reject the German peace offer.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1916 Jan 29, 1st bombings of Paris by German Zeppelins took place.
(MC, 1/29/02)
1916 Feb 21, The World War I Battle of Verdun began in France with an unprecedented German artillery barrage of the French lines; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting. German Gen’l. Erich von Falkenhayn launched the attack.
(AP, 2/21/98)(HN, 2/21/01)(Sm, 2/06, p.38)
1916 Feb 23, French artillery killed the entire French 72nd division at Samogneux, Verdun.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1916 Feb 26, General Henri Philippe Petain took command of the French forces at Verdun. A line of bayonets protruding from the earth still testifies to French valor at Verdun in World War I.
(HN, 2/26/98)
1916 Feb 26, Germans sank the French transport ship Provence II, killing 930.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1916 Mar 6, The Allies recaptured Fort Douamont in France.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1916 Mar 7, French Defense Minister Joseph Gallieni resigned from his position.
(HN, 3/7/98)
1916 Mar 14, In the Battle of Verdun Germans attacked on Mort-Homme ridge, West of Verdun.
(MC, 3/14/02)
1916 Apr 2, German troops overtook Bois de Caillette.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1916 May 9, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France, defined their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East. It was signed on 16 May 1916. Italian claims were added in 1917. Britain and France carved up the Levant into an assortment of monarchies, mandates and emirates. The agreement enshrined Anglo-French imperialist ambitions at the end of WW II. Syria and Lebanon were put into the French orbit, while Britain claimed Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf states and the Palestinian Mandate. Sir Mark Sykes (d.1919 at age 39) and Francois Picot made the deal. As of 2016 the boundaries of the agreement remained in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement)(WSJ, 2/27/00, p.A17)(Econ, 5/14/16, SR p.5)
1916 May 22, French troops occupied parts of Fort Douaumont, Verdun. They surrendered to German forces after two days of fighting.
(https://tinyurl.com/5htna9bs)
1916 May 27, French Gen. Joseph Simon Gallieni (b.1849) died. He had been called out of retirement at the onset of war to serve in the Ministry of War in Paris and orchestrated the allied victory at the Battle of the Marne (1914).
(ON, 8/08, p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Galli%C3%A9ni)
1916 Jul 1, In France at 7:30AM, a 5 day, continuous, British artillery bombardment of German lines stopped, and 11 British divisions (100,000 men) went "over the top" toward the Germans. By 9AM 22,000 were dead & another 40,000 were wounded in what became known as the Battle of the Somme. Some 57,500 British soldiers were killed or wounded on the first day of the battle. These attacks continued for another five months, costing the British over one million killed & wounded. Field Marshal Douglas Haig commanded the British forces. 4 months of stalemate cost 420,000 British casualties. In 2014 Joe Sacco authored “The Great War: July 1, 1916 – The First Day of the Battle of the Somme.
(AP, 7/15/09)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.93)(Econ, 1/4/14, p.66)
1916 Jul 4, Poet Alan Seeger died in action at Befloy-en-Santerre. Born in New York City in 1888, Seeger went to Paris in 1912 and joined the French Foreign legion at the outbreak of WWI. He was killed in the Battle of the Somme. He wrote the lines: I have a rendezvous with death / At some disputed barricade..."
(SFEC, 3/16/97, z1 p.2)(HNQ, 8/23/98)
1916 Jul 6, Odilon Redon (b.1840), French symbolist painter, died.
(SFC, 7/13/13, p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon)
1916 Jul 15, A series of engagements in the Battle of the Somme began at Delville Wood and continued to September 3 between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. A brigade of South Africans held the wood until 19 July at a cost of four-fifths of its men injured or killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delville_Wood)(Econ, 8/2/14, p.46)
1916 Jul 19, In the WWI Battle at Fromelles, France, German machine guns and artillery left over 5,500 Australians and over 1,500 British killed, wounded or missing in less than 24 hours.
(SFC, 7/20/10, p.A2)
1916 Aug 12, In Paris Jean Cocteau took pictures of Pablo Picasso, poet Max Jacob and painter Amedeo Modigliani and other friends as they met for lunch and passed the afternoon. It all came out in the 1997 book by Billy Kluver: A Day With Picasso."
(SFC,11/18/97, p.E1)
1916 Sep 15, Armored tanks were introduced by the British during the Battle of the Somme.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1916 Oct 26, French leader Francois Mitterrand, was born. He served as President of France from 1981-95.
(HN, 10/26/98)(MC, 10/26/01)
1916 Nov 2, France reconquered Ft Vaux, Verdun.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1916 Nov 16, French adjutant-chief Eugene Rouges died with several of his men when a German artillery shell exploded in their trench in Gradesnica, Macedonia. In the 1990s villagers began finding a liquid fortune in vintage cognac buried in the old trenches.
(AP, 7/23/07)
1916 Dec 3, French commander Joseph Joffre was dismissed after his failure at the Somme. General Robert Nivelle became the new French commander-in-chief.
(HN, 12/3/98)
1916 Dec 12, Worst train disaster ever took place in Modane, France, 543 French Soldiers were killed.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1916 Dec 18, The French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun. The 302-day Battle of Verdun ended with the French and Germans each having suffered more than 330,000 killed and wounded in 10 months.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun)
1916 Eric Satie composed "Trois melodies."
(SFC,11/14/97, p.C5)
1916 Charles de Foucauld, a former French army officer turned monk who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara, was killed in an anti-French uprising in Algeria. In 2005 he was beatified by Pope Benedikt XVI. Inspired by the monk, groups known as the Little Sisters and Little Brothers of Jesus were formed in Algeria.
(AP, 11/13/05)
1916 Cameroon was a German colony until this year, when British and French troops forced the Germans out. The two countries divided it into separate spheres of influence that were later formalized by the League of Nations, the forerunner to the UN.
(AFP, 9/29/18)
1917 Feb, Mata Hari was arrested in Paris for spying.
(WSJ, 1/16/97, p.A16)
1917 Apr 9, Battle of Arras began as Canadian troops launched a massive assault on Vimy Ridge in France. The assault brought four Canadian divisions fought together for the first time and cost 10,600 lives. The Canadians succeeded in battling through snow and sleet to push out the Germans who had long held the strategic post.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_%281917%29)(Econ, 8/2/14, p.45)(AP, 4/8/17)
1917 Apr 9, Edward Thomas (b.1878), British writer and poet, was killed in action during the Battle of Arras. His travel books included “The Icknield Way." In 2012 Matthew Hollis authored “Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_%28poet%29)(Economist, 9/22/12, p.94)
1917 May 15, British Lt. John Harold Pritchard was killed in a nighttime battle at Bullecourt, France. This was during the two week 2nd battle of Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line. Thousands of dead were scattered on both sides. In 2013 Pritchard’s body was found on a farm that covered the battleground.
(SFC, 4/24/13, p.A5)
1917 May 18, Satie-Massine-Picasso's ballet "Parade" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1917 Mar 19, A German submarine in the Mediterranean Sea sunk the French battleship Danton. In 2009 the Danton was discovered on the seabed southwest of Sardinia.
(SFC, 2/21/09, p.A2)(www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?16848)
1917 May, French soldiers refused to return to the trenches after the disastrous April-May Chemin des Dames offensive of Gen. Nivelle, in which more than 30,000 French soldiers died and 80,000 were wounded to no good purpose. The "La Chanson de Craonne," sung to the tune of Charles Sablon's "Bonsoir M'amour" by the mutineers, celebrated the resistance of the soldiers to return to the front and was banned for many years from French airwaves.
(www.ufppc.org/content/view/6510/)
1917 Apr 9, Battle of Arras began as Canadian troops launched a massive assault on Vimy Ridge in France. The assault brought four Canadian divisions fought together for the first time and cost 10,600 lives.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_%281917%29)(Econ, 8/2/14, p.45)
1917 Jun 7, British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig launched his assault in Flanders to take German pressure off his French allies. For months, troops of the British Expeditionary Force fought a series of pointless battles in a nightmarish landscape of knee-deep shell holes filled with mud and blasted, skeletal trees. When the campaign finally ground to a halt on November 10, 1917, the BEF had suffered losses of 300,000 men and German losses were around 200,000--for a total gain of four miles.
(HNPD, 6/7/99)
1917 Jun 26, General John "Black Jack" Pershing arrived in France with the first of the 14,000 American Expeditionary Force.
(AP, 6/26/97)(HN, 6/26/98)(MC, 6/26/02)
1917 Jul 4, During a ceremony in Paris honoring the French hero of the American Revolution, U.S. Lt. Col. Charles E. Stanton declared, "Lafayette, we are here!"
(AP, 7/4/97)
1917 Jul 22, British bombed German lines at Ypres with 4,250,000 grenades.
(MC, 7/22/02)
1917 Aug 14, Eugène Bonaventure Jean-Baptiste Vigo (aka Miguel Almereyda), French journalist and activist against militarism, was found dead in Fresnes Prison. Some speculated that Almereyda was hushed up by order of extreme Socialist politicians, Louis-Jean Malvy and Joseph Caillaux, men later punished for war-time treason. An autopsy found that his abdomen was full of pus and that he was struggling with a burst appendix. He was the father of French film director Jean Vigo (1905-1934).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Almereyda)
1917 Sep 3, French microbiologist Felix d'Herelle announced that he had discovered "an invisible, antagonistic microbe of the dysentery bacillus." The agent came to be known as a microphage, a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage) (Econ., 8/22/20, p.22)
1917 Sep 4, The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I when a German plane attacked a British-run base hospital.
(AP, 9/4/08)
1917 Sep 6, French pilot Georges Guynemer shot down 54th German aircraft.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1917 Sep 8, Eugene Bullard, born in Columbus, Georgia, (emigrating to France), became the first African-American combat aviator when he flew a reconnaissance mission over the city of Metz, France. He was credited with one confirmed "kill," a German Pfalz he shot down over Verdun.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1917 Sep 20, The British assaulted the Polygon Forest in France.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1917 Sep 26, Australian Private Thomas Hurdis (26) was wounded in Belgium, and died on Oct. 3 in a US field hospital in France. His skull with a bullet lodged in bone between his eyes was later put on display at the Mutter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. On July 20, 2018, the skull was buried in Hurdis' grave at the French Mont Huon Military Cemetery in Le Treport in a ceremony attended by Hurdis' family and Australian troops.
(AP, 7/21/18)
1917 Sep 27, Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas (b1834), French impressionist painter died in Paris. His fascination with horses was covered in the 1998 book "Degas at the Races" by Jean Sutherland.
(WSJ, 10/2/96, p.B5)(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas)
1917 Oct 15, Mata Hari (b.1876), the woman whose name has become synonymous with a seductive female spy, was executed by the French outside Paris on charges of spying for the Germans during World War I. The daughter of a prosperous Dutch merchant, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle married a colonial army officer named MacLeod in 1895. The couple lived for five years in Java and Sumatra before the marriage failed. By 1905, Mrs. MacLeod was calling herself Mata Hari--said to be Malay for "eye of the day"--and creating a sensation as an exotic East Indian dancer in Europe. Among her many lovers were military officers and, although the facts surrounding her espionage activities are still unclear, Mata Hari was arrested by the French as a German spy in February 1917. After a two-day trial before a military court, Mata Hari was sentenced to death for espionage. In 2002 Richard Skinner authored "The Red Dancer," a novel based on her life.
(WSJ, 1/16/97, p.A16)(AP, 10/15/97)(HNPD, 10/15/98)(SSFC, 3/24/02, p.M4)
1917 Oct 19, The first doughnut was fried by Salvation Army volunteer women for American troops in France during World War I.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1917 Oct 21, Members of the First Division of the U.S. Army training in Luneville, France, became the first Americans to see action on the front lines of World War I. The first U.S. troops entered the front lines at Sommervillier under French command.
(AP, 10/21/98)(HN, 10/21/98)
1917 Nov 10, The assault on Flanders finally ground to a halt. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had suffered losses of 300,000 men and German losses were around 200,000--for a total gain of four miles and the occupation of Passchendaele.
(HN, 6/7/98)(HNQ, 11/2/98)
1917 Nov 15, Emile Durkheim (b.1858), French sociologist, died in Paris. He formally established the academic discipline of sociology and with Max Weber is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim)
1917 Nov 16, Georges Clemenceau (76) again became prime minister of France. He appointed himself as minister of war as well as chief of state. For his contribution to the victory of the Allies in World War I, premier Clemenceau was referred to as the "Father of Victory." A physician, journalist, author and statesman, Clemenceau was an ardent upholder of the French Third Republic. He strove to create an indomitable "will to victory" and proclaimed "To be entirely in unity with the soldier, to live, to suffer, to fight with him." Clemenceau, declared he would wage war "to the last quarter hour, for the last quarter hour will be ours." Born on September 28, 1841, Clemenceau died on November 24, 1929.
(HNQ, 3/23/99)(AP, 11/16/07)
1917 Nov 17, The French Sculptor Rodin (77) froze to death in an unheated attic in Meudon, France. He had applied to the government for quarters as warm as those wherein his statues were stored, but the government turned him down. His studio was called La Villa des Brillants. He worked with sculptor A.-E. Carrier-Belleuse and for years spent a considerable amount of time on decorative work for public monuments. His work included several versions of a "Monument to Victor Hugo," "The Kiss," "The Burghers of Calais" and "The Thinker." His famous "Balzac" wasn’t cast in bronze until 1939. The film "Camille Claudel" told the story of Rodin’s mistress, a brilliant sculptress who went mad after their love affair.
(SFC, 12/4/94, p. S-8)(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T10)(AP, 11/17/97)
1917 Dec 6, Some 1700 people died in an explosion when a Belgian relief ship and the French munition ship "Mont Blanc" collided in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
(EWH, 4th ed, p.1054)(MC, 12/6/01)
1917 Dec 12, In Modane, France, a troop train derailed near the entrance of Mt. Cenis tunnel and 543 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1917 In France Marcel Duchamp christened a supine urinal as a work of art, "Fountain," and signed it with a fictitious name. The original was lost but he authorized an edition of 8 replicas in 1964.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A17)
1917 Egon Schiele, Viennese artist, made his "Kneeling Girl Propped on Her Elbows."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1917 Auguste Moreau (b.1834), French sculptor, died. He and 4 other members of his family designed light fixtures based on sculptured figures.
(SFC, 1/16/08, p.G4)(www.aspireauctions.com/auction30/details/4195.html)
1918 Jan 29, The Supreme Allied Council met at Versailles.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1918 Mar 21, During World War I, Germany launched the Somme 'Michael' Offensive in France, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive. It is better remembered as the First Battle of the Somme.
(WUD, 1994, p.1356)(AP, 3/21/97)(HN, 3/21/99)
1918 Mar 23, Crépy-en-Laonnoise: German artillery shelled Paris France and 256 were killed. The Paris bombs were named "Thick Bertha's Dike" (nickname for the widow Krupp).
(SS, 3/23/02)
1918 Mar 25, Claude Debussy (55), French composer, died in Paris. In 1962 Edward Lockspeiser authored “Debussy," a look at how the composer shaped the work of Symbolist writers.
(AP, 3/25/97)(WSJ, 3/1/08, p.W8)
1918 Mar 26, On the Western Front during World War I the Germans took the French towns Noyon, Roye and Lihons.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1918 Mar 26, Col. Raynal Bolling (b.1877), architect of American air power in WWI and resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, was shot dead by a German patrol in France.
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynal_Bolling)
1918 Mar-1919 Jul, The art collection of Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas, more than 500 paintings and 5,000 prints, was auctioned off in Paris.
(WSJ, 10/21/97, p.A20)
1918 Apr 1, Isaac Rosenberg (b.1890), British WWI war poet, died near Arras, France, during Ludendorff’s big spring offensive. In 2008 Jean Moorcroft Wilson authored “Isaac Rosenberg: The Making of a Great War Poet."
(WSJ, 4/3/09, p.W6)
1918 Apr 3, French Gen. Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) was named the supreme commander of the Allied Forces.
(www.firstworldwar.com/source/foch_order.htm)
1918 Apr 4, Battle of Somme [France], an offensive by the British against the German Army ended.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1918 Apr 8, The US First Aero Squadron was assigned to the Western Front for the first time on observation duty.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1918 Apr 9, In northern France some 7,000 Portuguese soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner in one day at the Battle of Lys. The battle helped allied nations stop a German offensive in the final year of hostilities.
(AP, 4/9/18)
1918 Apr 15, Clemenceau published secret French-Austrian documents.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1918 Apr 21, Baron Manfred von Richthofen (25), the cousin of Frieda Lawrence and the highest-scoring German ace of World War I with 80 victories, was killed in a dogfight over France's Somme Valley over Amiens. As he pursued a Canadian pilot with jammed guns, von Richthofen, flying a red Fokker triplane, broke one of his own flying rules by following his prey too long, too far and too low. Two miles behind Allied lines, Richthofen was mortally wounded when he was fired upon simultaneously by another Canadian pilot and Australian ground troops. The following day, the Red Baron was buried by his enemies with full military honors. He was replaced with Hermann Goering.
(WSJ, 5/15/95, p. A-16)(AP, 4/21/97)(HNPD, 4/21/99)
1918 May 15, Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts received the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They were the first Americans to win France's highest military medal.
(HN, 5/15/99)
1918 May 28, The Battle of Cantigny began during World War I as American troops captured the French town from the Germans; the Americans were able to resist German counterattacks in the days that followed.
(AP, 5/28/08)
1918 May, The German army staged a surprise offensive and rolled into the Marne Valley through the center of the French 6th Army. The Germans were held at bay by some 9,000 US Marines of the 5th and 6th Regiments of the 4th Brigade.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A26)
1918 Jun 4, French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at Chateau-Thierry, France.
(HN, 6/4/98)
1918 Jun 6, In northern France the US Marines counter-attacked the Germans and pushed them back to the woods at Bois de Belleau. US Marines entered combat at the Battle of Belleau Wood. This was the 1st US victory of WW I. The Americans chased the German forces out of Belleau Wood by the end of the month. The battle became a defining moment in World War I.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A26)(HN, 6/6/01)(AP, 5/26/18)
1918 Jun 12, First airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on World War I’s Western Front in France.
(HN, 6/12/98)
1918 Jul 18, During World War I, American and French forces launched a counteroffensive against the Germans during the Second Battle of the Marne.
(AP, 7/18/08)
1918 Jul 19, German armies retreated across the Marne River in France.
(MC, 7/19/02)
1918 Jun 26, After a brief respite, the Germans began firing their huge 420 mm howitzer "Big Bertha" at Paris.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1918 Jun 28, The US Marines took the Bois de Belleau.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A26)
1918 Jun 30, As the Austro-Hungarian Empire was collapsing, France became the first country to formally recognize Czechoslovakia's new government, paving the way to the country's proclamation of independence later that year.
(AP, 6/30/18)
1918 Jul 15, The Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1918 Jul 30, Poet Joyce Kilmer (b.1886), a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment, was killed during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. Kilmer is perhaps best remembered for his poem "Trees."
(AP, 7/30/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer)
1918 Aug 6, The 2nd battle of the Marne ended.
(MC, 8/6/02)
1918 Aug 8, Opening salvos by the combined air and ground assault by soldiers from Britain, Australia, Canada, the United States and France began the Battle of Amiens. They quickly began to push back German troops to turn the tide on the Western Front.
(AP, 8/8/18)
1918 Sep 12, During World War I, U.S. forces led by Gen. John J. Pershing launched an attack on the German-occupied St. Mihiel salient north of Verdun, France.
(AP, 9/12/97)
1918 Sep 12, British troops retook Havincourt, Moeuvres, and Trescault along the Western Front.
(HN, 9/12/98)
1918 Sep 13, U.S. and French forces took St. Mihiel, France, in America's first action as a standing army.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1918 Sep 26, The Meuse-Argonne offensive started. It was America's deadliest battle ever, with 26,000 US soldiers killed, tens of thousands wounded and more ammunition fired than in the whole of the Civil War. The offensive was one of several simultaneous Allied attacks that brought the war which started in 1914 to an end, leading the Germans to retreat and sign the armistice on November 11.
(AP, 9/26/08)(AP, 9/23/18)
1918 Oct 4, The pigeon Cher Ami (d.1919) became the hero of the American 77th Infantry Division as she delivered her message during in the Battle of the Argonne, despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood and with a leg hanging only by a tendon.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher_Ami)(Econ, 1/16/16, p.89)
1918 Oct 8, Alvin Callum York (1887-164) almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France. Corporal Alvin C. York's platoon was advancing toward the Decauville railway when they were hit with machine-gun fire from all sides. The doughboys captured one gun, but the noise drew the fire of the remaining German emplacements, killing six and seriously wounding three Americans. As the most senior of the remaining doughboys, York went out alone to engage the enemy with just his rifle and service revolver, picking off the machine-gunners one by one. When the fighting was over, York had single-handedly eliminated 35 machine guns, killed more than 20 Germans and taken 132 members of a Prussian Guards regiment as prisoners. A modest man, York shrugged off his heroic actions, saying, "It's over; let's forget it."
(AP, 10/8/97)(HNPD, 12/13/98)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York)
1918 Oct 14, In France the American 32nd division was sent to engage German troops on the Dame Marie, while the 5th and 42nd Divisions under Gen. Douglas MacArthur swept in pincer movements to occupy Cote de Chatillon. The objectives were taken in 3 days of tough fighting. In 2008 Robert H. Ferrell authored “The Question of MacArthur’s Reputation: Cote de Chatillon, October 14-16, 1918."
(WSJ, 11/24/08, p.A17)
1918 Oct 24, Alexander Charles Lecocq (b.1832), French composer, died in Paris.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lecocq)
1918 Oct 24, Pvt. Michael Walsh, an Irish born American soldier serving in the Army's 29th Division, was killed in action in France. In 2018 the Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited presented a Purple Heart to Walsh's relatives in Ireland.
(AP, 11/16/18)
1918 Nov 11, At ten minutes past five in the morning, German and Allied negotiators placed the final signatures on the armistice that would end World War I six hours later. After the signing, French General Ferdinand Foch sent all Allied commanders the following message: "Hostilities will cease on the entire [Western] front November 11 at 11:00 a.m." Even as the hour approached 9 of 16 commanders of US divisions on the Western Front ordered a final assault that left an additional 11,000 casualties. Although the Allies had not invaded Germany and there was no clear military victory, the Germans were forced to sign the armistice because of insurmountable problems. German troops, pushed past their limits of endurance by five years of fighting, faced a fresh stream of well-equipped American soldiers. Germany's allies, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, had already ceased fighting and mutinies increased as German soldiers and sailors refused to carry out suicidal missions. Food shortages, both at home and at the front, had reached crisis levels. The costs of the First World War were astronomical with 7.5 million dead and more than 35 million total casualties. The US Armistice Day holiday was changed to Veteran’s Day after the Korean War. It was celebrated as “Veteran’s Day" for the first time in the US in Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953. In 2004 Joseph E. Persico authored “Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax."
(SFC, 11/9/96, p.A16)(SFC,11/8/97, p.A11)(HNPD, 11/11/98)(SFC, 12/28/04, p.D1)
1918 Nov 21, The last German troops left Alsace-Lorraine, France.
(HN, 11/21/98)
1918 Dec 8, Gerard Souzay, baritone (Le Nozze di Figaro), was born in Angers, France.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1918 Dec 9, French troops occupied Mainz.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1918 Dec 13, President Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office.
(AP, 12/13/97)
1918 Picasso (1881-1973), French painter, married Olga Khokhlova, one of Diaghilev’s Russian dancers, whom he met in Rome.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.99)
1918 In France the Meuse-Argonne offensive action was made. A portion of the U.S. 77th Division in World War I was encircled by the Germans during the 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I and called the "lost battalion.". The unit managed to hold off its attackers until relief finally arrived.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A17)
1919 Jan 18, The World War I Peace Congress, held to negotiate peace treaties ending World War I, opened in Versailles, France.
(AP, 1/18/08)
1919 Feb 3, League of Nations held its 1st meeting in Paris.
(MC, 2/3/02)
1919 Feb 15, The American Legion was organized in Paris.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1919 Feb 19, The First Pan African Congress met in Paris, France.
(HN, 2/19/99)
1919 Mar 8, Reports from Paris indicated that 6,000 American men had married French women in the past year.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1919 Mar 14, Emile Cottin was condemned to death for the attempt on the life of Clemenceau.
(HN, 3/14/98)
1919 Mar 15-17, The American Legion was founded in Paris by members of the American Expeditionary Force.
(AP, 3/15/97)(www.legion.org/)
1919 Mar 22, The first international airline service was inaugurated on a weekly schedule between Paris and Brussels.
(AP, 3/22/99)
1919 Mar 25, The Paris Peace Commission adopted a plan to protect nations from the influx of foreign labor.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1919 Apr 12, Maurice Girodias, French publisher, was born.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1919 May 4, Some 3,000 young scholars from 13 colleges and universities rallied at Tiananmen Square to protest the loss of Shandong province to the Japanese under the Versailles Treaty at the Paris Peace Conference. German concessions in China were bequeathed to Japan. Among the protestors were people who helped form the Communist Party.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/17/99, p.A21)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.13)
1919 May 6, Paris Peace Conference disposed of German colonies; German East Africa was assigned to Britain & France, German SW Africa to South Africa.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1919 Jun 28, The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending (WW I) World War I. World War I began in 1914 and ended on this date. Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles under protest. Books by participants included "Peacemaking" by Harold Nicolson; "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" by John Maynard Keynes; and "The Truth About the Peace Treaties" by David Lloyd George. In 2000 Richard Holmes authored "The Western Front." Nearly 1 million British died and nearly 2 million each for France, Germany, Russia and Turkey. In 2002 Margaret MacMillan authored "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World."
(HFA, ‘96, p.32)(AP, 6/28/97)(HN, 6/28/98)(WSJ, 8/16/00, p.A20)(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.M3)
1919 Jul 19, Raymonde de Larouche (1882-1919), French actress and aviatrix, died in a plane crash at Le Crotoy airport in France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymonde_de_Laroche)
1919 Aug 25, The 1st scheduled passenger service by airplane between Paris and London.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1919 Nov 19, The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against, short of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.
(AP, 11/19/97)
1919 Nov 30, Women cast votes for the first time in French legislative elections.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1919 Dec 3, Pierre A. Renoir (78), French painter and sculptor, died.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1919 Dec 18, British pilot John William Alcock (b.1892), enroute to a Paris air show, was killed while making a forced landing in fog near Rouen. He and navigator Arthur Witten Brown (1886-1948) had recently completed the world’s first nonstop transatlantic flight [see June 14].
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Whitten_Brown)(ON, 4/09, p.1)
1919 At the Folies Bergere women performed totally nude on stage for the first time in the modern Western World.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, Z1 p.8)
c1919 Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera, Mexican painters in Paris, decided that the Mexican revolution must be expressed in a public art that all could understand.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T5)
1919 The French Confederation of Christian Workers (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) was founded. In 1964 it split to form the CFDT and CFTC.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycqnkfpe)
1919 French inventor Andre Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee filed a patent application for an “Electric Apparatus for Propelling Projectiles.
(Econ, 5/9/15, p.73)
1919 Britain and France divided Cameroon between themselves having taken it from Germany. London Declaration divided Cameroon into French (80%) and British administrative zones (20%). The British zone is divided into Northern and Southern Cameroons.
(Econ, 3/11/17, p.48)(https://tinyurl.com/y9478eyl)
1920 Jan 3, The last of the U.S. troops quit France.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1920 Jan 24, Amedeo Modigliani (b.1884), Italian sculptor, painter, died in Paris. His mistress Jeanne Hebuterne, pregnant with his child, committed suicide 2 days later rather than live without him. In 2006 Jeffrey Meyers authored “Modigliani: A Life."
(www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_110.html)(WSJ, 3/21/06, p.D8)
1920 Jan 26, Jeanne Hebuterne (b.1898), the mistress of Amadeo Modigliani, killed herself 2 days following Modigliani’s death while carrying his child.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_H%C3%A9buterne)
1920 Feb, Emile Coue (1857-1926), French pharmacist, Coué made plans to come to the USA for a lecture tour, in conjunction with the first English translation of his book "Self Mastery Through Conscious Auto Suggestion." Coue had devised the mantra "Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better" to promote his theory of self-improvement through auto-suggestion.
(Baltimore Sun, 5/21/1922, Section 5, p.4)
1920 May 16, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.
(AP, 5/16/97)(HN, 5/16/98)
1920 Jun 4, The Treaty of Trianon, signed at Versailles, was forced upon Hungary by the victorious Allies after WWII and resulted in Hungary giving up nearly three-fourths of its territory to Romania, Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croat and Slovenes. Hungary lost more than half its population, including some 3 million Hungarians. Hungary ceded the hills of Transylvania to Romania.
(HNQ, 7/5/98)(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon)
1920 Aug 10, The Ottoman sultanate at Constantinople signed the Treaty of Sevres with the Allies and associated powers. It promised a homeland for the Kurds, but the nationalist government in Ankara did not sign the treaty. It set the borders of Turkey recognized Armenia as an independent state. France and Britain backed the treaty and a Kurdish state, but refused to allow Kurds in Iraq and Syria to join it.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A10)(www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/versa/sevres1.html) (EWH, 4th ed, p.1086)(Econ, 7/13/13, SR p.5)
1920 Oct 15, The Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets opened. The week-long event ending on Oct 21 was hosted by the League of Nations and set standards for passports.
(Econ, 3/3/12, p.73)(www.indiana.edu/~league/1920.htm)
1920 Dec 30, Ho Chi Minh helped found the Communist Party of France on December 30, 1920, while a student there. Known then as Nguyen Ai Quoc, Ho went on to Moscow in 1923 for training in revolutionary strategy by the Communist International. After several years in the Soviet Union and China, Ho returned to Vietnam to lead his nation’s revolutionary movement.
(HNQ, 4/13/99)
1920 Sara (b.1883) and Gerald Murphy (d.1964) rented a floor of the Hotel du Cap on the French Riviera for the summer while their villa was being built, and invited their friends, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Marlene Dietrich, and the Windsors. Hemingway’s book, "A Moveable Feast," was a memoir on the Murphys. Fitzgerald’s characters of Dick and Nicole Diver in "Tender Is the Night" was based on the Murphys. In 1962 Calvin Thomas published "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," based on the Murphys. In 1983 Honoria Murphy published a personal memoir of her parents "Sara and Gerald." In 1998 Amanda Vail published "Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy-- A Lost Generation Love Story."
(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.219)(SFEC, 8/9/98, BR 9 p.9)
1920 The French film "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" was directed by Germaine Dulac.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.D5)
1920 Leon Bourgeois (b.1851), French premier (1895-96) won the Nobel Peace Prize.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1920 Suzanne Lenglen of France, wearing a shockingly short skirt, won 2 gold medals in tennis at the Olympic games in Antwerp, Belgium.
(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
1920 France, following populations losses in World War I, devised the Medal of the French Family with a special gold medal award to women who had 8 or more children.
(Econ, 4/19/08, p.62)
1920 Chad was separated from Ubangi-Shari to form a 4th colony of French Equatorial Africa.
(www.discoverfrance.net)
1920-1925 In Paris, The Swedish Ballet, founded by Rolf de Mare, brought together painters, filmmakers, actors, dancers and composers in Paris. Designs by Ferdnand Leger and Giorgio de Chirico, music by Eric Satie and Cole Porter, and film by Rene Clair marked the performances.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.D1)
Go to 1921
Return to home
1870 Jan 9, Alexander Herzen (b.1812), Russian author, died in France. In 1961 US Prof. Martin Malia (1924-2004) authored “Alexander Herzen and the Birth of Russian Socialism (1812-1855).
(www.bookrags.com/biography/aleksandr-ivanovich-herzen/)(SFC, 11/24/04, p.B6)
1870 Jan 10, Victor Noir (22), French journalist, was killed by Prince Pierre Bonaparte. Noir "had called on him with a companion to present his editor's challenge to a duel because of a journalistic dispute concerning Corsican politics." Public sentiment over Noir's death forces Napoleon III to abdicate. A statue of Noir’s prostrate figure became a magnet for infertile women rubbing themselves against him as a sexual charm.
(SSFC, 10/31/04, p.F9)(www.alsirat.com/silence/cemtime/time4.html)
1870 May 8, In France a national plebiscite voted confidence in the Empire with about 84% of votes in favor. On the eve of the plebiscite members of the Paris Federation were arrested on a charge of conspiring against Napoleon III. This pretext was further used by the government to launch a campaign of persecution of the members of the International throughout France.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Jun 21, A Chinese mob in Tianjin set upon the French consul and tore him limb from limb for firing his pistol at a Chinese official, wounding one of his retinue. The mob slaughtered about 20 foreigners including 2 priests and 10 nuns. Nearly 20 Chinese were later executed by the Qing to appease the French and avoid war. Diplomat Wanyan Chonghou soon sailed to France to issue a formal apology.
(Econ, 12/21/13, p.71)
1870 Jul 19, The Franco-Prussian War began. Napoleon declared war on Bismarck. Emperor Napoleon III of France declared war on Germany under Otto von Bismarck. Napoleon was defeated in three months and abdicated.
(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(AP, 7/19/07)
1870 Jul 23, In France Marx completed what will become known as his "First Address."
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Jul 26, In France Marx’s "First Address" was approved and internationally distributed by the General Council of the International Working Men's Association.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Jul 27, Hilaire Belloc, French writer (Cautionary Tales), was born.
(HN, 7/27/01)
1870 Aug 6, At the Battle at Spicheren: Prussia beat France. Crown Prince Frederick, commanding one of the three Prussian armies invading France, defeated French Marshal MacMahon at Worth and Weissenburg, pushed him out of Alsace, surrounded Strasbourg, and drove on towards Nancy. Two other Prussian armies isolated Marshal Bazaine's forces in Metz.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Spicheren)(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Aug 18, Prussian forces defeated the French at the Battle of Gravelotte during the Franco-Prussian War. French Commander Bazaine's efforts to break his soldiers through the German lines were bloodily defeated at Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte. The Prussians advanced on Chalons.
(HN, 8/18/98)(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Sep 1, The Prussian army crushed the French under Marshal MacMahon at Sedan, the last battle of the Franco-Prussian War.
(HN, 9/1/99)(PCh, 1992, p.516)
1870 Sep 2, Napoleon III with 80,000 men capitulated to the Prussians at Sedan, France.
(PCh, 1992, p.516)(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)(HN, 9/2/98)
1870 Sep 4, At news of Sedan, Paris workers invaded the Palais Bourbon and forced the Legislative Assembly to proclaim the fall of the Empire. Emperor Louis Napoleon III was overthrown in a bloodless coup. The 3rd French Republic was proclaimed in Paris and a government of national defense was formed.
(HN, 9/4/98)(ON, 9/06, p.12)(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Sep 5, Author Victor Hugo returned to Paris from the Isle of Guernsey where he had lived in exile for almost 20 years.
(HN, 9/5/00)
1870 Sep 19, Two Prussian armies began a 135-day siege of Paris as the 2nd Empire collapsed. This forced the people of the city to eat Castor and Pollux, the 2 elephants in the zoo.
(PCh, 1992, p.516)(SFC, 4/17/99, p.B3)
1870 Sep 23, Prosper Merimee (66), French playwright (Carmen), died.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/merimee.htm)
1870 Sep 24, George Claude, French engineer, was born. He invented the neon light.
(HN, 9/24/00)
1870 Oct 7, French Minister of the Interior Leon Gambetta escaped besieged Paris by balloon, hoping to reach the French provisional government in Tours. Gambetta was slightly wounded when his balloon drops dangerously low over Prussian held territory, only rising to safety after the pilot jettisons the ballast.
(HN, 10/7/98)
1870 Oct 20, The Summer Palace in Beijing, China, was burnt to the ground by a Franco-British expeditionary force.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1870 Oct 27, The French fortress of Metz surrendered to the Prussian Army.
(HN, 10/27/98)
1870 Oct 30, French National Guard was defeated at Le Bourget.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Oct 31, Upon the receipt of news that the Government of National Defense had decided to start negotiations with the Prussians, Paris workers and revolutionary sections of the National Guard rose up in revolt, led by Blanqui. They seized the Hotel de Ville (City Hall) and set up their revolutionary government, the Committee of Public Safety, headed by Blanqui. Flourens prevented any members of the Government of National Defense from being shot, as had been demanded by one of the insurrectionists.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1870 Renoir painted the portrait "Rapha Maitre."
(SFC, 8/29/01, p.E1)
1870 Leo Delibe wrote his ballet "Coppelia." It was based on a tale by E.T.A. Hoffman and was first produced this year in Paris.
(WSJ, 7/16/96, p.A9)(WSJ, 6/10/97, p.A16)
1870 In France the Hotel du Cap on the French Riviera was commercially opened as the Villa Soleil. This is the hotel described in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s opening of "Tender is the Night."
(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.218)
1870 Madame Pomeroy introduced the first brut champagne. Until this time champagne was sweet.
(Hem., 10/97, p.104)
1870 Sophus Lie (1842-1899), Norwegian mathematician, became a media sensation after he was found outside Paris with a backpack filled with undecipherable mathematical notes and arrested as a spy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophus_Lie)
1870 Frederic Bazille (29), artist and friend of Claude Monet, died.
(WSJ, 3/9/99, p.A20)
1870 Alexandre Dumas (b.1802), French novelist and dramatist who wrote "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers," died. In 1851 he wrote "A Gil Blas in California" (A Year Along the Banks of the San Joaquin and Sacramento"). "I need several mistresses. If I only had one, she’d be dead inside of eight days."
(SFC, 7/24/02, p.D3)
1870-1871 "The best book on this period is Emile Zola’s historical novel The Debacle." In reference to the days of the Paris Commune.
(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)
1870-1871 During the Franco-Prussian War there was a shortage of beef and horse meat began to be used. Germany annexed Alsace after the war.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, Z1 p.2)(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.T4)
1870s Edgar Degas, French painter journeyed to New Orleans. His time in New Orleans is covered in the 1997 book "Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable" by Christopher Benfey.
(SFEC, 1/4/98, BR p.9)
1871 Jan 8, Prussian troops began to bombard Paris during the Franco-Prussian War.
(HN, 1/8/99)
1871 Jan 18, The German Empire (Deutsches Kaiserreich) was proclaimed in Versailles. William I of Prussia was proclaimed "German Emperor" (which was not the same thing as "Emperor of Germany"). The unification of Germany was the greatest geopolitical transformation of the period. Germany went on to adopt the mark as its common currency.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(AP, 1/18/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany)(WSJ, 5/6/08, p.A21)
1871 Jan 22, The Paris proletariat and the National Guards held a revolutionary demonstration, initiated by the Blanquists. They demanded the overthrow of the government and the establishment of a Commune. By order of the Government of National Defense, the Breton Mobile Guard, which was defending the Hotel de Ville, opened fire on the demonstrators. After massacring the unarmed workers, the government began preparations to surrender Paris.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1871 Jan 28, France, under a provisional republican government, continued the war against Germany, but was forced to surrender in the Franco-Prussian War. Surrounded by Prussian troops and suffering from famine, the French army in Paris surrendered. During the siege, balloons were used to keep contact with the outside world.
(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(AP, 1/28/98)(HN, 1/28/99)
1871 Jan, The bombardment of Paris began.
(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)
1871 Feb 8, Elections were held in France, unknown to most of the nation's population.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1871 Feb 12, In France the new National Assembly opened at Bordeaux. Two-thirds of members were conservatives and wished the war to end.
(www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/timeline.htm)
1871 Feb 26, France and Prussia signed a preliminary peace treaty at Versailles.
(HN, 2/26/99)
1871 Mar 1, Germans paraded down the Champs-Elysses, Paris, France during the Franco-Prussian War.
(HN, 3/1/99)(WSJ, 3/14/95, p.A-16)
1871 Mar 26, Paris Commune was founded. The Parisians revolted against their government and tried to secede by electing their own government. The Commune of Paris refused to obey Adolphe Thiers, the elected president of the country. Thiers asked the Germans to release thousands of French prisoners and organized a powerful force to overcome the Commune.
(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(SS, 3/26/02)
1871 May 12, Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber (89), French opera composer, died.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1871 May 21-May 28, French government troops attacked the Commune of Paris. As many as 10,000 communards were killed. Of 36,000 people arrested some 10,000 were executed, imprisoned or deported. In 2014 John Merriman authored “Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune of 1871."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune)(Econ, 11/29/14, p.74)
1871 May 23, In France extremists burned the Tuileries Palace.
(SFC, 10/8/07, p.A12)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuileries_Palace)
1871 May 28, The last French communards of the Paris commune were shot against the Mur des Federes in Pere Lachaise cemetery by troops from Versailles.
(V.D.-H.K.p.260)(HN, 5/28/98)
1871 Jul 10, Marcel Proust (d.1922), French novelist was born. His masterpiece was "Remembrance of Things Past." In 1998 it was turned into a comic book series. In 1999 Edmund White published the biography "Marcel Proust" for the Penguin Lives series. "We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full."
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A10)(SFEC, 2/7/99, Par p.14)(AP, 8/2/99)(HN, 7/10/01)
1871 Sep 11, The 1st passenger train passed through the Mount Cenis Tunnel between France and Italy. Work on the 8-mile tunnel had begun in 1861 under the direction of French engineer Germain Sommeiller (d.7/11/1871).
(ON, 2/03, p.9)
1871 Oct 30, Paul Valery (d.1945), French poet and essayist, was born in Sete. "Two dangers constantly threaten the world: order and disorder."
(HN, 10/30/00)(AP, 6/10/00)(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.T10)
1871 Degas painted "Racehorses at Longchamp."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)
1871 In France James McNeill Whistler completed his best known work: "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother," aka “Whistler's Mother." His mother, Anna McNeill Whistler (d.1881), had moved into his apartment displacing his Irish model and sweetheart, Jo Heffernan. When his mother died Whistler borrowed £50 to get her portrait back from a pawn shop.
(WSJ, 5/31/95, p. A-14)(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.C6)
1871 The Rothschild banking empire bankrolled France's reparations to Germany.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)
1871 Charles Joseph Minard, French civil engineer, died. In 1861 he used techniques, which he had invented to display flows of people, to create a graphic display of Napoleon’s 1812-1813 march to and from Russia.
(Econ, 12/22/07, p.74)
1872 Oct 23, Theophile Gautier (61), French poet, writer, historian, and critic, died.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1872 Edgar Degas, French painter, journeyed to New Orleans where his mother was born. He made 22 paintings there. His time in New Orleans is covered in the 1997 book "Degas in New Orleans: Encounters in the Creole World of Kate Chopin and George Washington Cable" by Christopher Benfey.
(SFEC, 1/4/98, BR p.9)(SFC, 3/5/99, p.W12)
1872 Claude Monet created his painting: “Impression Sunrise." In 1985 it was stolen at gunpoint from the Marmottan Museum in Paris. In 1990 French police found it in an abandoned villa in southern Corsica.
(ON, 9/06, p.8)
1872 Camille Pissarro, French artist, painted "Louveciennes" and “The Fence."
(SFC, 1/20/99, p.E1)(SFC, 3/29/14, p.E5)
1872 Alphonse Daudet (1840-1897), French novelist, authored “Tartarin of Tarascon," the comic story of a big-hearted braggart.
(WSJ, 8/30/08, p.W7)
1872 The French opera "Djamilah," composed by Georges Bizet, was set in Turkish-ruled Egypt. It told the story of a Muslim pasha who buys a young mistress in the Cairo slave market.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)(ON, 5/06, p.11)
1872 The opera "La Fille de Madame Angot" was written by Charles Lecocq. An English version in 1998 by David Scott Marley was titled "Daughter of the Cabinet."
(SFC, 7/17/98, p.D5)
1872 The light opera "Don Cesar de Bazan," was composed by Jules Massenet.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1872-1950 Leon Blum, French statesman: "Life does not give itself to one who tries to keep all its advantages at once. I have often thought morality may perhaps consist solely in the courage of making a choice."
(AP, 8/22/98)
1873 Jan 7, Charles Peguy (d.1914), French poet and writer, was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P%C3%A9guy)
1873 May 8, John Stuart Mill (b.1806), British philosopher and economist, died in Avignon, France. He completed his autobiography just before death. Here he wrote that happiness is the incidental by-product of pursuing some other worthy goal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill)(Econ, 4/21/12, p.84)
1873 May 24, Leo Delibes' opera "Le Roi l'a Dit," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1873 Jun 28, Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, was born. He won a Nobel Prize in 1912 for the development of blood vessel suture technique.
(HN, 6/28/99)(MC, 6/28/02)
1873 Jul 10, French poet Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) wounded Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) with a pistol.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rimbaud)
1873 Sep 20, A financial panic hit the US when the high-flying bond dealer, Jay Cooke, granted too many loans to the railroads. Panic spread to Europe as London and Paris markets crashed and the New York Stock Exchange closed for the first time for 10 days.
(WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-10)(WSJ, 7/8/96, p.C1)(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A22)
1873 Colette (d.1954), French author, was born. Her works included "Cheri" and "Gigi." "To talk to a child, to fascinate him, is much more difficult than to win an electoral victory. But it is also more rewarding." In 1999 Claude Francis and Fernande Gontier published a 2-part biography: "Creating Colette: Volume One: From Ingenue to Libertine 1873-1913. The 2nd volume was "From Baroness to Woman of Letters 1913-1954." Other biographies included: "The Difficulty of Loving" by Margaret Crossland; "Colette: A Taste for Life" by Yvonne Mitchell; "Colette" by Joanna Richardson; "Colette: A Passion for Life" by Genevieve Dorman.
(AP, 10/18/97)(SFEC, 3/21/99, BR p.8)
1873 Degas painted “Degas Blanchisseuses souffrant des dent" (Laundry women with toothache). It was stolen in 1973 while on loan from the Louvre and recovered at a NYC Sotheby’s auction in 2010.
(Econ, 11/27/10, p.83)
1873 Henri Fantin-Latour created his painting "Still Life: Corner of a Table."
(WSJ, 12/12/01, p.A16)
1873 Claude Monet painted "Sunrise," a depiction of the port of La Havre with ships in the Spring. Monet moved from Paris to Giverny in this year.
(SFC, 11/13/98, p.C8)(SSFC, 5/20/01, p.T8)
1873 Pissarro painted "Street in Pontoise, Winter."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D1)
1873 A French expeditionary force in Vietnam sacked Hanoi's citadel.
(NG, May, 04, p.87)
1874 Feb 9, Jules Michelet (75), French historian (History of France), died. He was the first historian to use and define the word Renaissance ("Re-birth" in French), as a period in Europe's cultural history that represented a drastic break from the Middle Ages.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Michelet)
1874 Feb 12, Auguste Perret, French architect, was born. He pioneered in designs of reinforced concrete buildings.
(HN, 2/12/01)
1874 Mar, By the spring of this year Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste-Renoir, Albert Sisley, Frederic Bazille and others formed the world’s first independent artistic association: the “Societe anonyme des peintres, sculpteurs, et graveurs." They gathered at Argenteuil on the banks of the Seine to relax and paint.
(WSJ, 12/11/98, p.W16)(ON, 9/06, p.7)
1874 Apr 15, Members of the “Societe anonyme des peintres, sculpteurs, et graveurs" opened their first show, The First Exhibition of Independent Artists" on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris.
(ON, 9/06, p.7)
1874 Alfred Sisley painted "Snow Effect at Argenteuil."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1874 Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist, authored “The Temptation of St. Anthony."
(SFC, 7/13/13, p.E3)
1874 The Bordeaux Ecole de Management was founded. In 2002 the school introduced a master’s program in business administration for wine.
(WSJ, 3/19/02, p.B1)
1874 Bicycle couriers came into being in Paris taking messages from banks to telegraph offices.
(Econ, 4/23/11, p.89)
1875 Jan 14, Dr. Albert Schweitzer (d.1965), French theologian who set up a native hospital in French Equatorial Africa (Gabon) in 1913, was born. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952.
(HN, 1/14/99)(MC, 1/14/02)(AP, 10/30/03)
1875 Jan 20, Jean Francois Millet (b.1814), French painter, died.
(www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=745)
1875 Mar 3, The opera Carmen, composed by Georges Bizet (1873), opened in Paris at the Opera-Comique. The opera was based on a novella by Prosper Merimee (1803-1870).
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/merimee.htm)(AP, 3/3/98)
1875 Mar 7, Composer Maurice Ravel (d.1937) was born in Cibourne, France.
(AP, 12/28/97)(AP, 3/7/98)
1875 Jun 3, Georges Bizet (36), French composer (Carmen, Pearl Fishers), died.
(ON, 5/06, p.12)
1875 Jul 16, The new French constitution is finalized.
(HN, 7/16/98)
1875 Aug 25, Captain Matthew Webb (1848-1883) became the first person to swim across the English Channel, traveling from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in 21 hours and 45 min. Swimming the Channel entails about 35 miles of swimming due to currents in waters that are 55 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
(AP, 8/25/97)(HN, 8/25/98)(ON, 2/05, p.12)
1874 Sep 12, François Pierre Guillaume Guizot (b.1787), French historian, orator, and statesman, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Guizot)
1875 Gabriel Guay exhibited his painting "The Awakening" at the Paris Salon. It featured a nude, life-size woman, just waking up.
(SFEM, 4/11/99, p.30)
1875 Claude Monet painted "The Seine at Argenteuil."
(SFC, 4/10/97, p.E1)
1875 In Paris, France, the first stone was laid for the Sacre Coeur basilica in Montmartre.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.91)
1875 The Jacquemart-Andre mansion in Paris was designed by Henri Parent. The building later became the Jacquemart-Andre Musee.
(SFEC, 3/26/00, p.T12)
1875 France’s Rouen Museum acquired a Maori head, offered by a Parisian named Drouet. In 2011 France returned the first of 16 such human heads it had displayed as exotic curiosities. The other 15 were to be returned in 2012.
(AP, 5/9/11)
1876 Jun 8, French author George Sand (b.1804 as Lucile Aurore Dupin Dudevant) died in Nohant, France. In 1975 Curtis Cate published the biography: "George Sand." French author. In 1993 Francis Steegmuller and Barbara Bray published their translation of correspondence between Flaubert and Sand. In 2000 Belinda Jack authored "George Sand: A Woman’s Life Writ Large." "I would rather believe that God did not exist than believe that He was indifferent."
(AP, 6/8/00)(AP, 10/17/98)(SFEC, 8/27/00, BR p.5)(WSJ, 5/12/07, p.P10)
1876 Jun 10, Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) embarked for the Dutch East Indies, or modern-day Indonesia. He arrived on July 22 and on August 15 he deserted, leaving his possessions to be sold for the benefit of the local orphanage. He reappeared only on December 31, 1876, when he returned to his mother in Charleville-Mezieres in northern France. Rimbaud, who wrote the anti-militarist "The Sleeper in the Valley," had embarked on the journey after signing up for six years in the Dutch colonial army. In 2011 American writer Jamie James authored "Rimbaud in Java: The Lost Voyage."
(AP, 1/28/12)
1876 Degas painted "Absinthe."
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W8)
1876 Jean-Leon Gerome painted "Solomon's Wall, Jerusalem."
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.W12)
1876 Monet painted "Dans La Prairie." It was expected to sell for $16-20 million in 1999. He also did "La Repos Dans le Jardin" this year.
(WSJ, 11/5/99, p.W16)(WSJ, 5/3/02, p.W12)
1876 Renoir painted "The Garden of the Rue Cortot" at what is now the Montmartre museum in Paris. He also did a portrait of Alfred Sisley about this time.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.T11)(DPCP 1984)
1876 The 2nd Impressionist exhibition opened in Paris featuring Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas and Berthe Morisot.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.9)
1876 Construction of the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World), a gift to the US, began in France. The interior iron framework was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The design by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi included 7 rays on her crown to represent the seven seas and continents. Her tablet was engraved with the date July 4, 1776 in Roman numerals. Broken shackles at her feet represented tyranny. In 2014 Elizabeth Mitchell authored “Liberty’s Torch: The Great Adventure to Build the Statue of Liberty."
(SFEC, 6/20/99, p.T10)(SSFC, 7/6/14, p.N4)
1877 Feb 19, Louis Francois-Marie Aubert, French composer (Habanera), was born.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1877 Mar 25, Alphonse de Chateaubriand, French writer (Instantanes aux Pays-Bas), was born.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1877 Apr 27, Jules Massenet's Opera "Le Roi de Lahore" was produced in Paris.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1877 Jun 3, Raoul Dufy, French Fauvist painter (Palm), was born.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1877 Sep 3, Adolphe Thiers, 1st president of the 3rd French Republic (1871-77), died at 80.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1877 Gustave Caillebotte French impressionist painter, painted his "Paris Street: Rainy Day." [see 1848-1894, Caillebotte]
(WSJ, 2/23/95, p.A-10)(SSFC, 11/16/03, BR p.6)
1877 Cezanne painted "Mme. Cezanne in a Red Armchair."
(WSJ, 2/20/96, p.A-14)
1877 Claude Monet painted "Old St. Lazare Station, Paris." He did a series of these and captured the atmospheric effects of steam and light through the glass roof of the train shed.
(DPCP 1984)
1877 The oriental opera "Le Roi de Lahore," was composed by Jules Massenet.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1877 Saint-Saens wrote his opera "Samson et Dalila."
(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A16)
1878 Feb 19, Charles Francois Daubigny (b.1817), French painter of the Barbizon school, died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Fran%C3%A7ois_Daubigny)(SFC, 6/1/13, p.E2)
1878 May 1, The third Paris World’s Fair opened and continued to Nov 10. It showcased ice machines and electric street lights.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_Universelle_%281878%29)(Econ, 6/13/15, p.52)
1878 Gustave Caillebotte painted his impressionist "View of Rooftops (Snow).
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.E1)
1878 William Adolphe Bouguereau debuted his painting "La Charite" at the Exposition Universelle in Paris.
(WSJ, 3/24/00, p.W4)
1878 The French Academy accepted "humoristique" as a French word.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.75)
1878 A French Jewish woman purchased the Tomb of Kings property through the French consul in Jerusalem, and eight years later one of her heirs donated it to the French government.
(AP, 11/8/19)
1879 Feb 11, Honore Daumier (b.1808), French caricaturist, painter, died.
(WUD, 1994 p.369)( www.britannica.com/eb/article-9029447)
1879 Apr 16, Saint Bernadette, who had described seeing visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, died in Nevers, France.
(AP, 4/16/04)
1879 Aug 29, Jeanne Jugan (b.1792), a French nun, died. She had helped found the Little Sisters of the Poor. In 2009 she was canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church.
(AP, 10/11/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Jugan)
1879 Cezanne, French painter, painted his "Self-Portrait."
(WSJ, 9/28/95, p.A-16)
1879 Monet painted "Lavacourt in Winter."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1879 Pissaro painted "Rabbit Warren at Pontoise, Snow."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1879 Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "Two Little Circus Girls," a picture of Francisca and Angelina Wartenberg, jugglers in the Spanish Cirque Fernande.
(DPCP 1984)
1879 French artist Renoir painted “Paysage bords de Seine." It was seized in 2012 by the FBI. A Virginia woman claimed to have bought it at a flea market for $7. In 2014 a federal judge cited evidence that it had been stolen over 60 years ago from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
(SFC, 1/11/14, p.A4)
1879 Edmond de Goncourt published his French novel "Les Freres Zemganno."
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.75)
1879 The first autoclave was by Charles Chamberland (1851-1908), French microbiologist.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave)
1879 A cylindrical lump of platinum-iridium alloy was cast in Hatton Garden, England, and then dispatched to the Int’l. Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) in Sevres, France, as the standard measure for one kilogram. An ingot for the meter was deposited in 1889.
(Econ, 1/29/11, p.79)
1880 Jan 1, The building of the Panama Canal was symbolically begun under the direction of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. Actual construction began a year later. In 2007 Matthew Parker authored “Panama Fever: The Battle to Build the Canal."
(http://www.ared.com/history.htm)(Econ, 2/24/07, p.96)
1880 May 8, Gustave Flaubert (b.1821), French novelist, died. He revealed in painful detail the small foibles of a bourgeois life and believed in perfection of form and the absolute value of art. His work included "Madam Bovary," "Salammbo" and "A Simple Heart." "Our ignorance of history causes us to slander our own times." In 2006 Frederick Brown authored “Flaubert : A Biography."
(V.D.-H.K.p.278)(AP, 6/19/99)(HN, 12/12/99)(WSJ, 4/15/06, p.P8)
1880 Aug, Eight Inuit from Canada’s north-eastern coast agreed to travel to Europe to be exhibits in a human zoo. They soon died from smallpox. The skeletons of Abraham Ulrikab (1845-1881) and most of his companions were rediscovered in 2014 fully mounted for display in the storerooms of a French museum.
(Econ., 2/28/15, p.30)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Ulrikab)
1880 Jun 29, France annexed Tahiti.
(HN, 6/29/98)
1880 Oct 5, Jacques Offenbach (b.1819), French composer, died in Paris. His work included the operas "Orpheus" (1858) "La Belle Helene" (1864), and "Tales of Hoffman" (1881)
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Offenbach)
1880 Nov 8, Sarah Bernhardt, French actress, made her US debut at NY's Booth Theater.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1880 Dec 11, Louis Pasteur (57), French scientist, began an experiment to identify the microbe that causes rabies.
(ON, 6/08, p.4)
1880 Rodin created his sculpture "The Thinker."
(HNQ, 12/6/00)
1880 Monet painted "Sunset on the Seine in Winter."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D1)
1880 Renoir began his painting "Luncheon of the Boating Party," ["The Rower’s Lunch"] the culmination of a decade of riverscapes. It depicted a scene at the Restaurant Fournaise on the banks of the Seine at a spot known as La Grenouillere (the frog pond). It was completed in 1881 and sold to Duncan Philips in 1923 for $125,000.
(WSJ, 9/10/96, p.A16)(SFC, 10/30/96, p.E7)(DPCP 1984)
1880 Paul Lafargue (1842-1911), French revolutionary and journalist, published “Le Droit a la Paresse" (The Right to Laziness), in which he recommended that men should work no more than three hours a day.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.51)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lafargue)
1880 Guy de Maupassant wrote his short story “Boule de Suif" (Butterball). In 2006 it premiered as an opera by composer Stephen Hartke and librettist Philip Littell.
(WSJ, 8/8/06, p.D5)
1880 The Hotel Concorde Saint-Lazare was built near the St. Lazare train station in Paris at the behest of the government to encourage travel by train. In 2006 the hotel was purchased by Westbrook Partners, an American private equity group.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.98)
1880 France resurrected Bastille Day as a national holiday. The July 14 holiday had been abolished by Napoleon Bonaparte. “La Marseillaise" was adopted as the French national anthem. In 2008 Christopher Prendergast authored “the Fourteenth of July: And the Taking of the Bastille."
(Econ, 7/12/08, p.91)
1880 The French colonized Polynesia.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.T12)
1880 The Hermes harness makers of France added saddle-making to their manufacturing list.
(Hem., 7/95, p.27)
c1880 The Durif grape was named by Francois Durif, French botanist and grape breeder, as the result of an unintended crossing between two varieties. California vines labeled Petite Sirah were later identified as Durif. In 1998 the Durif grape was identified as a cross between the French grape Peloursin and Syrah
(SFC, 1/20/05, p.F5)
1880-1900 Rodin worked on his "Gates of Hell" over this period. The work was later exhibited inside the Cantor Arts Center of Stanford Univ., Ca.
(SFC, 8/18/99, p.D5)(Ind, 4/4/00,13A)
1881 Feb 4, Fernand Leger (d.1955), French painter, was born.
(HN, 2/4/01)
1881 Mar 23, Roger Martin du Guard, French novelist (Les Thibault-Nobel 1937), was born.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1881 Mar 23, Gas lamp set fire to Nice, France, opera house and 70 died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1881 May 1, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (d.1955), French Jesuit philosopher, paleontologist, was born. He authored the "Phenomenon of Man" wherein he proposed the idea of the noosphere, i.e. sphere of mind, in which all the minds of all the humans on earth could be conceived of as both separate and as combined in one great, single intelligence.
(V.D.-H.K.p.388)(MC, 5/1/02)
1881 May 12, The Treaty of Bardo established Tunis [Tunisia] as a French protectorate. The French withdrew their forces after signing the treaty. The terms of the agreement gave France responsibility for the defense and foreign policy decisions of Tunisia. Henceforth, Tunis became a French protectorate
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Bardo)
1881 Jun 16, In France the first set of the Jules Ferry Laws were passed, making primary education free for both boys and girls. A 2nd set of laws on 28 March 1882 made primary education in France free, non-clerical and mandatory. Jules Ferry (1832-1893), French statesman, introduced compulsory, free, secular primary education.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Ferry_laws)(Econ, 9/30/17, SR p.7)
1881 Pierre-Auguste Renoir painted "On the Terrace," a picture of a young woman and a pink-cheeked child with the Seine in the background.
(DPCP 1984)
1881 French composer Jules Massenet wrote the grand opera "Herodiade".
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1881 The French state finally relinquished its hold on the arts and turned power over to the Societe des artistes Français.
(Calg. Glen., 1996)
1881 A French law restricted press freedom.
(Econ., 10/24/20, p.19)
1881 France scrapped blasphemy laws. They had carried the death penalty before the 1789 revolution.
(Econ, 1/24/15, p.53)
1881-1882 Although Pierre-Auguste Renoir embraced Impressionism early on, his travels to Algeria, Italy, and Provence from 1881-82 led him to reject the style. Renoir came from a family of artisans, who soon noticed and encouraged his aptitude for painting. When Renoir decided to study painting in earnest, he found himself stifled by the conventions and traditions of the day. Renoir and some of his fellow students (Frédéric Bazille, Claude Monet and Alfred Sisley) began meeting with young painters Paul Cézanne and Camille Pissarro and a style developed. Although critical and financial success did not come to the group with the first Impressionist exposition of 1874, Renoir's interest in the human figure (as opposed to landscapes) led him to receive several portrait commissions. The trips in the early 1880s exposed him to elements of classicism that he felt drawn to in terms of both color and brushstrokes. However, despite his newfound interest, he retained the use of vibrant coloration and a bucolic view of nature.
(HNQ, 5/23/01)
1882 Mar 19, Gaston Lachaise (d.1935), Franco-American sculptor (Standing Woman), was born.
(SFC, 2/2/02, p.D1)(MC, 3/19/02)
1882 Apr 25, French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi. Capt. Henri Riviere was later beheaded after he attempted to seize the coal deposits at Ha long Bay. The outraged French proceeded to colonize Vietnam.
(HN, 4/25/98)(SFEC, 7/18/99, p.T4)
1882 May 13, Georges Braque (d.1963, French cubist painter, was born in Argenteuil, near Paris. He said of his work that: "The aim is not to reconstitute an anecdotal fact, but to constitute a pictorial fact." He was shot in the head during WW I and had his head drilled to relieve the pressure. His "Billiard Tables" series was painted between 1944 and 1949.
(V.D.-H.K.p.359-360)(AHD, 1971, p.160)(WSJ, 5/7/97, p.A16)(MC, 5/13/02)
1882 Sep 3, The French, Vietnamese and Chinese battled at Hanoi; hundreds died.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1882 Oct 29, Jean Giraudoux, French dramatist, novelist and diplomat, famous for his book "Tiger at the Gates," was born. His plays included "Eglantine" and "Provinciales."
(HN, 10/29/98)(MC, 10/29/01)
1882 Nov 18, Jacques Maritain, French Catholic philosopher (exponent of St Thomas), was born.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1882 Dec 31, Leon Michel Gambetta (44), French attorney and premier (1881-82), died.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1882 Gaston Lachaise (d.1935), Franco-American sculptor, was born.
(SFC, 2/2/02, p.D1)
1882 Paul Cezanne completed his painting “The Three Bathers." Matisse saw it in a gallery in 1899. He and his wife soon agreed to pawn her emerald ring in order to purchase it, which they held for 37 years.
(https://www.wikiart.org/en/paul-cezanne/three-bathers)(Econ, 7/9/16, p.73)
1882 Claude Monet painted "The Cliff Walk (Pourville)." His series of seaside cliff scenes are among his most dramatic paintings.
(DPCP 1984)
1882 In France secular primary education became compulsory. A day off on Thursday was provided for students to attend religious education outside the school.
(Econ, 9/21/13, p.55)
1883 Mar 31, 1st performance of Cesar Franck's "Le Chasseur Maudit."
(MC, 3/31/02)
1883 Apr 14, Leo Delibes' opera "Lakme," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1883 Aug 19, Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (d.1971), French fashion designer, was born: "My friends, there are no friends."
(HN, 8/19/00)(AP, 7/26/99)
1883 Sep 3, Ivan Turgenev (b.1818), Russian novelist and playwright, died in France. His best play was “A Month in the Country." In 1977 V.S. Pritchett authored the biography “The Gentle Barbarian: The Life and Work of Turgenev." In 2005 Robert Dessaiz authored “Twilight of Love: Travels With Turgenev," an exploration of Turgenev’s work.
(WSJ, 4/26/95, p.A-14)(www.nndb.com/people/697/000055532/)(SSFC, 9/18/05, p.F2)
1883 Oct 4, Orient Express made its 1st run linking Istanbul, Turkey, to Paris by rail.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1883 Claude Monet made a trip to Italy with Cezanne and Renoir and painted "The Monte Carlo Road."
(WSJ, 8/26/97, p.A14)
1883 Haiti made its final payment to France of the 1825 "debt," renegotiated in 1838. In 2004 Haiti demanded nearly 22 billion in restitution.
(WSJ, 1/2/04, p.A1)
1884 Jan 19, Jules Massenet's opera "Manon," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1884 Jun 23, A Chinese Army defeated the French at Bacle, Indochina.
(HN, 6/23/98)
1884 Jul 4, The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States in ceremonies at Paris, France. The 225-ton, 152-foot statue was a gift from France in commemoration of 100 years of American independence. Created by the French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the statue was installed on Bedloe Island (now Liberty Island) in New York harbor in 1885. It was dedicated on October 28, 1886.
(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1884 Oct 13, Greenwich was established as the universal time meridian of longitude. 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C. for the International Meridian Conference. This conference selected the Greenwich Meridian as the official Prime Meridian due to its popularity. However, France abstained from the vote and French maps continued to use the Paris Meridian for several decades.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_13)
1884 French artist Paul Philippoteaux (1846-1923) and team of 20 created in Paris the massive Cyclorama painting titled “The Battle of Gettysburg." It was originally 377 feet in circumference. They then shipped it to the US, where it was first displayed in Boston. The US National Park Service acquired it in 1942. In 2008 a 5-year, $15 million restoration project was completed and it was reopened to the public at the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pa.
(SSFC, 9/28/08, p.E2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Philippoteaux)
1884 Edgar Degas began painting his series of pastels and oils of dancers. The first was done about this time and titled "Danseuses."
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.A4)
1884 Claude Monet painted "Bordighera." It was done on the French Riviera to which he returned after a visit there with Renoir in late 1883. The paintings were marked by bold, pure color in contrast to his earlier subdued pastels.
(DPCP 1984)
1884 Vincent Van Gogh painted the work, "Spring Garden." It depicts the garden of the parsonage where his father lived as pastor.
(The Week, 3/31/20)
1884 Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) painted the impressionist work "En Bateau sur le Lac de Boulogne." It was valued in 1998 at $600-800 thousand.
(SFC, 2/14/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A19)
1884 Georges Seurat, French artist, painted "Bathers at Asnieres." He also began his 7x10 foot painting “Study for A Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte." The work was completed in 1886 and heralded as a milestone of art theory.
(WSJ, 6/19/00, p.A44)(WSJ, 7/20/04, p.A1)(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
1884 The grand opera "Manon," was composed by Jules Massenet. The libretto was based on an 18th century novel was Abbe Prevost.
(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)
1884-1966 Georges Duhamel, French author: "If anyone tells you something strange about the world, something you had never heard before, do not laugh but listen attentively; make him repeat it, make him explain it; no doubt there is something there worth taking hold of." "It is always brave to say what everyone thinks."
(AP, 4/20/97)(AP, 11/19/99)
1885 May 22, Victor-Marie Hugo (b.1802), French novelist (Les Miserables) and poet, died. In 1998 Graham Robb published the biography: "Victor Hugo." Hugo also did a number of drawings, later appreciated by Andre Breton and Max Ernst, and in 1914 Henri Focillon published the first critical study of them. In 1998 Pierre Georgel and Marie-Laure Prevost published "Shadows of a Hand: The Drawings of Victor Hugo."
(WSJ, 2/10/98, p.A16)(HN, 2/26/98)(SFEC, 5/31/98, BR p.4)(MC, 5/22/02)
1885 May, Henri Rousseau, a self-taught artist, exhibited two of his paintings at the Salon of French Art in Paris without bothering to obtain permission. One painting was cut with a knife and authorities removed them as soon as they were noticed. That same month he exhibited his work at the Salon of the Independents.
(ON, 8/08, p.8)
1885 Jun 6, Leo Delibes' opera "Lakme" was produced in Paris.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1885 Jun 14, The 1st photo finish horse race was recorded by Luis-Jean Delton as Paradox beat Reluisant at the Grand Prix de Paris.
(SFC, 4/28/03, D1)
1885 Jun 26, Andre Maurois (d.1967), French writer (Balzac), was born as Émile Herzog. "Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy man has no time to form."
(AP, 7/6/00)(MC, 6/26/02)
1885 Jun 17, The French naval ship Isere arrived in NYC with a cargo of wooden crates containing the pieces of the Statue of Liberty.
(AP, 6/17/97)(ON, 4/03, p.3)
1885 Jul 6, French scientist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) successfully tested an anti-rabies vaccine on a boy bitten by an infected dog. Thanks to his vaccine the death rate from rabies dropped to almost zero by 1888.
(AP, 7/6/97)(ON, 6/08, p.6)
1885 Oct 11, Francois Mauriac, Nobel Prize-winning novelist, was born.
(HN, 10/11/00)
1885 Nov 30, Jules Massenet's opera "Le Cid" had its premier in Paris. It included text from the playwright Corneille's "Le Cid."
(WSJ, 11/18/99, p.A24)(MC, 11/30/01)
1885 Cezanne painted his watercolor of "Madame Cezanne with hydrangeas."
(WSJ, 2/20/96, p.A-14)
1885 Berthe Morisot (d.1895), French Impressionist, painted her self portrait.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.29)
1885 Emile Zola (1840-1902) authored his novel “Germinal," a fictional account of a French mining strike. It was the 13th novel in Zola's 20-volume series Les Rougon-Macquart.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germinal_%28novel%29)(WSJ, 10/7/97, p.A20)
1885 Alphonse Bertillon of the Paris Police Dept. (Surete) developed the Bertillon system to help identify criminals. It was based on a variety or personal characteristics including hair and eye color and various body measurements.
(ON, 4/04, p.11)
1885-1957 Sacha Guitry, French director, actor and dramatist: "The little I know I owe to my ignorance." "You can pretend to be serious; but you can't pretend to be witty."
(AP, 5/27/98)(AP, 2/27/99)
1886 May 2, Edouard Lockroy, French Minister of Culture, announced plans for a tower for the 1889 Paris exhibition and invited proposals for the project. The winning design was submitted by engineer Gustave Eiffel.
(ON, 7/03, p.9)
1886 May 19, Camille Saint-Saens' 3rd Symphony in C ("Organ"), premiered.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1886 Jun 24, Ngazidja (Grande Comore) became a French protectorate.
(www.worldstatesmen.org/Comoros.html)
1886 Oct 28, The Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated by President Cleveland. It was designed by F.A. Bartholdi. It was a monument to republicanism and to the amity between the French and American nations. Later the poem "New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus was placed at the base.
(WUD, 1994, p.1389)(WSJ, 7/26/96, p.A9)(THC, 4/10/97)(AP, 10/28/97)
1886 Nov 30, Folies Bergere introduced an elaborate review featuring women in sensational costumes. Years later, the Folies followed the Parisian taste for striptease and gained a reputation for spectacular nudie shows. The Folies had originated as a hall for operettas, pantomime, and even political meetings.
(MC, 11/30/01)
1886 The last impressionist exhibition was held in France.
(SFC, 10/22/96, p.E8)
1886 French artist Jean-Leon Gerome painted "The First Kiss of the Sun."
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.W12)
1886 Henri Fantin-Latour painted "Vase With Autumn Asters."
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.B1)
1886 French sculptor Auguste Rodin created his marble sculpture "The Kiss."
(WSJ, 7/5/96, p.A5)
1886 Paul Durand-Ruel, a Paris art dealer, packed his bag with 300 Impressionist paintings and took them to sell in America.
(Econ, 11/28/09, SR p.13)
1886 Pierre Loti, French naval officer and author, wrote "An Iceland Fisherman."
(SFEC, 11/17/96, DB p.40)
1886 “Illuminations," the final work of Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), was published in France. By this time he had given up on poetry to become a trader in Africa.
(Econ, 6/25/11, p.98)
1886 Emile Zola (1840-1902), French author, wrote "The Masterpiece," the story of an artist in pursuit of his vision. Zola described the horror felt by much of the general public when presented with the work of the new Impressionists.
(WSJ, 4/29/06, p.P10)(Econ, 5/2/09, p.85)
1886 Frenchman Edouard Drumont authored “La France Juive," an anti-Semitic tract that became a best-seller.
(Econ, 6/12/10, p.91)
1886 Rene Lalique, a pioneer of Art Nouveau style, set up his own jewelry workshop in Paris, France. He had already apprenticed under Louis Aucoq and worked for Cartier, Boucheron and other established houses.
(SSFC, 2/4/07, p.C4)
1886-1888 Vincent Van Gogh made his Paris sojourn.
(WSJ, 3/14/00, p.A28)
1886-1963 Robert Schuman, French statesman: "When I was a young man I vowed never to marry until I found the ideal woman. Well, I found her -- but, alas, she was waiting for the perfect man."
(AP, 6/26/97)
1887 May 18, Emmanuel Chabrier’s opera "Le Roi Malgré Luis" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1887 May 25, Gas lamp at Paris Opera caught fire and 200 died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1887 Jul 28, Marcel Duchamp (d.1968), French artist, was born. He is known best for "Nude Descending a Staircase," (1912) featured in the 1913 Armory Show in New York. Arturo Schwarz published his complete works in 1969 with a new edition in 1997. In 1996 Calvin Tompkins wrote "Duchamp: A Biography."
(V.D.-H.K.p.361)(WSJ, 12/18/96, p.A18)(HN, 7/28/01)
1887 Sep 16, Nadia Boulanger (d.1979), conductor, was born in Paris, France. She became the 1st woman to conduct Boston Symphony (1939).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Boulanger)(www.glbtq.com/arts/boulanger_n.html)
1887 Nov 24, Victorien Sardou's "La Tosca," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1887 Van Gogh painted "The Courtesan." It was inspired by an 1820 work by the Japanese artist Keisai Eisen who pictured an intricately coifed woman that later appeared on the cover of a French magazine
(SFC, 11/16/98, p.E3)(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)
1887 Claude Monet painted "The Seine With the Pont de la Grande Jatte."
(SFC, 1/18/99, p.B2)
1887 Odilon Redon (1840-1916), French painter and etcher, made his "Spider" lithograph.
(WUD, 1994, p.1203)(SFEM, 6/29/97, p.4)
1887 Sadi Carnot (1837-1994) became president.
(WUD, 1994 p.225)
1887 The legendary 19-carat "Le Grand Mazarin" diamond was auctioned at a sale of French crown jewels. Originally from the Golconda mines in India, the stone was set in the crowns of almost all kings and emperors of France since the early 18th century. In 2017 the Christie’s auction house put a pre-sale estimate at $6 million to $9 million on the diamond and said the current owner selling the gem is remaining anonymous.
(AP, 10/18/17)
1887-1979 Nadia Boulanger, French music composer teacher. "Life is denied by lack of attention, whether it be to cleaning windows or trying to write a masterpiece." "Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult."
(AP, 3/26/97)(AP, 2/23/99)
1888 May 7, Edouard Lalo's opera "Le roi d'Ys," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1888 Sep 12, Maurice Chevalier (d.1972), actor, was born in Paris, France.
(HN, 9/12/00)(www.jimpoz.com)
1888 Oct-1888 Dec, Vincent van Gogh shared a 4-room house in Arles, France, with Paul Gauguin. During this period Van Gogh painted his portrait “l’Arlesienne, Madame Ginoux" based on a drawing by Gauguin. In December Van Gogh cut off his ear with a razor during a quarrel with painter Paul Gauguin, who then fled to Paris. They never saw each other again. In 2006 martin Gayford authored “The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles."
(Econ, 4/29/06, p.89)
1888 Vincent van Gogh painted the "Portrait of a Young Man in a Cap." The painting later went up for auction for as much as $8 mil. Van Gogh also painted his "Boats at Saintes-Maries," "The Bedroom," "Self Portrait as an Artist," "Postman Joseph Roulin," and "Le Pont de Trinquetaille" in this year. In 1990 Robert Altman directed a film titled "Vincent and Theo" about Van Gogh and his brother.
(WSJ, 4/27/95, p.C-18)(WSJ, 11/10/95, p. A-10)(SFC, 4/13/96, p.E3)(SFC, 1/14/98, p.D3)(SFEC, 10/25/98, Z1 p.12)(WSJ, 9/3/99, p.W10)(WSJ, 9/24/99, p.W9)
1888 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted the portrait “Madame Lili Grenier."
{France, Artist}
(SFC, 9/15/12, p.E1)
1888 Etienne Henri Dumaige (b.1830), French sculptor, died. He worked in marble, plaster and bronze. His subjects included Rabelais, Sappho, Perseus and other classical figures.
(SSFC, 2/10/02, p.G5)
1889 Feb 4, The Panama Canal project under Ferdinand de Lesseps (d.1894) went bankrupt. Over 5,000 French people died working on the project. In all over 25,000 people died during 8 years of work, mostly from malaria and yellow fever.
(Econ, 2/24/07, p.97)(www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/185.html)
1889 Mar 31, French engineer Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion. Constructed of 7,000 tons of iron and steel, the 984-foot structure was designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the Paris Exhibition of 1889, commemorating the centennial of the French Revolution. The price for the Eiffel Tower was more than $1 million, but fees for the year 1889 alone nearly recouped the cost. Fifty-five years later, plans by Hitler to leave the tower and much of Paris a smoking ruin were foiled by an unlikely hero. After the Paris World Fair a church designed by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was dismantled and shipped to Santa Rosalia in Baja, Mexico.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, Par, p.23)(SFEC, 11/10/96, p.T11)(HNPD, 3/31/99)(AP, 3/31/08)
1889 May 6, The Paris Exposition formally opened, featuring the just-completed Eiffel Tower.
(AP, 5/6/97)
1889 May 18, Jules Massenet’s opera "Esclarmonde" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1889 May 30, The brassiere was invented in Paris. [see 1902]
(HN, 5/30/98)(WSJ, 2/3/99, p.A1)
1889 Jun 1, The first non-stop train to Istanbul left Paris (Gare de l'Est). The train's eastern terminus became Varna in Bulgaria, where passengers could take a ship to Constantinople.
(Econ, 12/19/15, p.67)
1889 Jul 5, Jean Cocteau (d.1963), French artist, writer and actor, was born. "History is a combination of reality of History becomes a lie. The unreality of the fable becomes the truth."
(AP, 11/16/00)(HN, 7/5/01)
1889 Jul 13, Vincent van Gogh painted "Moonrise." The exact date was determined in 2003 by a physicist using a computer and moon data from the painting.
(SFC, 7/16/03, p.D2)
1889 Aug 20, Leonide Lacroix of France was granted a US patent for a machine to cut and wind strips of paper for cigarettes. Rizla became a brand name for rolling papers.
(https://tinyurl.com/sxyd3hnf)(Econ., 1/16/21, p.54)
1889 Oct 6, The Moulin Rouge in Paris first opened its doors to the public. Women who made a living washing linen by day transformed themselves into dancers at night.
(AP, 10/6/97)(Reuters, 10/7/19)
1889 Oct 25, Abel Gance, French film director (Napoleon), was born.
(HN, 10/25/00)(MC, 10/25/01)
1889 Dec 23, Vincent van Gogh sliced his left ear in reaction to Gauguin’s announcement that he was leaving Arles for Paris.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.103)
1889 Van Gogh painted "The Gardener," while a patient in St. Remy-de-Provence as well as “Starry Night." He also did "Wheatfield with a Reaper" and "Crab on Its Back" in this year.
(SFC, 5/21/98, p.A14)(SFC, 1/18/99, p.B1)(WSJ, 8/14/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 10/18/08, p.W12)
1889 The 700-seat Elysee Montmartre was built near Pigalle by Gustave Eiffel as a dance hall.
(WSJ, 4/8/99, p.A16)
1890 May, Vincent van Gogh arrived in the French village of Auvers-sur-Oise, seeking a new life after a year in a mental asylum. He embarked on an explosion of creativity, producing more than 70 paintings within two months.
(AP, 6/12/07)
1890 cJun, Van Gogh painted his Portrait of Dr. Gachet. He described the painting in detail to his brother and sister. A 2nd portrait of Dr. Gachet, held by the Musee d'Orsay is a variant of the first and is suspected to be unfinished by Van Gogh and completed by someone else.
(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A20)
1890 Jul 27, Artist Vincent van Gogh shot himself in Auvers-sur-Oise, France. He survived the impact, but not realizing that his injuries were to be fatal, he walked back to the Ravoux Inn. He died 2 days later.
(Econ, 10/31/09, p.95)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh)
1890 Jul 29, Artist Vincent van Gogh died 2 days following a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Auvers-sur-Oise, France, while painting "Wheatfield with Crows." He spent his last 70 days in the care of Dr. Gachet and 78 paintings have been attributed to this period. Earlier in the year he painted his "Garden at Auvers." In 2009 his letters were published in a 6-volume edition titled: Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters." Earlier editions had appeared in 1914 and 1958. In 2011 Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith authored “Van Gogh: The Life."
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-12)(SFC, 5/26/96, Z1 p.2)(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A20)(AP, 7/29/07)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.95)(Econ, 11/5/11, p.102)
1890 Aug 15, Jacques Ibert, composer (Escales), was born in Paris, France.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1890 Oct, Dr. William Penny Brookes (81) met Baron Pierre de Coubertin (27) of France, widely regarded as the founder of the modern Olympics, over several hours at the Raven Hotel in Much Wenlock, England. The two spoke about de Coubertin's wish to stage an international Olympic festival in Athens.
(AP, 7/1/11)
1890 Oct, Ludovic Napoleon Lepic (b.1839), French Impressionist painter, died. His work included “Boats on the Beach at Berck" (1876).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludovic-Napol%C3%A9on_Lepic)(SFC, 6/1/13, p.E2)
1890 Nov 22, Charles de Gaulle (d.1970), French general and president (1958-1969), was born in Lille, France. "Nothing great will ever be achieved without great men, and men are great only if they are determined to be so."
(AP, 11/22/97)(AP, 11/22/98)(HN, 11/22/98)
1890 French foreign legionnaires massacred the amazonian army of Dahomey (Benin).
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.62)
1890 The French restaurant Tour d’Argent began numbering its servings of Caneton Tour d’Argent, a meal of pressed duck.
(WSJ, 5/15/96, p.A-12)
1890-1892 Cezanne painted his oil on canvas: "Card Players." It is part of the Dr. Barnes collection and on the Corbis CD. [see 1972-1951, Barnes]
(Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.85)
1890-1912 In France a 151-km. private railroad was constructed from Nice to Digne above the River Var. It was brought under state control in 1933 and again privatized in 1972.
(Hem., 1/97, p.116)
1891 Jan 11, Georges-Eugene Haussmann (b.1809), French town planner, died. He designed modern-day Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron_Haussmann)
1891 Jan 24, Max Ernst, German-French surrealist painter, sculptor, was born. [see Apr 2]
(MC, 1/24/02)
1891 Jan 31, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (b.1815), French academic painter, died. His painting “Friedland, 1807," begun in 1863, was completed in 1875.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/10149a.htm)
1891 Mar 29, Georges-Pierre Seurat (31), French painter (Pointillism), died.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1891 Apr 1, Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), French painter, abandoned his wife and 5 children and left Marseille for Tahiti.
(SFEC, 3/2/97, p.T12)(MC, 4/1/02)(SSFC, 5/11/03, p.C7)
1891 Apr 1, The London-Paris telephone connection opened.
(OTD)
1891 Apr 2, Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor, founder of surrealism, was born. [see Jan 24]
(HN, 4/2/98)
1891 May 11, Alexandre Becquerel (b.1820), French physicist, died. In 1839, Becquerel observed the photoelectric effect via an electrode in a conductive solution exposed to light.
(www.patent-invent.com/electricity/inventors/alexandre_becquerel.html)
1891 May 15, Jules Massenet's opera "Griselde," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1891 Aug 5, Henry Charles Litolff (73), French pianist, composer, died.
(MC, 8/5/02)
1891 Sep 26, Charles Munch (d.1968), Alsatian conductor (French Legion D'Honeur), was born in Strasbourg.
(WUD, 1994 p.941)(MC, 9/26/01)
1891 Nov 10, J.N. Arthur Rimbaud (b.1854), French poet and arms merchant (Saison en Enfer), died in Marseille after doctors amputated his leg. In 1961 Enid Starkie authored a biography. In 2000 Graham Robb authored "Rimbaud." Rimbaud stopped writing poetry at age 21 and ended his last years in Africa as an arms dealer. In 2008 Edmund White authored “Rimbaud: The Double Life of a Rebel."
(WUD, 1994 p.1234)(HN, 10/20/00)(SFC, 2/12/02, p.D3)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.115)
1891 Claude Monet painted his impressionist "Grainstacks: Snow Effect."
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.E1)
1891 Camille Pissarro painted "Two Young Peasant Women." It was later analyzed as an attempt to marry painting and anarchism.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, BR p.8)
1891 Emile Zola (1840-1902), French novelist, authored “L’Argent" (Money), the story of a scheming financier. It was first published as a newspaper serial.
(WSJ, 7/19/08, p.W6)
1891 In France the Nantes Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul was completed. Construction had begun in 1434.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantes_Cathedral)(SSFC, 7/19/20, p.A5)
1891 In Paris Alexandre Darracq started Gladiator Cycles as one of the dozens of bicycle companies that saturated the market when the cycling craze boomed. The eccentric later became famous for manufacturing automobiles. The Golden Age of cycling reached its pinnacle in 1895, and that same year printer G. Massias unveiled one of the great Parisian advertising posters. Only four of these original posters exist today. The poster was later used by California vintner Hahn Family Wines, a led to a 2009 ban on the wine in Alabama.
(www.cyclesgladiator.com/AboutCyclesGladiator)
1891 Montaudon, a French champagne maker, began operations. In 2008 it was acquired by LVMH, a luxury goods conglomerate.
(Econ, 8/22/09, p.59)(www.champagnemontaudon.com/uk/home_uk.html)
1891 Pierre Lallemont (47), French mechanic, died in Boston. In 1866 he was granted a US patented for his velocipede, a rotary crank bicycle.
(ON, 2/10, p.3)
1891 French Guinea was established in 1891, taking the same borders as the previous colony of Rivieres du Sud (1882–1891). Prior to 1882, the coastal portions of French Guinea were part of the French colony of Senegal.
{Guinea, France, Senegal}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guinea)
1892 Feb 16, The opera “Werther" premiered at the Imperial Theatre Hofoper in Vienna. It was composed in 1887 by French composer Jules Massenet based on Goethe’s 1774 novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther."
(SFC, 9/17/10, p.F1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werther)
1892 Mar 10, Arthur Oscar Honegger, composer (King David), was born in Le Havre, France.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1892 Jul 12, In France flood waters burst from a lake buried under a glacier on Mt. Blanc killing at least 175 people in the St. Gervais valley.
(SFC, 8/26/10, p.A4)(http://tinyurl.com/2aygvoz)
1892 Sep 4, Darius Milhaud, Aix-en-Provence France, composer, was born.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1892 Nov 8, In Paris, France, anarchist Emile Henry placed a time bomb at the offices of the Carmaux Mining Company that killed 5 policemen.
(www.marxists.org/reference/archive/henry/biography.htm)
1892 Nov 16, King Behanzin of Dahomey (now Benin), led soldiers against the French.
(HN, 11/16/98)
1892 Russian anarcho-communist Peter Kropotkin authored "The Conquest of Bread". Originally written in French, it first appeared as a series of articles in the anarchist journal Le Révolté. It was first published in Paris with a preface by Élisée Reclus, who also suggested the title. Between 1892 and 1894, it was serialized in part in the London journal Freedom, of which Kropotkin was a co-founder.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conquest_of_Bread)
1892 France introduced the Meline tariff on grain. Later studies showed that this halted a century-long decline in the birth rate and set educational development back 15 years in areas with the most employment in agriculture.
(Econ, 4/16/15, p.63)
1892 Camille Flammarion of France explained the changing brightness of features on Mars to seasonal changes of yellow vegetation and shallow seas.
(SFC, 11/29/96, p.A16)
1893 Feb 9, Suez Canal builder De Lesseps and others were sentenced to prison for fraud.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1893 Mar 5, Hippolyte Taine (64), French philosopher, historian, died.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1893 Jun, Pierre de Coubertin convinced the General Assembly of the USFSA, an amateur sporting society, to host a congress in France that would examine the issue of amateurism in sports.
(ON, 8/07, p.3)
1893 Jul 7, Guy de Maupassant (42), writer, died.
(MC, 7/7/02)
1893 Oct 18, Charles F. Gounod, French composer (Faust, Romeo et Juliette), died at 75.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1893 Dec 9, Auguste Vaillant (b.1861) threw a nail bomb from the second row of the public gallery in the Palais Bourbon into the chamber: 20 deputies were slightly injured. A symbolic gesture, meant to wound rather than kill, Vaillant was condemned to death, and guillotined February 5 1894. The deputies use the event to suppress the anarchist press.
(http://recollectionbooks.com/bleed/Encyclopedia/VaillantAuguste.htm)
1893 Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), French Impressionist painter, completed “Regatta at Argenteuil," in oil on canvas.
(SFC, 6/1/13, p.E1)
1893 Camille Pissarro painted "Place du Havre, Paris." It was the first of four urban scenes of his lifetime and was painted from his hotel window across from the St. Lazare train station.
(DPCP 1984)
1893 Claude Monet created his "water garden" at Giverney.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1893 Claude Debussy completed his only opera: "Pelleas et Melisande." It was based on a symbolist drama by Maeterlinck.
(SFEC,11/9/97, DB p.13)
1893 France began colonizing West Africa and Timbuktu came under French rule until Mali became independent in 1960.
(AP, 4/1/12)
1893 French colonialists seized control of Laos and tried to turn the Mekong River into a thoroughfare linking their Indochina colonies.
(Econ, 1/3/04, p.29)
1893 The first automobile license plates were issued in Paris, France.
(HNQ, 7/18/00)
1894 Jan 9, Georges Feydeau's "Un Fil a la Patte," ("Cat Among the Pigeons") premiered in Paris.
(MC, 1/9/02)
1894 Feb 12, In Paris, France, anarchist Emile Henry hurled a bomb into the Cafe Terminus killing one and injuring twenty.
(www.marxists.org/reference/archive/henry/biography.htm)
1894 Feb 21, Gustave Caillebotte (b.1848), French Impressionist painter, died and left nearly 70 of his friend’s painting to the French state. He was noted for his early interest in photography as an art form.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Caillebotte)(Econ, 3/18/17, p.84)
1894 Mar 16, The opera "Thais," composed by Jules Massenet, premiered in Paris. The libretto was by Louis Gallet. It was based on a novel by Anatole France. The heroine is a 4th century Egyptian courtesan.
(AP, 3/16/00)(WSJ, 11/9/00, p.A24)(WSJ, 12/19/02, p.D10)
1894 May 21, In France anarchist Emile Henry (22) went to the guillotine, his last words being: “Courage camarades! Vive l'anarchie!"
(www.marxists.org/reference/archive/henry/biography.htm)
1894 Jun 16, In France 49 sporting societies from 12 countries participated in a Congress in Paris where delegates discussed amateurism in sports and the revival of the Greek Olympics. By the end of the congress on June 23, Pierre de Coubertin won unanimous approval to revive the games.
(ON, 8/07, p.5)
1894 Jun 24, Sadi Carnot (b.1837), French Pres. (1887-1894), was assassinated by an Italian anarchist.
(AH, 10/01, p.25)(NG, 11/04, p.76)(http://tinyurl.com/78pc6)
1894 Jul 18, Charles Marie Leconte de Lisle (born 1818), French poet, died.
(MC, 7/18/02)(WUD, 1994, p.817)
1894 Jul 22, The first major automobile race with prizes and a promoter was organized as a reliability trial by Le Petit Journal of Paris. It took place on the 78-mile route between Paris and Rouen, France [see Aug 30, 1867]. Only 21 vehicles qualified for the race. The internal combustion engine was the clear winner.
(http://wapedia.mobi/en/Auto_racing)(Econ, 8/12/17, p.7)(http://tinyurl.com/ycbvsah)
1894 Sep 13, Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier, French composer (Espana, L'etoile), died at 53.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1894 Sep 15, Jean Renoir (d.1979), French film director, was born. He was the son of Pierre Renoir (1841-1919), the impressionist painter. His work included "Grand Illusion" and "The Rules of the Game." "When a friend speaks to me, whatever he says is interesting."
(HN, 9/15/00)(AHD, p.1215)(AP, 10/11/00)
1894 Oct 15, Captain Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935), a Jewish army officer in France, was arrested for allegedly betraying military secrets to Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus)
1894 Dec 5, Georges Feydeau's "L'Hotel du Libre Echange," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1894 Dec 9, Jules Regnault (b.1834), French economist, died. He first suggested a modern theory of stock price changes in Calcul des Chances et Philosophie de la Bourse (1863).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Regnault)
1894 Dec 22, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was fraudulently convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery captain on the General Staff, was accused of passing secret French military documents to the German embassy in Paris. Dreyfus was eventually vindicated. [see 1906]
(WSJ, 4/22/96, p.A-20)(AP, 12/22/97)
1894 Paul Gauguin painted "Breton Village in the Snow."
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.D6)
1894 Monet completed his painting "Cathedral at Rouen (La Cour d’Albane)."
(SFC, 7/11/01, p.D1)
1894 Le Douanier Rousseau painted "War, or the Ride of Discord."
(WSJ, 2/3/00, p.A24)
1894 Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940), French artist, painted his “Landscape of the Ile-de-France" about this time.
(SFC, 3/29/14, p.E5)
1894 Prince Henri d’Orleans (1822-1897) published a book of his journey through France’s empire. His account soured over the northern coastline of Vietnam, where red tape interfered with exploitation of the area’s coal reserves. In 1897 Emile Roux authored “Searching for the Sources of the Irrawaddy: With Prince Henri D'Orleans from Hanoi to Calcutta Overland (1895-1896)."
(www.dco.co.th/product_info.php?products_id=1130)(Econ, 8/31/13, p.34)
1894 French poet Pierre Louys (1870-1925) authored “The Songs of Bilitis" (1894) a book of lesbian love poetry.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Songs_of_Bilitis)
1894 In south-west France a paleolithic figurine was discovered. It became known as the Venus of Brassempouy.
(Econ, 10/20/12, p.78)
1894 In Mali Touareg nomads first rebelled against the French and were bloodily suppressed.
(Econ, 1/20/07, p.58)
1895 Jan 5, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. He was ultimately vindicated. Dreyfus, a Jew falsely accused of spying for the Germans, was imprisoned alone on Devil’s Island until 1899.
(AP, 1/5/98)(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.L5)
1895 Feb 28, Marcel Pagnol, French playwright, director (Marchands de Gloire), was born.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1895 Mar 2, Berthe Morisot (b.1841) French impressionist painter, died of pneumonia.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.10)
1895 Apr 23, Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
(HN, 4/23/99)
1895 Sep 28, Louis Pasteur (b.1822), French chemist (Pasteurization), died at 72. In 1995 Gerald Geison (d.2001) authored "The Private Science of Louis Pasteur.
(SFC, 7/13/01, p.D6)(MC, 9/28/01)
1895 Nov 27, Alfred Nobel, explosives magnate, signed his last will and testament at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, setting aside his estate to establish the Nobel Prize after his death (see Dec 10, 1896). He named Ragnar Sohlman (25), his favorite lab assistant, as his executor and Rudolf Lilljequist as co-executor.
(http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/will/will-full.html)(ON, 4/07, p.6)
1895 Paul Cezanne began his oil painting “Gustave Geffroy." It was completed in 1896.
(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
c1895 Degas painted "Jockeys."
(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)
c1895 Elizabeth Jane Gardner, American artist, painted “The Shepherd David" and exhibited it at the Paris Salon of 1895. She was the 1st American woman to exhibit in the Paris Salon.
(NMWA, 12/04, p.28)
1895 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French artist, painted “The Lady Clown Cha-U-Kao."
(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
1895 In Paris, France, the Castel Beranger at 14 Rue la Fontaine, designed by Hector Guimard (1867-1942), was completed. The Art Nouveau building was nicknamed “Castel Derange" (Mad Castle).
(WSJ, 1/6/06, p.P16)
1895 French Guinea was made a dependent colony, and its Governor then became a Lieutenant Governor to a Governor-General in Dakar.
{Guinea, France, Senegal}
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Guinea)
1895 In Senegal French authorities, fearing his growing influence, exiled religious leader Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba to their other colonial holdings in West Africa.
(AP, 4/22/03)
1896 Feb 8, Georges Feydeau's "Le Dindon," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1896 Feb 11, Oscar Wilde's "Salome," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1896 Feb 18, Andre Breton (d.1966), French writer, founder and principal provocateur of the surrealist movement, was born. An exhaustive biography was published in 1995 by Mark Polizzotti titled: Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton.
(WSJ, 8/1/95, p.A-9)(MC, 2/18/02)
1896 Feb, Georges Melies, a French professional magician, purchased a film projector from Robert Paul, an English camera maker. He then designed his own camera based on the projector and began making movies in March.
(ON, 1/00, p.8)
1896 Apr 4, Tristan Tzara, [Samuel Rosenfeld] French poet (Approximate Man), was born.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1896 Jun 16, Jean Peugeot, French auto manufacturer, was born.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1896 Aug, The new chief of French military intelligence, Lt Colonel Picquart, reported to his superiors that he had found evidence to the effect that the real traitor in the Dreyfus case was a Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy. Picquart was silenced by being transferred, in November 1896, to the southern desert of Tunisia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus)
1896 Sep 10, Elsa Schiaparelli, French fashion designer, was born.
(MC, 9/10/01)
1896 Oct 7, Nicholas and Alexandra of Russia made a state visit with Pres. Felix Faure laid the cornerstone for the Pont Alexandre III.
(WSJ, 6/26/96, p.A16)
1896 The Ida Tarbell biography of Madame Roland, a republican sympathizer during the French Revolution, was published.
(WSJ, 3/28/08, p.W5)
1896 A French cinematic society held a screening in Turin, Italy.
(SFC, 2/11/06, p.E10)
1896 The Michelin brothers introduced pneumatic tires in the Paris-to-Bordeaux automobile race. They had come up with the removable tire, but the pneumatic tire was invented in the US by John Dunlap.
(WSJ, 2/20/04, p.W5)
1896 Charles Field Haviland, US-born porcelain manufacturer, died. In 1876 he took over the Alluaud factory, one of the oldest porcelain factories in Limoges, France.
(SFC, 8/2/06, p.G7)
1897 Apr 19, 1st performance of Debussy's "Pelleas et Melisande."
(MC, 4/19/02)
1897 Aug 28, Charles Boyer (d.1978), French actor of film and stage, was born. Films included "Algiers,'' “Fanny," and "Gaslight.''
(RTH, 8/28/99)
1897 Sep 12, Irene Joliot-Curie, French physicist (neutron, Nobel 1935), was born.
(MC, 9/12/01)
1897 Sep 18, Alberto Santos-Dumont crashed his 1st dirigible into trees at the Zoological Gardens in Paris.
(ON, 3/03, p.10)
1897 Sep 20, Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully flew his repaired motorized dirigible around the Zoological Gardens in Paris.
(ON, 3/03, p.10)
1897 Dec 28, Edmond Rostand’s play on Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655), French poet, was unveiled at the Theatre de la Porte-Saint-Martin in Paris. Cyrano’s noted nose was an invention of the poet Theophile Gautier introduced in an 1844 book.
(SFEC, 4/27/97, DB p.3)
1897 Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) created his painting “Rue St.-Honore, Apres-Midi, Effet de Pluie." In 1939 the family of Lilly Cassirer gave it up in exchange for visas allowing them safe passage to England ahead of the Holocaust. It was later acquired by Spain’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and was appraised at more than $30 million.
(SFC, 12/5/16, p.A4)
1897 "The Theater of the Great Puppet" - known as the Grand Guignol – opened as a theater in the Pigalle area of Paris (at 20 bis, rue Chaptal). From its opening until its closing in 1962, it specialised in naturalistic horror shows.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Guignol)
1897 A French scientist at the Pasteur Institute made the crucial connection between rats and fleas as carriers of bubonic plague.
(SFC, 9/20/14, p.C2)
1897 Alphonse Daudet (b.1840), French novelist, died. In 2002 Julian Barnes translated writings from his last 12 years, "In the Land of Pain," in which he conveyed his thoughts on pain from his tertiary-stage syphilis.
(WUD, 1994 p.369)(WSJ, 1/24/03, p.W9)
1897 St. Theresa of Lisiex, known to her followers as The Little Flower, died.
(SFC, 1/11/00, p.A15)
1897 Ragnar Sohlman, executor of Alfred Nobel’s will, moved Nobel’s stock certificates and papers out of France to Sweden, and thus beyond the jurisdiction of French courts.
(ON, 4/07, p.7)
1898 Jan 10, In France a court-martial against Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy began behind closed doors. The next day the defendant was found not guilty. Writer Emile Zola followed this action 2 days later with a 4-thousand word letter in support of Captain Dreyfus and accusing the French military of a conspiracy in the case. Zola was soon found guilty of libel and sentenced to prison, but fled to England and stayed for almost a year.
(ON, 2/09, p.6)(Econ, 1/21/17, p.70)
1898 Jan 13, Emile Zola's famous defense of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, "J'accuse," was published in Paris. The open letter to French President Felix Faure accused the French judiciary of giving into pressure from the military to perpetuate a cover-up in the Dreyfus treason case.
(AP, 1/13/98)(MC, 1/13/02)
1898 Feb 23, Writer Emile Zola was imprisoned in France for his letter J’accuse in which he accused the French government of anti-Semitism and the wrongful imprisonment of army captain Alfred Dreyfus.
(HN, 2/23/01)
1898 Jul 4, The French liner "La Bourgogne" collided with bark Cromartyshire, and 560 people died.
(Maggio, 98)
1898 Jul, Marie and Pierre Currie published their discovery of polonium from radiation in pitchblende.
(ON, 3/00, p.1)
1898 Sep 13, 20,000 Paris construction workers went on strike.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1898 Nov 11, Rene Clair, French film director, was born.
(HN, 11/11/00)
1898 Dec 10, A treaty was signed in Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American War.
(AP, 12/10/97)
1898 Dec 21, French scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discovered 2 new elements that they later named radium and polonium.
(AP, 12/21/97)(http://fi.edu/case_files/curie/pandr.html)
1898 Pissaro painted "Avenue de L’Opéra, Place du Téâtre Français: Misty Weather."
(WSJ, 1/7/02, p.A22)
1898 In France the Michelin Tire company began using its tire-man logo. The first ad offered a toast with broken nails and glass and told consumers that the Michelin tire "drinks up obstacles."
(SFC, 3/19/98, p.A3)(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.T3)
1898-1900 Cezanne painted his sketchy red-ochre study "In the Quarry of Bibemus" and his lush green and linear "Woodland Scene."
(WSJ, 2/8/96, p.A-12)
1899 Feb 25, Paul Julius Reuter (b.1816), founder of the British news agency that bears his name, died in Nice, France. In 2003 Brian Mooney and Barry Simpson authored "Breaking news: How the Wheels Came off at Reuters."
(AP, 2/25/99)(Econ, 11/1/03, p.81)
1899 Mar 27, The first international radio transmission between England and France was achieved by the Italian inventor G. Marconi.
(HN, 3/27/99)
1899 Apr 11, The Treaty of Paris ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect. Spain ceded Puerto Rico to US. [see Apr 12, 1898]
(AP, 4/11/97)(MC, 4/11/02)
1899 May 25, Marie-Rosalie "Rosa" Bonheur (68), French painter, died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1899 Jun 3, A French court overturned the 1894 guilty verdict against Capt. Dreyfus.
(ON, 2/09, p.7)
1899 Jun 20, Jean Moulin, French Resistance fighter against Nazi Germany, was born.
(HN, 6/20/98)
1899 Sep 19, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus won a pardon after a retrial was forced by public opinion. He was soon released from Devil's Island in French Guiana.
(PCh, 1992, p.628)(www.spiritus-temporis.com/alfred-dreyfus/)
1899 Oct, An int'l. tribunal in Paris ruled on a border dispute between Venezuela and British Guiana (Guyana). Britain received most of the claim for the Essequibo region, close to 111,000 square miles. Venezuela was represented by 2 US judges and the chairman of the panel was Russian jurist Frederic de Martens. Venezuela rejected this decision in the 1960s.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.A12)(Econ, 9/29/07, p.44)
1899 Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) painted “Man with Crossed Arms."
(SSFC, 10/23/11, p.M5)
1899-1900 Claude Monet painted his first "Lily Pond" series.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1900 Feb 2, Gustave Charpentier's opera "Louise" premiered in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_%28opera%29)
1900 Feb 4, Jacques Prevert, French poet, screenwriter, was born. His work included "The Visitors of the Evening" and "The Children of Paradise."
(HN, 2/4/01)
1900 Mar 19, [Jean] Frederic Joliot-Curie, French physicist (Nobel 1935), was born.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1900 Apr 14, Gates opened to the World Fair, the Great Exposition in Paris. For a few months 210 temporary pavilions from different countries and architectural styles lined the Seine. The Exposition Universale included the Exposition Decennale, an art show of painting and sculpture from the previous decade. The first working escalator (patented in 1859), was manufactured by the Otis Elevator Company for the Paris Exposition. During the expo Rudolf Diesel demonstrated an engine that ran on peanut oil.
(http://tinyurl.com/hbldt)(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A14)(HN, 8/9/00)(Econ, 5/14/05, p.71)
1900 May 14, The Olympic games opened in Paris, held as part of the 1900 World's Fair.
(AP, 5/14/07)
1900 Jun 29, Antoine de Saint-Exupery (d.1944), aviator and writer, was born. In 1970 Curtis Cate published the biography: "Antoine de Saint-Exupery."
(WUD, 1994, p.1261)(SFEC, 6/15/97, p.A2)(SFEC, 5/28/00, p.A15)(HN, 6/29/01)
1900 Aug 22, Gabriel Fauré’s opera "Promethee," premiered in Beziers.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1900 Sep 19, President Loubet of France pardoned Jewish army captain Alfred Dreyfus, twice court-martialed and wrongly convicted of spying for Germany.
(HN, 9/19/98)
1900 Nov 12, A World Fair, the Great Exposition in Paris, closed. 50 million visitors attended the fair, which included Art Nouveau architecture, furniture, jewelry, ceramics, posters, glass, textiles, and metalwork. Jewelry by Rene Lalique was also exhibited at the fair. [see Apr 14]
(www.nga.gov/feature/nouveau/exhibit_fair.shtm)
1900 Nov 30, The French government denounced the British government and declared sympathy for the Boers.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1900 Nov 30, Irish author Oscar Wilde (b.1856) died in a Paris hotel room after saying of the room's wallpaper: "One of us had to go." In 2000 "the Complete Letters of Oscar Wilde," edited by Merlin Holland, Wilde’s grandson, was published
(V.D.-H.K.p.279)(AP, 11/30/97)(HN, 11/30/00)(SFC, 12/1/00, p.C12)
1900 Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), French artist, painted "Siesta."
(WSJ, 6/24/98, p.A16)(www.abcgallery.com/B/bonnard/bonnardbio.html)
1900 Edouard Vuillard, French artist, painted a portrait of painter “Felix Valloton."
(SFC, 9/24/10, p.F5)
1900 Gustave Charpentier composed his opera "Louise," about a Parisian seamstress.
(SFC, 9/15/99, p.B1)
1900 Louis Bachelier (1870-1946), financial economist, wrote a dissertation in Paris, "Theorie de la Spéculation." This and his subsequent work (esp. 1906, 1913) anticipated much of what was to become standard fare in financial theory: efficient market hypothesis, random walk of financial market prices, Brownian motion and martingales. He was a student of French mathematician Henri Poincare. Bachelier’s insights later underpinned the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
(WSJ, 7/16/03, p.D8)(Econ, 12/19/09, p.130)
1900 The Lohner-Porsche was introduced at the World’s Fair in Paris. The hybrid car relied on batteries and a generator to produce electricity for its motors. Ferdinand Porsche working for Jacob Lohner in Vienna put electric motors into the hubs of the wheels of the Lohner-Porsche.
(Econ, 4/24/10, p.78)
1900 Belgian horse rider Constant van Langhendonck (1870-1944) won an Olympic gold medal in Paris with a 6.1 meter jump in the equestrian long jump.
(Econ., 7/25/20, p.12)
1900 The sport of Cricket was included at the Paris Olympics. France was the runner up to Britain.
(Econ, 5/9/15, p.16)
1900 At the Olympics in Paris a Belgian sharpshooter killed 21 live pigeons. The event was abolished shortly thereafter. Separately the game of croquet was featured for the first and last time.
(WSJ, 7/23/96, p.A6)
1900-2000 This period in French history was covered by British Historian Rod Kedward in his 2005 work: “La Vie en Bleu: France and the French Since 1900."
(Econ, 8/13/05, p.73)
1901 Feb 20, Rene Dubos, French-US microbiologist who developed the first commercial antibiotic, was born in France. He authored "Health & Disease."
(HN, 2/20/01)(MC, 2/20/02)
1901 Jan 23, First female intern was accepted at a Paris hospital.
(HN, 1/23/99)
1901 Mar 19, Jo Mielziner, set designer (Carousel, Death of a Salesman), was born in Paris.
(MC, 3/19/02)
1901 Jun 24, The 1st exhibition by Pablo Picasso (19) opened in Paris.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1901 Jul 13, Santos-Dumont flew his powered dirigible around the Eiffel Tower but failed to make it in an allotted half hour time frame to win a 100,000 franc prize.
(ON, 3/03, p.11)
1901 Jul 31, Jean Dubuffet, French sculptor and painter, was born.
(HN, 7/31/01)
1901 Aug 8, Santos-Dumont flew his powered dirigible around the Eiffel Tower a 2nd time but sprang a leak and caught suspension wires in his propeller blades.
(ON, 3/03, p.11)
1901 Aug 17, Henri Tomasi, composer (Don Juan de Manara), was born in Marseilles, France.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1901 Sep 9, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (b.1864), French painter, died at 36.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_de_Toulouse-Lautrec)
1901 Oct 19, Alberto Santos-Dumont successfully circled Eiffel Tower in his Santos-Dumont No. 6 dirigible within a half hour and won a 100,000 franc prize. An initial ruling said that he failed by 40 seconds because the race wasn’t finished until he touched ground. A 2nd vote granted him the win. This proved the airship maneuverable.
(ON, 3/03, p.12)
1901 Oct 26, 1st use of "getaway car" occurred after the hold-up of a shop in Paris.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1901 Andre Malraux (d.1976), French author, was born. His work included "Man’s Fate" (La Condition Humaine), "The Conquerors" (about a 1925 uprising in Canton), and "The Royal Way." He worked as a journalist in Indochina against a corrupt French colonial regime. In 1997 Curtis Cate wrote the biography "Andre Malraux."
(WSJ, 5/5/97, p.A16)
1901 Henry Dunant (1828-1910), Swiss businessman, won the 1st Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in establishing the Int’l. Red Cross and the First Geneva Convention covering treatment of those wounded in war. The prize was shared with Frederic Passy (1822-1912), French economist, for his efforts toward international peace.
(ON, 4/08, p.12)(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1901/passy-bio.html)
1902 Jan 4, The French offered to sell their Nicaraguan Canal rights to the U.S.
(HN, 1/4/99)
1902 Jan 11, Maurice Durufle, French organist, composer, was born.
(MC, 1/11/02)
1902 Jan 19, The magazine "L'Auto" announced the new Tour de France.
(HN, 1/19/99)
1902 Jan 31, A French soccer team played in England for the first time: Paris lost, 4-0, to Marlow FC.
(HC, 2003, p.64)
1902 Feb 9, Doctor Doyen of Paris, performed a successful operation on Siamese twins from the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1902 Feb 19, Smallpox vaccination became obligatory in France.
(HN, 2/19/98)
1902 Mar 20, France and Russia acknowledged the Anglo-Japanese alliance, but asserted their right to protect their interests in China and Korea.
(HN, 3/20/98)
1902 Apr 5, Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1902 Apr 13, Philippe de Rothschild, manager (Bordeaux Vineyard), was born in Paris.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1902 Apr 20, Radium was isolated as a pure metal by Curie and André-Louis Debierne through the electrolysis of a pure radium chloride solution. Pierre and Marie Curie had discovered the element in 1898.
(AP, 4/20/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium)
1902 Apr 30, Debussy's opera "Pelleas et Melisande" premiered in Paris.
(MC, 4/30/02)
1902 May 2, "A Trip To The Moon," the 1st science fiction, was film released. The French film "Le Voyage Dans La Lune" (Voyage to the Moon) was a 14-minute silent film directed by Georges Melies. It displayed early efforts in trick photography to show a group of scientists traveling to the moon after being shot from a giant cannon.
(WSJ, 3/19/98, p.R4)(MC, 5/2/02)
1902 Jun 28, Congress passed the Spooner bill, authorizing a canal to be built across the isthmus of Panama. The US purchased a concession to build Panama canal from French for $40 million.
(HN, 6/28/98)(MC, 6/28/02)
1902 Aug 3, Ray Block, orchestra leader (Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason), was born in France.
(SC, 8/3/02)
1902 Aug 8, Jean Y.Y. Tissot, French painter, illustrator, died.
(MC, 8/8/02)
1902 Aug 24, Fernand Braudel (d.1985), French historian, was born. He was one of the most important historiographers of the 20th century: "History may be divided into three movements: what moves rapidly, what moves slowly and what appears not to move at all."
(AP, 9/5/97)(DT internet 11/28/97)
1902 Sep 28, Emile Zola (b.1840), novelist (Nana, Germinal, J'accuse), died by asphyxiation in his Paris apartment at age 62. In 1895 he began taking photographs and took some 7,000 pictures before his death.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.C6)(MC, 9/28/01)
1902 Dec 22, Jacques-Philippe Leclerc, French WW II hero (liberator of Paris), was born.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1902 Nov 24, The first Congress of Professional Photographers convened in Paris.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1902 Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), French chef, authored “Le Guide Culinaire," a collection of some 5,000 recipes.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.141)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Escoffier)
1902 Charles R. Debevoise invented the brassiere, but the market rejected it. No early bra did well until elastic came out in 1913. [see May 30, 1889]
(SFEC, 5/23/99, Z1 p.10)
1903 Jan 19, L'Auto announced the first Tour de France. It was organized by Henri Desgrange (1865-1940). He devised the tour to help publicize his sports newspaper. The new bicycle race began on July 1 with 60 cyclists competing in a 2,500 km, 19-day race.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Desgrange)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(Econ, 7/27/19, p.44)
1903 Feb 21, Anais Nin (d.1977), novelist (Winter of Artifice, House of Incense), was born in Paris: "People do not live in the present always, at one with it. They live at all kinds of and manners of distance from it, as difficult to measure as the course of planets. Fears and traumas make their journeys slanted, peripheral, uneven, evasive."
(AP, 9/7/97)(MC, 2/21/02)
1903 Mar 20, Henri Matisse exhibited at the Salon des Independants.
(HN, 3/20/98)
1903 Apr 6, French Army Nationalists were revealed for forging documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dreyfus, an officer accused of giving plans for France's defense to Germany.
(HN, 4/6/99)
1903 May 8, Joseph Desire Fernandel, comedian (Grand Chef), was born in Marseilles, France.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1903 May 8, Paul Gauguin (b.1848), French born painter, died at his home on the Marquesas Islands. He was buried at Atuona on Hiva Oa Island.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6)(SSFC, 6/2/02, p.C9)
1903 Jun 7, Professor Curie revealed the discovery of Polonium. [see 1898]
(HN, 6/7/98)
1903 Jun 17, Joseph-Marie Cassant (b.1878), a French monk, died. He frequently meditated about Jesus on the cross. In 2004 he was beatified by Pope John Paul VI.
(AP, 10/3/04)(www.vatican.va/news_services)
1903 Jun, Marie Curie received her doctorate from the univ. of Paris.
(ON, 3/00, p.2)
1903 Jul 1, The 1st Tour de France bicycle race began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France)
1903 Sep 13, Claudette Colbert (d.1996), actress, was born in France as Lily Claudette Chauchoin. She won an Oscar for "It Happened One Night."
(HN, 9/13/00)(www.concise.britannica.com)
1903 Nov 12, The Lebaudy brothers of France set an air-travel distance record of 34 miles in a dirigible.
(HN, 11/12/98)
1903 Nov 13, Camille Pissarro (b.1830), French impressionist born in St. Thomas, Dutch West Indies, died in Paris.
(WSJ, 1/14/97, p.A16)(www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pissarro/)
1903 Dec 10, The Nobel Prize for physics was awarded to Pierre and Marie Curie and fellow physicist Henri Becquerel for their work with radioactivity. Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, had coined the term radioactivity. Working together after their marriage in 1895, the Curies made several significant discoveries. They showed that the elements uranium and thorium emitted radiation that Becquerel had detected in uranium and had found to be similar to X-rays. They also found that radioactivity caused particles to be electrically charged, and they discovered two new elements, polonium and radium. Their daughter Irène, later a famed scientist in her own right, was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the synthesis of new radioactive elements.
(HNPD, 12/10/98)
1903 In France Count Hallez d’Arros founded his Society of Heraldic Faience of Pierrefonds. The society’s pottery used a “P" and “H" mark and became well-known for its crystalline glazes.
(SFC, 10/19/05, p.G2)
1903-1908 Claude Monet worked on his 2nd series of water lily paintings.
(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1904 Jan 18, Henri-Georges Adam, French etcher, painter, sculptor (Grand Nude), was born.
(MC, 1/18/02)
1904 Apr 8, Britain and France signed a series of agreements dubbed the entente cordial. It marked the end of almost a century of intermittent conflict between the two nations and their predecessor states. King Edward VII gifted French president Emile Loubet a richly-decorated casket to seal the deal. It was in fact a series of agreements between Britain and France on issues from colonialism in North Africa to fishing rights in Newfoundland. The casket contained a roll of parchment inscribed with a text celebrating Anglo-French friendship and, on the lid, a golden sculpture, the allegorical figure of Peace crowning France and Britain with laurels. The Entente cordiale, along with the Anglo-Russian Entente and the Franco-Russian Alliance, later became part of the Triple Entente among the UK, France, and Russia.
(Econ, 3/26/11, p.64)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entente_cordiale)(AP, 1/23/21)
1904 Apr 16, Lily Pons, soprano diva, was born in Draguignan, France.
(MC, 4/16/02)
1904 May 17, Jean Gabin, one of France's most popular film actors, was born in Paris.
(AP, 5/17/04)
1904 May 17, Maurice Ravel's "Sheherezad," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1904 Oct 4, Frederic Auguste Bertholdi (b.1834), French sculptor, died in Paris. He is best known for designing Liberty Enlightening the World (aka the Statue of Liberty).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Auguste_Bartholdi)
1904 Nov 21, Motorized omnibuses replaced horse-drawn cars in Paris.
(HN, 11/21/98)
1904 Paul Cezanne, French painter, declared that he wanted "to do Poussin over from nature," by which he meant that he hoped to transport Poussin’s ancient gods and lucid geometries into a breezy impressionist outdoors. Cezanne began his painting "Nature Morte: Rideau a Fleur et Fruits," (Still Life with Flowered Curtain and Fruit). In 1997 it sold for $50 million to Ronald Lauder, chairman of Estee Lauder Int’l.
(WSJ, 2/26/96, p.A-10)(WSJ, 1/31/97, p.B1)
1904 Matisse painted his pointillist "Luxe, Calme et Volupte."
(WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20)
1904 Claude Monet painted "Water Lilies." The work was acquired by art-dealer Paul Rosenberg and then stolen by the Nazis and put into the collection of Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. After the war it reverted to the French government. In 1998 the Rosenberg family again laid claim.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A2)
1904 The film "The Impossible Journey" was made by Georges Melies.
(ON, 1/00, p.9)
1905 Jan 21, Christian Dior, fashion designer (long-skirted look), was born in Normandy, France.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1905 Feb 1, Germany contested French rule in Morocco.
(HN, 2/1/99)
1905 Feb 21, France violated the 1880 Treaty of Madrid by demanding control in Morocco of the Sultan's army and police. These demands were made without consulting Germany. In the “Morocco Crisis" German Chancellor Bernhard von Bulow sent the Kaiser to visit Tangier on March 31 to see if France would mobilize.
(http://www.worldwar1.com/tlmorcri.htm)
1905 Mar 11, The Parisian subway was officially inaugurated.
(HN, 3/11/98)
1905 Mar 24, Jules Verne (b.1828), French sci-fi author (Around the World in 80 Days), died in Amiens.
(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/verne.htm)
1905 Apr 1, Berlin and Paris were linked by telephone.
(HN, 4/1/98)
1905 Jun 21, Jean-Paul Sartre (d.1980), French philosopher and existentialist, was born. He won the Nobel Prize in 1964 but declined it. His works include "The Road to Freedom."
(HN, 6/21/98)(AP, 2/15/00)
1905 Jul 2, Jean-Rene Lacoste, tennis champ, alligator shirt designer, was born in France.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1905 Sep 14, Pierre de Brazza (b.1852), Franco-Italian explorer, died and was buried in Algeria. He was born in Italy and later naturalized French. Brazza single-handedly opened up for France entry along the right bank of the Congo that eventually led to French colonies in West Africa. In 2006 his remains were exhumed and moved to a mausoleum in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Savorgnan_de_Brazza)(Econ, 10/7/06, p.6)
1905 Dec 9, The French Assembly National voted for separation of church and state. Laicite was enshrined in law to keep religion out of public bodies while protecting freedom of private worship.
(http://tinyurl.com/yyvx2d)(WSJ, 4/25/03, W13)(Econ, 9/5/15, p.57)
1905 The Gallery VII Salon d’Automne in France featured the Fauves. It featured works by Matisse, the acknowledged leader, along with Andre Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck and others. Louis Vauxelles described 2 classic marble sculptures as "Donatello chez les fauves" (D. among the wild beasts).
(WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20)
1905 Matisse painted his "Femme au Chapeau," (Woman with the Hat). It later became part of the Elise S. Haas collection bequeathed to the San Francisco MOMA.
(SF E&C, 1/15/1995, SFE Mag. p.21)
1906 Mar 3, Vuia I aircraft, built by Romanian Traja Vuia, was tested in France.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1906 Mar 10, 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Sonatine."
(MC, 3/10/02)
1906 Mar 10, A coal dust explosion killed 1,060 at Courrieres, France.
(MC, 3/10/02)
1906 Mar 25, Jean Sablon, French crooner, was born.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1906 Mar, Matisse first exhibited his 6x8 foot untraditional, pastoral canvas “Le Bonheur de vivre" at the Salon des Independants in Paris. It was purchased from the salon by Leo and Gertrude Stein.
(WSJ, 12/2/06, p.P12)
1906 Apr 13, Samuel Beckett (d.1989), Irish (French) playwright, Nobel Prize winner in 1969, (Waiting for Godot), was born. He settled in France and wrote in French and then translated to English. Sometimes he reversed the process. His work included "Act Without Words" (1956), "Happy Days" (1960-61), "Rough for Theater II" (1976), "Catastrophe" (1982) and "What’s There" (1983). Also the prose trilogy "Molloy," "Malone Dies" and "The Unnamable." In 1996 James Knowlson wrote his study of Beckett: "Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett."
(V.D.-H.K.p.369)(SFEC, 10/27/96, BR p.5)(HN, 4/13/98)
1906 Apr 17, In France the wife of a miner who had refused to strike was attacked by 150 women in her home in the Pas de Calais district.
(SFC, 4/18/06, p.A15)
1906 Apr 19, Pierre Curie, French physicist, chemist (Nobel 1903), died. Curie, was hit by a truck and killed as he crossed a street in Paris.
(ON, 3/00, p.2)(MC, 4/19/02)
1906 May 31, France and Germany signed an accord in which France agreed to yield control of the Moroccan police, but otherwise retained effective control of Moroccan political and financial affairs.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Moroccan_Crisis)
1906 Jun 24, Pierre Fournier, cellist (Paris Conservatoire), was born in Paris, France.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1906 Jun 26, Ferenc Szisz won the first French Grand Prix. Szisz won the race in a 13 liter, 90 horsepower Renault. The car was not particularly powerful compared to other cars in the race, but it did have the important advantage of removable tire-carrying rims. The removable rims meant tire changes took a speedy four minutes compared to the regular 15 minutes required with fixed rim tires. Szisz finished a little over a half hour ahead of the second-place car.
(HNQ, 7/25/00)(AHDD, p.26)
1906 Jul 12, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus was found innocent in France of his earlier court-martial for spying for Germany. Dreyfus had served over 4 years on Devil’s Island before a top French court rehabilitated his name in what came to be called the Dreyfus Affair.
(PC, 1992, p.664)(SFC, 7/13/06, p.A16)
1906 Aug 11, In France, Eugene Lauste received the first patent for a talking film.
(HN, 8/10/98)
1906 Oct 22, Paul Cezanne (b.1839), French post-impressionist painter, died in Aix-en-Provence. In 2012 Alex Danchev authored “Cezanne: A Life."
(AP, 10/22/06)(SSFC, 11/4/12, p.F1)
1906 Oct 31, Louise Talma, composer (Summer Sounds), was born in Arcachon, France.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1906 Claude Monet painted "Water Lilies." His last great series was devoted to the water lilies of the pond in his Japanese garden in Giverney. This series of paintings lasted to 1916 and became increasingly abstract.
(DPCP 1984)
1906 Auguste Rodin began his sculpture "Large Left Clenched Hand With Figure."
(WSJ, 4/1/97, p.A16)
1906 Maurice de Vlaminck painted "The Seine at Chatou." In 2002 it was valued at an estimated $4.4-5.8 million.
(WSJ, 3/15/02, p.W14)
1906 The French film "Madame Has Her Cravings" was a comedy by Guy-Blache, an early female filmmaker.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.D5)
1907 Mar 2, Georges Feydeaus' "La Puce à l'Oreille" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1907 May 10, Paul Dukas' opera "Ariane et Barbe Bleue," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1907 Jun 10, In China 11 men in five cars set out from the French embassy in Beijing on a race to Paris. Prince Scipione Borghese of Italy was the first to arrive in the French capital two months later.
(AP, 6/10/07)
1907 Jun, Pablo Picasso stumbled on the African and Oceanic collection at the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadero in Paris, as he was working on "Les Desmoiselles d’Avignon." The experience from that point on put an African influence on much of his work.
(WSJ, 11/13/96, p.A20)(Econ, 2/11/06, p.81)
1907 Aug 31, England, Russia and France formed their Triple Entente.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1907 Oct 13, Yves Allégret, French film director, was born. His work included "Dédée d'Anvers" and "Une si jolie petite plage."
(HN, 10/13/00)
1907 Nov 13, The 1st helicopter was piloted by French engineer Paul Cornu (1881-1944). The copter hovered a foot off the ground for 20 seconds [see Apr 12, 1905].
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cornu)(SSFC, 12/14/03, p.D2)
1907 Nov 20, Henri-Georges Clouzot, French director (Le salaire de la peur), was born.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1907 Nov 30, Jacques Barzun, French author, was born. Hi books included “The House of Intellect" (1959).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Barzun)
1907 Dec 2, Spain and France agreed to enforce Moroccan measures adopted in 1906.
(HN, 12/2/98)
1907 In France the bowling game of petanque or boule assumed its current form after possible origins in ancient Greece or Egypt. Similar to bocce ball it is played on a dirt court with baseball sized steel balls. In 1998 it was seeking Olympic recognition. The French version was born near Marseille as a sport for the masses. In 1959 France held the 1st annual petanque world championship.
(WSJ, 1/5/98, p.20)(WSJ, 8/30/07, p.A7)
1907 In France the physicist Georges Claude discovered that high voltage electricity shot through certain gases radiated color. He patented a neon tube in 1909.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.T6)
1907 Explorations under Louis Deleporte and the French School of the Far East began at the ancient city of Angkor. Found artifacts were shared between France and Cambodia.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.60)(SFC, 2/4/04, p.D10)
1907 In France Eugene Schuller created a hair dye in the kitchen of his Paris apartment and named it Aureale. In 1939 the business was renamed L’Oreal.
(SFC, 9/22/17 p.D8)
1908 Jan 9, French philosopher and feminist Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris.
(AP, 1/9/08)
1908 Jan 12, A wireless message was sent long-distance for the first time from the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
(HN, 1/12/99)
1908 Feb 29, The artist known as Balthus was born in Paris.
(AP, 2/29/08)
1908 Mar 15, 1st performance of Maurice Ravel's "Rhapsodie Espagnole."
(MC, 3/15/02)
1908 Mar 21, Frenchman Henri Farman carried a passenger in a bi-plane for the first time.
(HN, 3/21/98)
1908 May 5, Jacques Massu, French general (Algeria), was born.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1908 Jul 30, An around the world automobile race ended in Paris. The American Thomas Speedway Flyer, was declared the winner over teams from Germany and Italy. In 1966 driver George Schuster authored “The Longest Auto Race." The restored Flyer was later displayed at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada.
(ON, 4/08, p.10)(AP, 7/30/08)
1908 Aug 18, Edgar Faure (d.1988), thriller writer, PM of France (1952, 52-56), was born.
(MC, 8/18/02)
1908 Aug 22, Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer, was born in Chanteloup, France.
(HN, 8/22/00)(MC, 8/22/02)
1908 Nov 8, Victorien Sardou (77), French opera author (Madame Sans-Gene), died.
(MC, 11/8/01)
1908 Nov 28, Claude Levi-Strauss, French anthropologist, was born.
(HN, 11/28/98)
1908 Dec 10, Oliver Messian, French composer, was born. His work included "Quartet for the End of Time."
(HN, 12/10/00)
1908 Robert Schreiber founded Les Echos as a marketing brochure. It grew to become France's premier financial and corporate newspaper.
(www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Groupe-Les-Echos-Company-History.html)
1908 Rene Lalique was making glass perfume bottles for Francois Coty.
(SFC, 3/26/97, z1 p.7)
1909 Jan 17, Wilbur and Orville Wright opened the world’s first flying school at Pau, France, and refused to accept women as students.
(ON, 4/10, p.11)
1909 Feb 3, Simone Weil (d.1943), French philosopher, member of the French resistance in WWII, was born. "All sins are attempts to fill voids." "Man alone can enslave man."
(HN, 2/3/01)(AP, 12/10/97)(AP, 8/23/98)
1909 Feb 9, France agreed to recognize German economic interests in Morocco in exchange for political supremacy.
(HN, 2/9/97)
1909 Feb 20, F.T. Marinetti (1876-1944), Italian poet, published the 1st Futurist Manifesto in the Paris newspaper Le Figaro. It included statements such as “We want to glorify war - the only cure for the world… and contempt for women" and We intend to sing the love of danger, the habit of energy and fearlessness."
(www.unknown.nu/futurism/)(SFEC, 1/3/99, DB p.27)(WSJ, 10/23/08, p.A15)(Econ, 2/22/14, p.71)(Econ, 1/28/17, p.72)
1909 Mar 2, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy asked Serbia to set no territorial demands.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1909 Apr 18, Joan of Arc was declared a saint.
(MC, 4/18/02)
1909 Jul 25, French aviator Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) made the first crossing of the English Channel from Calais to the grounds of Dover Castle in a powered aircraft, winning a £1,000 prize offered by the London Daily Mail. Piloting his Type XI monoplane at an average of 39 miles per hour, Blériot made the trip of 23.2 miles in just under 36 minutes.
(AP, 7/25/97)(HNPD, 7/25/98)(ON, 6/07, p.9)
1909 Aug 28, American Glenn Curtiss won the James Gordon Bennett Cup at the first major international air show held in Rheims France.
(www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Wright_Bros/Patent_Battles/WR12.htm)
1909 Oct 2, Raymonde de Larouche (1918), Franch actress, flew a Voisin airplane during a taxiing lesson under Gabriel Voisin at Chalons, establishing the first recorded flight by a woman.
(ON, 4/10, p.11)
1909 Oct 9, Jacques Tati, French actor and director, was born.
(HN, 10/9/00)
1909 Jean Cocteau (19) published his 1st book of poems: "La Lampe d'Aladin."
(SFC, 10/6/03, p.D8)
1909 The Ballet Russes of Serge Diaghilev exploded onto the stage of the Chatelet in Paris.
(SFC, 12/27/99, p.E3)
1909 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel opened her 1st shop, a millinery, in Paris.
(WSJ, 10/13/03, p.A1)
1909 In France the physicist Georges Claude perfected the neon tube and patented a long lasting electrode that he developed for it. 2 English chemists had discovered neon in 1898.
(G&M, 7/31/97, p.A20)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)
1909 Milanese engineer Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947) founded a car factory in the then German town of Molsheim in the Alsace region, later part of France.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Bugatti)
1910 Jan 4, Leon Walrus (b.1834), French economist, died. In 1874 he wrote and published the first edition of his magnum opus, the “Elements of Pure Economics."
(http://cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/walras.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/pdw34)
1910 Jan 7, Alain JG de Rothschild, banker and baron, was born in France.
(MC, 1/7/02)
1910 Jan 24, Louis Paulhan, French aviator, made an aerial display at the Tanforan Race Track in San Bruno, Ca., before a crowd of 75,000. He flew his biplane 1,300 (700) feet high at 70 mph. Earlier he took William Randolph Hearst for a ride.
(SFEC, 12/26/99, p.W4)(Ind, 8/17/02, 5A)(SSFC, 1/24/10, DB p.42)
1910 Feb 7, Edmond Rostand's "Chanticleer," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 2/7/02)
1910 Mar 8, Baroness de Laroche became the first women to obtain a pilot's license in France.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1910 Mar 28, The first seaplane took off from water at Martinques, France.
(HN, 3/28/98)
1910 Jun 11, Jacques Cousteau (d.1997), pioneer sea explorer, was born in Saint-Andre-de-Cubzac, France. He invented the aqualung and wrote "The Living Sea."
(SFC, 6/26/97, p.A7)(HN, 6/11/99)
1910 Jun 23, Jean Anouilh, French playwright, was born.
(HN, 6/23/01)
1910 Sep 2, Henri "le Douanier" Rousseau (b.1844), French customs officer and painter, died in Paris. He had recently completed his masterpiece “The Dream."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Rousseau)(WSJ, 9/13/06, p.D10)
1910 Sep 5, Marie Curie demonstrated the transformation of radium ore to metal at the Academy of Sciences in France.
(HN, 9/5/98)
1910 Sep 8, Jean-Louis Barrault, director and actor (Les Enfants du Paradis), was born in Vesinet, France.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1910 Sep 27, 1st test flight of a twin-engined airplane was made in France.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1910 Oct 18, M. Baudry was the first to fly a dirigible across the English Channel--from La Motte-Breil to Wormwood Scrubbs.
(HN, 10/18/98)
1910 Dec 3, Neon lights were 1st publicly seen at the Paris Auto Show.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1910 Dec 19, Jean Genet, criminal, novelist, dramatist (The Blacks), was born in Paris, France. In 1993 Edmund White published "Jean Genet: A Life."
(WUD, 1994, p.590)(SFEC, 10/5/97, Z1 p.3)(MC, 12/19/01)
1910 Matisse painted "La Danse." "The Dance II" later ended up at the Hermitage.
(WSJ, 2/16/99, p.A20)(WSJ, 12/8/99, p.A20)
1910 Coco Chanel (1883-1971), French fashion designer, moved to Rue Cambon, Paris.
(WSJ, 10/13/03, p.B1)
1910 Paris was menaced by a great flood. "The streets were like rivers, the squares, like great lakes." Severe flooding ravaged Monet's pond at Giverny.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, BR p.5)(SFEC, 9/21/97, BR p.4)(WSJ, 7/1/99, p.A21)
1910 Le Divan bookstore was founded in the Left Bank of Paris. It was put up for sale in 1996 by its owners, the Gallimard publishing house.
(SFEC, 10/20/96, T9)
1910 In France a hairdresser devised the permanent wave for hair.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1910 French Equatorial Africa was a former administrative grouping of four French territories in west central Africa. It was first formed by the federation of 3 French imperial colonies: Gabon, Middle Congo, and Ubangi-Shari-Chad. It comprised a total area of 969,112 square miles (2,500,000 sq km). Chad was separated from Ubangi-Shari in 1920 to form a fourth colony.
(www.discoverfrance.net)
1911 Apr 12, Pierre Prier completed the first non-stop London-Paris flight in three hours and 56 minutes.
(HN, 4/12/99)
1911 Jul 5, George Pompidou, Prime Minister of France, 1968, was born.
(HN, 7/5/98)
1911 Aug 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum. It had hung there for more than 100 years. Vincenzo Perugia, a former Louvre employee, stole the painting. It turned up in Italy two years later. In 2009 R.A. Scotti authored “Vanished Smile: The Mysterious Theft of Mona Lisa."
(AP, 8/21/06)(SSFC, 5/10/09, Books p.H5)
1911 Apr 23, Simone Simon, French actress (All Money Can Buy, Ladies in Love), was born.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1911 Apr, The Agadir Crisis, also called the Second Moroccan Crisis, or the Panthersprung, was the international tension sparked by the deployment of a substantial force of French troops in the interior of Morocco. France thus broke both with the Act of Algeciras that had ended the First Moroccan Crisis, and the Franco-German Accord of 1909. Germany reacted by sending the gunboat Panther to the Moroccan port of Agadir on July 1, 1911.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agadir_Crisis)
1911 May 19, Maurice Ravel’s opera "L'Heure Espagnole," premiered in Paris.
(MC, 5/19/02)
1911 Aug 21, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre Museum. The painting turned up in Italy two years later.
(AP, 8/21/06)
1911 Aug 22, It was announced in Paris that Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa had been stolen from the Louvre Museum the night before. It had hung there for more than 100 years. Vincenzo Perugia stole the painting, which was recovered in Italy in 1913.
(AP, 8/22/97)(HN, 8/22/98)
1911 Nov 18, Alfred Binet, French child psychologist, died.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1911 Debussy composed "Trois Ballades de Francois Villon" set to poems by the poet.
(SFEC, 3/28/99, DB p.9)
1911 The bar in Paris at 5 Rue Dannou, later named Harry’s, was founded.
(SFC, 3/28/98, p.B12)
1911 Under the Treaty of Fez, signed in 1912 signed to settle the Agadir Crisis, France ceded territories to the east and south to Cameroon.
(https://tinyurl.com/y9478eyl)
1912 Mar 4, The French council of war unanimously voted a mandatory three-year military service.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1912 Mar 7, French aviator, Heri Seimet flew non-stop from London to Paris in three hours.
(HN, 3/7/98)
1912 Mar 30, The Treaty of Fez was signed. Sultan Abdelhafid made Morocco a French protectorate, resolving the Agadir Crisis of July 1, 1911.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fez)
1912 Apr 21, Marcel Camus, French film director (Black Orpheus), was born.
(HN, 4/21/01)
1912 Jul 25, The Comoros were proclaimed to be French colonies.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1912 Aug 13, Jules E.F. Massenet (70), French opera composer (Werther, Manon), died.
(MC, 8/13/02)
1912 Jul 17, Henri Poincare (b.1854), French mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, died. He investigated the idea of space and led to the notion that space is too complex for mathematics. In 2002 Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman solved the 1904 Poincare Conjecture. In 2007 Donal O’Shea authored “The Poincare Conjecture."
(V.D.-H.K.p.272)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Poincar%C3%A9)
1912 Sep 7, French aviator Roland Garros set an altitude record of 13,200 feet.
(HN, 9/7/98)
1912 Sep 10, In France J. Vedrines became the first pilot to break 100 m.p.h. barrier.
(HN, 9/10/98)
1912 Nov 3, The first all metal plane was flown near Issy, France, by pilots Ponche and Prinard.
(HN, 11/3/98)
1912 Nov 24, Austria denounced Serbian gains in the Balkans; Russia and France backed Serbia while Italy and Germany backed Austria.
(HN, 11/24/98)
1912 Valentine de Saint-Point (1875-1953), French artist, authored “Manifesto of Futurist Woman."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine_de_Saint-Point)
1912 The Archbishop of Paris stated that "Christians must not tango."
(SFEC,11/30/97, Z1 p.3)
1912 Helena Rubinstein, following her success in Australia and London opened a beauty salon in Paris.
(SFEM, 8/23/98, p.29)
1912 The 1st neon sign illuminated the Palais Coiffeur, a Parisian beauty shop.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.T6)
1912 The Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Nice, with its two pointed spires and five crucifix-topped onion-shaped domes, was built under Nicholas II, nearly 50 years after his grandfather, Alexander II, bought the land it sits on.
(AP, 1/20/10)
1912 France chose Casablanca as the capital of its “protectorate" over Morocco.
(SSFC, 11/18/12, p.G5)
1912-1956 The French ruled Morocco.
(SFC, 3/16/01, p.A18)
1913 Jan 21, Aristide Briand formed a French government.
(MC, 1/21/02)
1913 Feb 18, Marcel Duchamp’s painting "Nude Descending a Staircase" was displayed at the Armory Show in NYC.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1913 Apr 14, Jean Fournet, French conductor, was born.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1913 May 29, The premier of the ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) by Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky in Paris caused rioting in the theater. The orchestra was led by Pierre Monteux and décor was by Nikolai Roerich.
(SFEC, 8/10/97, p.B9)(HN, 5/29/01)(WSJ, 12/8/04, p.D12)
1913 Aug 20, 700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely.
(HN, 8/20/00)
1913 Sep 21, The 1st aerobatic maneuver, a sustained inverted flight, was performed in France.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1913 Nov 7, Albert Camus (d.1960), French philosopher, novelist, and dramatist best known for his book "The Stranger" (1942) was born on an Algerian farm.
(WSJ, 12/12/97, p.A16)(HN, 11/7/98)
1913 Nov 28, Heavyweight Jack Johnson KO’d Andre Spaul in Paris.
(DT internet 11/28/97)
1913 Henri Fournier (1886-1914) authored “Le Grand Meaulnes" under the pen name Alain-Fournier. It became one of France’s most popular novels.
(Econ, 12/22/12, p.134)
1913 The avant-garde of pre-WW I Paris was chronicled in 1958 by Roger Shattuck’s "The Banquet Years."
(WSJ, 9/18/98, p.W8)
1913 Camille Flammarion, astronomer, proposed a sundial for the Place de la Concorde. [see June 21, 1999]
(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A24)
1913-1927 Marcel Proust (1871-1922), French novelist wrote his 7-volume "Remembrance of Things Past." In 1998 it was turned into a comic book series.
(WSJ, 2/11/06, p.P18)
1914 Mar 4, Doctor Fillatre of Paris, France successfully separated Siamese twins.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1914 Mar 25, Frederic Mistral, French poet (Nobel-1904), died.
(MC, 3/25/02)
1914 Jul 31, Jean Jaures (b.1859), French Socialist leader, was assassinated by French nationalist Raoul Villain (29).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Jaur%C3%A8s)(Econ., 3/7/15, p.52)
1914 Aug 1, France and Germany mobilized.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1914 Aug 2, In Joncherey, northeastern France, French corporal Jules-Andre Peugeot and German lieutenant Albert Mayer died in a firefight, the first official casualties of World War I.
(AFP, 2/7/14)
1914 Aug 2, German press falsely reported that French bombed Nuremberg.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1914 Aug 3, Germany invaded Belgium and declared war on France at the onset of World War I. The German plan for victory in France was known as the Schlieffen Plan, and was based on a quick strike and the capture of Paris.
(HN, 8/3/98)(AP, 8/3/08)(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Aug 15, Lt. Charles de Gaulle (24) was injured during a German assault at Dinant.
(MC, 8/15/02)
1914 Aug 19, The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in France.
(HN, 8/19/98)
1914 Aug 20, Battle at Morhange: German troops chased French, killing 1000s.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1914 Aug 20-24, Battle of Boundaries: Lorraine, Ardennen, Sambre & Meuse, Mons.
(MC, 8/20/02)
1914 Aug 22, Some 27,000 soldiers died in the bloodiest battle of French history.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1914 Aug 25, German troops marched into France and pushed the French army to the Sedan.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1914 Aug 26, The French government appointed Gen. Joseph Simon Gallieni (65) as military governor of Paris. He had been called out of retirement at the onset of war to serve in the Ministry of War in Paris.
(ON, 8/08, p.4)
1914 Aug 30, The 1st German plane bombed Paris and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 8/24/96, p.E3)(MC, 8/30/01)
1914 Aug, The British Flying Corps (RFC) was sent to France to support the British Expeditionary Corps.
(AH, 1/97)
1914 Aug, Alberto Santos-Dumont (1873-1932), Brazilian aviation pioneer, burned his aeronautical papers after French neighbors labeled him a German spy.
(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.M1)
1914 Sep 3, The French capital was moved from Paris to Bordeaux as the Battle of the Marne began. The British expeditionary army under general Lanrezacs army attacked the Marne. French troops vacated Reims.
(HN, 9/3/98)(MC, 9/3/01)
1914 Sep 4, General von Moltke ceased German advance in France.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1914 Sep 5, The First Battle of the Marne began during World War I. The German First Army was led by Gen. Alexander von Kluck.
(AP, 9/5/97)(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A10)
1914 Sep 5, Charles Peguy (d.1914), French poet and writer, died. "It is impossible to write ancient history because we lack source materials, and impossible to write modern history because we have far too many."
(AP, 7/28/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_P%C3%A9guy)
1914 Sep 6, In the Battle of Marne German forces bypassed Paris to chase retreating allied forces. French Gen. Gallieni orchestrated an attack using the British Expeditionary Force along with the French 3rd, 5th and 6th armies.
(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Sep 7, In the Battle of Marne French Gen. Gallieni commandeered some 600 hundred Paris taxicabs to deliver overnight 6,000 men of the 3rd army to reinforce the 6th Army at the Battle of the Marne, which allowed the French army to hold.
(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Sep 9, In the Battle of Marne the German advance stalled and a retreat began back to the Aisne River.
(ON, 8/08, p.5)
1914 Sep 12, The First Battle of the Marne ended in an Allied victory against Germany. The German advance into France was stopped. 20th century history turned on this pivotal event.
(WSJ, 12/31/99, p.A10)(AP, 9/12/06)
1914 Sep 15, The Battle of Aisne began between Germans and French during WW I.
(MC, 9/15/01)
1914 Sep 18, Battle of Aisne ended with Germans beating the French during WW I.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1914 Sep 24, In the Alsace-Lorraine area between France and Germany, the German Army captured St. Mihiel.
(HN, 9/24/98)
1914 Oct 12, The 1st battle at Ypres, France, began.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1914 Oct 31, Great Britain and France declared war on Turkey. [see Nov 5]
(MC, 10/31/01)
1914 Nov 5, The French and British declared war on Turkey. [see Oct 31]
(HN, 11/5/98)
c1914 Edith Wharton authored "French Ways and Their Meaning." She argue in the book for American Intervention in WW I.
(SFEM, 3/12/00, p.50)
1914 The bones of a Neanderthal baby were found in southwestern France and shipped to Paris for analysis. The 40,000 year-old "Le Moustier 2" bones were put away and re-discovered in 1996.
(SFC, 9/5/02, p.A16)
1914-1940 In 2014 Frederick Brown authored “The Embrace of Unreason: France 1914-1940."
(Econ, 4/26/14, p.83)
1915 Jan 14, The French abandoned five miles of trenches to the Germans near Soissons.
(HN, 1/14/99)
1915 Jan 31, Thomas Merton (d.1968), French Trappist monk, poet, essayist , was born. "A happiness that is sought for ourselves alone can never be found; for a happiness that is diminished by being shared is not big enough to make us happy."
(AP, 4/17/01)(MC, 1/31/02)
1915 Jan, French and German soldiers faced off at the Hartmannswillerkopf peak in eastern France. Over the next year some 25,000 soldiers from both sides perished in the fighting there. In 2017 a museum was inaugurated at the peak.
(AP, 11/7/17)
1915 Feb 16, Emil Waldteufel, [Charles Levy], French composer (Estudiantina), died.
(MC, 2/16/02)
1915 Feb 19, British and French warships began their attacks on the Turkish forts at the mouth of the Dardenelles, in an abortive expedition to force the straits of Gallipoli. Winston Churchill was the architect of the disastrous campaign. Allied forces were evacuated at the end of the year after both sides had suffered appalling hardships and losses. In 2011 Peter Hart authored “Gallipoli."
(HN, 2/19/99)(NW, 12/24/01, p.64)(Econ, 10/8/11, p.103)
1915 Mar 13, The Germans repelled a British Expeditionary Force attack at the battle of Neuve Chapelle in France.
(HN, 3/13/99)
1915 Mar 20, The French called off the Champagne offensive on the Western Front.
(HN, 3/20/98)
1915 Mar 22, A German Zeppelin made a night raid on Paris railway stations.
(HN, 3/22/97)
1915 Apr 1, Roland Garros (d.1918), French aviator, shot down 2 German aviators over Belgium, with bullets shot through his propellers. Corp. August Spachholz and Lt. Walter Grosskopf became the 1st to be killed by an enemy pilot flying alone.
(ON, 10/02, p.8)
1915 Apr 22, Germans made the first use of poison gas in World War I at the Second Battle Ypres. Chlorine gas was used along 4 miles of the French line at Ypres.
(NH, 10/98, p.18)(HN, 4/22/99)
1915 May 9, German and French forces fought the Battle of Artois.
(HN, 5/9/98)
1915 Jun 5, Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (23), French sculptor, died on the Western Front. In 1931 H.S. Ede authored “Savage Messiah: Gaudier Brzeska. In 2004 Paul O’Keeffe authored “Gaudier-Brzeska: An Absolute Case of Genius."
(Econ, 3/6/04, p.76)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9036204/Henri-Gaudier-Brzeska)
1915 Jun 20, There was a German offensive in Argonne.
(MC, 6/20/02)
1915 Jun 21, Germany used poison gas for the first time in warfare in the Argonne Forest.
(HN, 6/21/98)
1915 Jun 30, The Second Battle Artois ended as the French failed to take Vimy Ridge.
(HN, 6/30/98)
1915 Jul 2, Porfirio Diaz, former president of Mexico, died in Paris.
(SFC, 12/14/00, p.A8)
1915 Sep 8, Germany began a new offensive in Argonne on the Western Front.
(HN, 9/8/98)
1915 Sep 25, An allied offensive was launched in France against the German Army.
(HN, 9/25/98)
1915 Oct 8, The WWI Battle of Loos ended with virtually no gains for either side. There was loss of over one hundred thousand French, British, and German lives in this battle. It marked the first use of poisonous gas by the British, which drifted back to the British trenches.
(MC, 10/8/01)
1915 Oct 21, The 1st transatlantic radio-telephone message was transmitted from Arlington, Va., to Paris.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1915 Dec 19, Edith Piaf, internationally famous French cabaret singer, was born. She is best remembered for her songs "La Vie en rose" and "Non, je ne regrette rein."
(HN, 12/19/99)
1915 Dec 25, At the war front near Laventie, France, British and German soldiers exchanged greetings, cigarettes and engaged in a short game of free-for-all soccer.
(SFC, 8/3/01, p.D5)
1915 In France Le Canard Enchaine, a satirical newspaper, was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Canard_encha%C3%AEn%C3%A9)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.64)
1915 The French government banned absinthe, the "Green Goddess," which had become renowned for causing convulsions, hallucinations and psychosis. In 1988 the European Union lifted the ban on making absinthe.
(WSJ, 1/22/99, p.W8)(http://tinyurl.com/5mqxvs)
1915-1916 The 10-part silent serial "Les Vampires" by Louis Feuillade was produced.
(SFC, 8/8/97, p.D3)
1916 Jan 2, The U.S. instructed Ambassador Sharp to tell the Entente in Paris that America would reject the German peace offer.
(HN, 1/2/99)
1916 Jan 29, 1st bombings of Paris by German Zeppelins took place.
(MC, 1/29/02)
1916 Feb 21, The World War I Battle of Verdun began in France with an unprecedented German artillery barrage of the French lines; the French were able to prevail after 10 months of fighting. German Gen’l. Erich von Falkenhayn launched the attack.
(AP, 2/21/98)(HN, 2/21/01)(Sm, 2/06, p.38)
1916 Feb 23, French artillery killed the entire French 72nd division at Samogneux, Verdun.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1916 Feb 26, General Henri Philippe Petain took command of the French forces at Verdun. A line of bayonets protruding from the earth still testifies to French valor at Verdun in World War I.
(HN, 2/26/98)
1916 Feb 26, Germans sank the French transport ship Provence II, killing 930.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1916 Mar 6, The Allies recaptured Fort Douamont in France.
(HN, 3/6/98)
1916 Mar 7, French Defense Minister Joseph Gallieni resigned from his position.
(HN, 3/7/98)
1916 Mar 14, In the Battle of Verdun Germans attacked on Mort-Homme ridge, West of Verdun.
(MC, 3/14/02)
1916 Apr 2, German troops overtook Bois de Caillette.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1916 May 9, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, a secret understanding between the governments of Britain and France, defined their respective spheres of post-World War I influence and control in the Middle East. It was signed on 16 May 1916. Italian claims were added in 1917. Britain and France carved up the Levant into an assortment of monarchies, mandates and emirates. The agreement enshrined Anglo-French imperialist ambitions at the end of WW II. Syria and Lebanon were put into the French orbit, while Britain claimed Jordan, Iraq, the Gulf states and the Palestinian Mandate. Sir Mark Sykes (d.1919 at age 39) and Francois Picot made the deal. As of 2016 the boundaries of the agreement remained in much of the common border between Syria and Iraq.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement)(WSJ, 2/27/00, p.A17)(Econ, 5/14/16, SR p.5)
1916 May 22, French troops occupied parts of Fort Douaumont, Verdun. They surrendered to German forces after two days of fighting.
(https://tinyurl.com/5htna9bs)
1916 May 27, French Gen. Joseph Simon Gallieni (b.1849) died. He had been called out of retirement at the onset of war to serve in the Ministry of War in Paris and orchestrated the allied victory at the Battle of the Marne (1914).
(ON, 8/08, p.5)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Galli%C3%A9ni)
1916 Jul 1, In France at 7:30AM, a 5 day, continuous, British artillery bombardment of German lines stopped, and 11 British divisions (100,000 men) went "over the top" toward the Germans. By 9AM 22,000 were dead & another 40,000 were wounded in what became known as the Battle of the Somme. Some 57,500 British soldiers were killed or wounded on the first day of the battle. These attacks continued for another five months, costing the British over one million killed & wounded. Field Marshal Douglas Haig commanded the British forces. 4 months of stalemate cost 420,000 British casualties. In 2014 Joe Sacco authored “The Great War: July 1, 1916 – The First Day of the Battle of the Somme.
(AP, 7/15/09)(Econ, 6/4/11, p.93)(Econ, 1/4/14, p.66)
1916 Jul 4, Poet Alan Seeger died in action at Befloy-en-Santerre. Born in New York City in 1888, Seeger went to Paris in 1912 and joined the French Foreign legion at the outbreak of WWI. He was killed in the Battle of the Somme. He wrote the lines: I have a rendezvous with death / At some disputed barricade..."
(SFEC, 3/16/97, z1 p.2)(HNQ, 8/23/98)
1916 Jul 6, Odilon Redon (b.1840), French symbolist painter, died.
(SFC, 7/13/13, p.E3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odilon_Redon)
1916 Jul 15, A series of engagements in the Battle of the Somme began at Delville Wood and continued to September 3 between the armies of the German Empire and the British Empire. A brigade of South Africans held the wood until 19 July at a cost of four-fifths of its men injured or killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Delville_Wood)(Econ, 8/2/14, p.46)
1916 Jul 19, In the WWI Battle at Fromelles, France, German machine guns and artillery left over 5,500 Australians and over 1,500 British killed, wounded or missing in less than 24 hours.
(SFC, 7/20/10, p.A2)
1916 Aug 12, In Paris Jean Cocteau took pictures of Pablo Picasso, poet Max Jacob and painter Amedeo Modigliani and other friends as they met for lunch and passed the afternoon. It all came out in the 1997 book by Billy Kluver: A Day With Picasso."
(SFC,11/18/97, p.E1)
1916 Sep 15, Armored tanks were introduced by the British during the Battle of the Somme.
(HN, 9/15/00)
1916 Oct 26, French leader Francois Mitterrand, was born. He served as President of France from 1981-95.
(HN, 10/26/98)(MC, 10/26/01)
1916 Nov 2, France reconquered Ft Vaux, Verdun.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1916 Nov 16, French adjutant-chief Eugene Rouges died with several of his men when a German artillery shell exploded in their trench in Gradesnica, Macedonia. In the 1990s villagers began finding a liquid fortune in vintage cognac buried in the old trenches.
(AP, 7/23/07)
1916 Dec 3, French commander Joseph Joffre was dismissed after his failure at the Somme. General Robert Nivelle became the new French commander-in-chief.
(HN, 12/3/98)
1916 Dec 12, Worst train disaster ever took place in Modane, France, 543 French Soldiers were killed.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1916 Dec 18, The French defeated the Germans in the World War I Battle of Verdun. The 302-day Battle of Verdun ended with the French and Germans each having suffered more than 330,000 killed and wounded in 10 months.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun)
1916 Eric Satie composed "Trois melodies."
(SFC,11/14/97, p.C5)
1916 Charles de Foucauld, a former French army officer turned monk who lived among the Tuareg people in the Sahara, was killed in an anti-French uprising in Algeria. In 2005 he was beatified by Pope Benedikt XVI. Inspired by the monk, groups known as the Little Sisters and Little Brothers of Jesus were formed in Algeria.
(AP, 11/13/05)
1916 Cameroon was a German colony until this year, when British and French troops forced the Germans out. The two countries divided it into separate spheres of influence that were later formalized by the League of Nations, the forerunner to the UN.
(AFP, 9/29/18)
1917 Feb, Mata Hari was arrested in Paris for spying.
(WSJ, 1/16/97, p.A16)
1917 Apr 9, Battle of Arras began as Canadian troops launched a massive assault on Vimy Ridge in France. The assault brought four Canadian divisions fought together for the first time and cost 10,600 lives. The Canadians succeeded in battling through snow and sleet to push out the Germans who had long held the strategic post.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_%281917%29)(Econ, 8/2/14, p.45)(AP, 4/8/17)
1917 Apr 9, Edward Thomas (b.1878), British writer and poet, was killed in action during the Battle of Arras. His travel books included “The Icknield Way." In 2012 Matthew Hollis authored “Now All Roads Lead to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Thomas_%28poet%29)(Economist, 9/22/12, p.94)
1917 May 15, British Lt. John Harold Pritchard was killed in a nighttime battle at Bullecourt, France. This was during the two week 2nd battle of Bullecourt on the Hindenburg Line. Thousands of dead were scattered on both sides. In 2013 Pritchard’s body was found on a farm that covered the battleground.
(SFC, 4/24/13, p.A5)
1917 May 18, Satie-Massine-Picasso's ballet "Parade" premiered in Paris, France.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1917 Mar 19, A German submarine in the Mediterranean Sea sunk the French battleship Danton. In 2009 the Danton was discovered on the seabed southwest of Sardinia.
(SFC, 2/21/09, p.A2)(www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?16848)
1917 May, French soldiers refused to return to the trenches after the disastrous April-May Chemin des Dames offensive of Gen. Nivelle, in which more than 30,000 French soldiers died and 80,000 were wounded to no good purpose. The "La Chanson de Craonne," sung to the tune of Charles Sablon's "Bonsoir M'amour" by the mutineers, celebrated the resistance of the soldiers to return to the front and was banned for many years from French airwaves.
(www.ufppc.org/content/view/6510/)
1917 Apr 9, Battle of Arras began as Canadian troops launched a massive assault on Vimy Ridge in France. The assault brought four Canadian divisions fought together for the first time and cost 10,600 lives.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arras_%281917%29)(Econ, 8/2/14, p.45)
1917 Jun 7, British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig launched his assault in Flanders to take German pressure off his French allies. For months, troops of the British Expeditionary Force fought a series of pointless battles in a nightmarish landscape of knee-deep shell holes filled with mud and blasted, skeletal trees. When the campaign finally ground to a halt on November 10, 1917, the BEF had suffered losses of 300,000 men and German losses were around 200,000--for a total gain of four miles.
(HNPD, 6/7/99)
1917 Jun 26, General John "Black Jack" Pershing arrived in France with the first of the 14,000 American Expeditionary Force.
(AP, 6/26/97)(HN, 6/26/98)(MC, 6/26/02)
1917 Jul 4, During a ceremony in Paris honoring the French hero of the American Revolution, U.S. Lt. Col. Charles E. Stanton declared, "Lafayette, we are here!"
(AP, 7/4/97)
1917 Jul 22, British bombed German lines at Ypres with 4,250,000 grenades.
(MC, 7/22/02)
1917 Aug 14, Eugène Bonaventure Jean-Baptiste Vigo (aka Miguel Almereyda), French journalist and activist against militarism, was found dead in Fresnes Prison. Some speculated that Almereyda was hushed up by order of extreme Socialist politicians, Louis-Jean Malvy and Joseph Caillaux, men later punished for war-time treason. An autopsy found that his abdomen was full of pus and that he was struggling with a burst appendix. He was the father of French film director Jean Vigo (1905-1934).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Almereyda)
1917 Sep 3, French microbiologist Felix d'Herelle announced that he had discovered "an invisible, antagonistic microbe of the dysentery bacillus." The agent came to be known as a microphage, a virus that infects and replicates within bacteria and archaea.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteriophage) (Econ., 8/22/20, p.22)
1917 Sep 4, The American expeditionary force in France suffered its first fatalities in World War I when a German plane attacked a British-run base hospital.
(AP, 9/4/08)
1917 Sep 6, French pilot Georges Guynemer shot down 54th German aircraft.
(MC, 9/6/01)
1917 Sep 8, Eugene Bullard, born in Columbus, Georgia, (emigrating to France), became the first African-American combat aviator when he flew a reconnaissance mission over the city of Metz, France. He was credited with one confirmed "kill," a German Pfalz he shot down over Verdun.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1917 Sep 20, The British assaulted the Polygon Forest in France.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1917 Sep 26, Australian Private Thomas Hurdis (26) was wounded in Belgium, and died on Oct. 3 in a US field hospital in France. His skull with a bullet lodged in bone between his eyes was later put on display at the Mutter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. On July 20, 2018, the skull was buried in Hurdis' grave at the French Mont Huon Military Cemetery in Le Treport in a ceremony attended by Hurdis' family and Australian troops.
(AP, 7/21/18)
1917 Sep 27, Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas (b1834), French impressionist painter died in Paris. His fascination with horses was covered in the 1998 book "Degas at the Races" by Jean Sutherland.
(WSJ, 10/2/96, p.B5)(SFEC, 6/21/98, BR p.8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Degas)
1917 Oct 15, Mata Hari (b.1876), the woman whose name has become synonymous with a seductive female spy, was executed by the French outside Paris on charges of spying for the Germans during World War I. The daughter of a prosperous Dutch merchant, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle married a colonial army officer named MacLeod in 1895. The couple lived for five years in Java and Sumatra before the marriage failed. By 1905, Mrs. MacLeod was calling herself Mata Hari--said to be Malay for "eye of the day"--and creating a sensation as an exotic East Indian dancer in Europe. Among her many lovers were military officers and, although the facts surrounding her espionage activities are still unclear, Mata Hari was arrested by the French as a German spy in February 1917. After a two-day trial before a military court, Mata Hari was sentenced to death for espionage. In 2002 Richard Skinner authored "The Red Dancer," a novel based on her life.
(WSJ, 1/16/97, p.A16)(AP, 10/15/97)(HNPD, 10/15/98)(SSFC, 3/24/02, p.M4)
1917 Oct 19, The first doughnut was fried by Salvation Army volunteer women for American troops in France during World War I.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1917 Oct 21, Members of the First Division of the U.S. Army training in Luneville, France, became the first Americans to see action on the front lines of World War I. The first U.S. troops entered the front lines at Sommervillier under French command.
(AP, 10/21/98)(HN, 10/21/98)
1917 Nov 10, The assault on Flanders finally ground to a halt. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) had suffered losses of 300,000 men and German losses were around 200,000--for a total gain of four miles and the occupation of Passchendaele.
(HN, 6/7/98)(HNQ, 11/2/98)
1917 Nov 15, Emile Durkheim (b.1858), French sociologist, died in Paris. He formally established the academic discipline of sociology and with Max Weber is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim)
1917 Nov 16, Georges Clemenceau (76) again became prime minister of France. He appointed himself as minister of war as well as chief of state. For his contribution to the victory of the Allies in World War I, premier Clemenceau was referred to as the "Father of Victory." A physician, journalist, author and statesman, Clemenceau was an ardent upholder of the French Third Republic. He strove to create an indomitable "will to victory" and proclaimed "To be entirely in unity with the soldier, to live, to suffer, to fight with him." Clemenceau, declared he would wage war "to the last quarter hour, for the last quarter hour will be ours." Born on September 28, 1841, Clemenceau died on November 24, 1929.
(HNQ, 3/23/99)(AP, 11/16/07)
1917 Nov 17, The French Sculptor Rodin (77) froze to death in an unheated attic in Meudon, France. He had applied to the government for quarters as warm as those wherein his statues were stored, but the government turned him down. His studio was called La Villa des Brillants. He worked with sculptor A.-E. Carrier-Belleuse and for years spent a considerable amount of time on decorative work for public monuments. His work included several versions of a "Monument to Victor Hugo," "The Kiss," "The Burghers of Calais" and "The Thinker." His famous "Balzac" wasn’t cast in bronze until 1939. The film "Camille Claudel" told the story of Rodin’s mistress, a brilliant sculptress who went mad after their love affair.
(SFC, 12/4/94, p. S-8)(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T10)(AP, 11/17/97)
1917 Dec 6, Some 1700 people died in an explosion when a Belgian relief ship and the French munition ship "Mont Blanc" collided in the harbor at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
(EWH, 4th ed, p.1054)(MC, 12/6/01)
1917 Dec 12, In Modane, France, a troop train derailed near the entrance of Mt. Cenis tunnel and 543 people were killed.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A15)(AP, 2/18/04)
1917 In France Marcel Duchamp christened a supine urinal as a work of art, "Fountain," and signed it with a fictitious name. The original was lost but he authorized an edition of 8 replicas in 1964.
(SFC, 6/5/98, p.A17)
1917 Egon Schiele, Viennese artist, made his "Kneeling Girl Propped on Her Elbows."
(WSJ, 11/19/97, p.A20)
1917 Auguste Moreau (b.1834), French sculptor, died. He and 4 other members of his family designed light fixtures based on sculptured figures.
(SFC, 1/16/08, p.G4)(www.aspireauctions.com/auction30/details/4195.html)
1918 Jan 29, The Supreme Allied Council met at Versailles.
(HN, 1/29/99)
1918 Mar 21, During World War I, Germany launched the Somme 'Michael' Offensive in France, hoping to break through the Allied line before American reinforcements could arrive. It is better remembered as the First Battle of the Somme.
(WUD, 1994, p.1356)(AP, 3/21/97)(HN, 3/21/99)
1918 Mar 23, Crépy-en-Laonnoise: German artillery shelled Paris France and 256 were killed. The Paris bombs were named "Thick Bertha's Dike" (nickname for the widow Krupp).
(SS, 3/23/02)
1918 Mar 25, Claude Debussy (55), French composer, died in Paris. In 1962 Edward Lockspeiser authored “Debussy," a look at how the composer shaped the work of Symbolist writers.
(AP, 3/25/97)(WSJ, 3/1/08, p.W8)
1918 Mar 26, On the Western Front during World War I the Germans took the French towns Noyon, Roye and Lihons.
(HN, 3/25/98)
1918 Mar 26, Col. Raynal Bolling (b.1877), architect of American air power in WWI and resident of Greenwich, Connecticut, was shot dead by a German patrol in France.
(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynal_Bolling)
1918 Mar-1919 Jul, The art collection of Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas, more than 500 paintings and 5,000 prints, was auctioned off in Paris.
(WSJ, 10/21/97, p.A20)
1918 Apr 1, Isaac Rosenberg (b.1890), British WWI war poet, died near Arras, France, during Ludendorff’s big spring offensive. In 2008 Jean Moorcroft Wilson authored “Isaac Rosenberg: The Making of a Great War Poet."
(WSJ, 4/3/09, p.W6)
1918 Apr 3, French Gen. Ferdinand Foch (1851-1929) was named the supreme commander of the Allied Forces.
(www.firstworldwar.com/source/foch_order.htm)
1918 Apr 4, Battle of Somme [France], an offensive by the British against the German Army ended.
(HN, 4/4/99)
1918 Apr 8, The US First Aero Squadron was assigned to the Western Front for the first time on observation duty.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1918 Apr 9, In northern France some 7,000 Portuguese soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner in one day at the Battle of Lys. The battle helped allied nations stop a German offensive in the final year of hostilities.
(AP, 4/9/18)
1918 Apr 15, Clemenceau published secret French-Austrian documents.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1918 Apr 21, Baron Manfred von Richthofen (25), the cousin of Frieda Lawrence and the highest-scoring German ace of World War I with 80 victories, was killed in a dogfight over France's Somme Valley over Amiens. As he pursued a Canadian pilot with jammed guns, von Richthofen, flying a red Fokker triplane, broke one of his own flying rules by following his prey too long, too far and too low. Two miles behind Allied lines, Richthofen was mortally wounded when he was fired upon simultaneously by another Canadian pilot and Australian ground troops. The following day, the Red Baron was buried by his enemies with full military honors. He was replaced with Hermann Goering.
(WSJ, 5/15/95, p. A-16)(AP, 4/21/97)(HNPD, 4/21/99)
1918 May 15, Pfc. Henry Johnson and Pfc. Needham Roberts received the Croix de Guerre for their services in World War I. They were the first Americans to win France's highest military medal.
(HN, 5/15/99)
1918 May 28, The Battle of Cantigny began during World War I as American troops captured the French town from the Germans; the Americans were able to resist German counterattacks in the days that followed.
(AP, 5/28/08)
1918 May, The German army staged a surprise offensive and rolled into the Marne Valley through the center of the French 6th Army. The Germans were held at bay by some 9,000 US Marines of the 5th and 6th Regiments of the 4th Brigade.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A26)
1918 Jun 4, French and American troops halted Germany's offensive at Chateau-Thierry, France.
(HN, 6/4/98)
1918 Jun 6, In northern France the US Marines counter-attacked the Germans and pushed them back to the woods at Bois de Belleau. US Marines entered combat at the Battle of Belleau Wood. This was the 1st US victory of WW I. The Americans chased the German forces out of Belleau Wood by the end of the month. The battle became a defining moment in World War I.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A26)(HN, 6/6/01)(AP, 5/26/18)
1918 Jun 12, First airplane bombing raid by an American unit occurred on World War I’s Western Front in France.
(HN, 6/12/98)
1918 Jul 18, During World War I, American and French forces launched a counteroffensive against the Germans during the Second Battle of the Marne.
(AP, 7/18/08)
1918 Jul 19, German armies retreated across the Marne River in France.
(MC, 7/19/02)
1918 Jun 26, After a brief respite, the Germans began firing their huge 420 mm howitzer "Big Bertha" at Paris.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1918 Jun 28, The US Marines took the Bois de Belleau.
(SFC, 6/6/97, p.A26)
1918 Jun 30, As the Austro-Hungarian Empire was collapsing, France became the first country to formally recognize Czechoslovakia's new government, paving the way to the country's proclamation of independence later that year.
(AP, 6/30/18)
1918 Jul 15, The Second Battle of the Marne began during World War I.
(AP, 7/15/97)
1918 Jul 30, Poet Joyce Kilmer (b.1886), a sergeant in the 165th U.S. Infantry Regiment, was killed during the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. Kilmer is perhaps best remembered for his poem "Trees."
(AP, 7/30/08)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer)
1918 Aug 6, The 2nd battle of the Marne ended.
(MC, 8/6/02)
1918 Aug 8, Opening salvos by the combined air and ground assault by soldiers from Britain, Australia, Canada, the United States and France began the Battle of Amiens. They quickly began to push back German troops to turn the tide on the Western Front.
(AP, 8/8/18)
1918 Sep 12, During World War I, U.S. forces led by Gen. John J. Pershing launched an attack on the German-occupied St. Mihiel salient north of Verdun, France.
(AP, 9/12/97)
1918 Sep 12, British troops retook Havincourt, Moeuvres, and Trescault along the Western Front.
(HN, 9/12/98)
1918 Sep 13, U.S. and French forces took St. Mihiel, France, in America's first action as a standing army.
(HN, 9/13/98)
1918 Sep 26, The Meuse-Argonne offensive started. It was America's deadliest battle ever, with 26,000 US soldiers killed, tens of thousands wounded and more ammunition fired than in the whole of the Civil War. The offensive was one of several simultaneous Allied attacks that brought the war which started in 1914 to an end, leading the Germans to retreat and sign the armistice on November 11.
(AP, 9/26/08)(AP, 9/23/18)
1918 Oct 4, The pigeon Cher Ami (d.1919) became the hero of the American 77th Infantry Division as she delivered her message during in the Battle of the Argonne, despite having been shot through the breast, blinded in one eye, covered in blood and with a leg hanging only by a tendon.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher_Ami)(Econ, 1/16/16, p.89)
1918 Oct 8, Alvin Callum York (1887-164) almost single-handedly killed 25 German soldiers and captured 132 in the Argonne Forest in France. Corporal Alvin C. York's platoon was advancing toward the Decauville railway when they were hit with machine-gun fire from all sides. The doughboys captured one gun, but the noise drew the fire of the remaining German emplacements, killing six and seriously wounding three Americans. As the most senior of the remaining doughboys, York went out alone to engage the enemy with just his rifle and service revolver, picking off the machine-gunners one by one. When the fighting was over, York had single-handedly eliminated 35 machine guns, killed more than 20 Germans and taken 132 members of a Prussian Guards regiment as prisoners. A modest man, York shrugged off his heroic actions, saying, "It's over; let's forget it."
(AP, 10/8/97)(HNPD, 12/13/98)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York)
1918 Oct 14, In France the American 32nd division was sent to engage German troops on the Dame Marie, while the 5th and 42nd Divisions under Gen. Douglas MacArthur swept in pincer movements to occupy Cote de Chatillon. The objectives were taken in 3 days of tough fighting. In 2008 Robert H. Ferrell authored “The Question of MacArthur’s Reputation: Cote de Chatillon, October 14-16, 1918."
(WSJ, 11/24/08, p.A17)
1918 Oct 24, Alexander Charles Lecocq (b.1832), French composer, died in Paris.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lecocq)
1918 Oct 24, Pvt. Michael Walsh, an Irish born American soldier serving in the Army's 29th Division, was killed in action in France. In 2018 the Vermont-based Purple Hearts Reunited presented a Purple Heart to Walsh's relatives in Ireland.
(AP, 11/16/18)
1918 Nov 11, At ten minutes past five in the morning, German and Allied negotiators placed the final signatures on the armistice that would end World War I six hours later. After the signing, French General Ferdinand Foch sent all Allied commanders the following message: "Hostilities will cease on the entire [Western] front November 11 at 11:00 a.m." Even as the hour approached 9 of 16 commanders of US divisions on the Western Front ordered a final assault that left an additional 11,000 casualties. Although the Allies had not invaded Germany and there was no clear military victory, the Germans were forced to sign the armistice because of insurmountable problems. German troops, pushed past their limits of endurance by five years of fighting, faced a fresh stream of well-equipped American soldiers. Germany's allies, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, had already ceased fighting and mutinies increased as German soldiers and sailors refused to carry out suicidal missions. Food shortages, both at home and at the front, had reached crisis levels. The costs of the First World War were astronomical with 7.5 million dead and more than 35 million total casualties. The US Armistice Day holiday was changed to Veteran’s Day after the Korean War. It was celebrated as “Veteran’s Day" for the first time in the US in Emporia, Kansas, on November 11, 1953. In 2004 Joseph E. Persico authored “Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax."
(SFC, 11/9/96, p.A16)(SFC,11/8/97, p.A11)(HNPD, 11/11/98)(SFC, 12/28/04, p.D1)
1918 Nov 21, The last German troops left Alsace-Lorraine, France.
(HN, 11/21/98)
1918 Dec 8, Gerard Souzay, baritone (Le Nozze di Figaro), was born in Angers, France.
(MC, 12/8/01)
1918 Dec 9, French troops occupied Mainz.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1918 Dec 13, President Wilson arrived in France, becoming the first chief executive to visit Europe while in office.
(AP, 12/13/97)
1918 Picasso (1881-1973), French painter, married Olga Khokhlova, one of Diaghilev’s Russian dancers, whom he met in Rome.
(Econ, 11/17/07, p.99)
1918 In France the Meuse-Argonne offensive action was made. A portion of the U.S. 77th Division in World War I was encircled by the Germans during the 1918 Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I and called the "lost battalion.". The unit managed to hold off its attackers until relief finally arrived.
(SFC, 1/26/98, p.A17)
1919 Jan 18, The World War I Peace Congress, held to negotiate peace treaties ending World War I, opened in Versailles, France.
(AP, 1/18/08)
1919 Feb 3, League of Nations held its 1st meeting in Paris.
(MC, 2/3/02)
1919 Feb 15, The American Legion was organized in Paris.
(440 Int’l., 2/15/99)
1919 Feb 19, The First Pan African Congress met in Paris, France.
(HN, 2/19/99)
1919 Mar 8, Reports from Paris indicated that 6,000 American men had married French women in the past year.
(HN, 3/8/98)
1919 Mar 14, Emile Cottin was condemned to death for the attempt on the life of Clemenceau.
(HN, 3/14/98)
1919 Mar 15-17, The American Legion was founded in Paris by members of the American Expeditionary Force.
(AP, 3/15/97)(www.legion.org/)
1919 Mar 22, The first international airline service was inaugurated on a weekly schedule between Paris and Brussels.
(AP, 3/22/99)
1919 Mar 25, The Paris Peace Commission adopted a plan to protect nations from the influx of foreign labor.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1919 Apr 12, Maurice Girodias, French publisher, was born.
(MC, 4/12/02)
1919 May 4, Some 3,000 young scholars from 13 colleges and universities rallied at Tiananmen Square to protest the loss of Shandong province to the Japanese under the Versailles Treaty at the Paris Peace Conference. German concessions in China were bequeathed to Japan. Among the protestors were people who helped form the Communist Party.
(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)(WSJ, 5/17/99, p.A21)(Econ, 5/3/08, p.13)
1919 May 6, Paris Peace Conference disposed of German colonies; German East Africa was assigned to Britain & France, German SW Africa to South Africa.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1919 Jun 28, The Treaty of Versailles was signed in France, ending (WW I) World War I. World War I began in 1914 and ended on this date. Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles under protest. Books by participants included "Peacemaking" by Harold Nicolson; "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" by John Maynard Keynes; and "The Truth About the Peace Treaties" by David Lloyd George. In 2000 Richard Holmes authored "The Western Front." Nearly 1 million British died and nearly 2 million each for France, Germany, Russia and Turkey. In 2002 Margaret MacMillan authored "Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World."
(HFA, ‘96, p.32)(AP, 6/28/97)(HN, 6/28/98)(WSJ, 8/16/00, p.A20)(SSFC, 12/15/02, p.M3)
1919 Jul 19, Raymonde de Larouche (1882-1919), French actress and aviatrix, died in a plane crash at Le Crotoy airport in France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymonde_de_Laroche)
1919 Aug 25, The 1st scheduled passenger service by airplane between Paris and London.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1919 Nov 19, The Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 55 in favor to 39 against, short of the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.
(AP, 11/19/97)
1919 Nov 30, Women cast votes for the first time in French legislative elections.
(HN, 11/30/98)
1919 Dec 3, Pierre A. Renoir (78), French painter and sculptor, died.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1919 Dec 18, British pilot John William Alcock (b.1892), enroute to a Paris air show, was killed while making a forced landing in fog near Rouen. He and navigator Arthur Witten Brown (1886-1948) had recently completed the world’s first nonstop transatlantic flight [see June 14].
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Whitten_Brown)(ON, 4/09, p.1)
1919 At the Folies Bergere women performed totally nude on stage for the first time in the modern Western World.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, Z1 p.8)
c1919 Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Diego Rivera, Mexican painters in Paris, decided that the Mexican revolution must be expressed in a public art that all could understand.
(SFEC, 11/8/98, p.T5)
1919 The French Confederation of Christian Workers (Confédération française des travailleurs chrétiens, CFTC) was founded. In 1964 it split to form the CFDT and CFTC.
(http://tinyurl.com/ycqnkfpe)
1919 French inventor Andre Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee filed a patent application for an “Electric Apparatus for Propelling Projectiles.
(Econ, 5/9/15, p.73)
1919 Britain and France divided Cameroon between themselves having taken it from Germany. London Declaration divided Cameroon into French (80%) and British administrative zones (20%). The British zone is divided into Northern and Southern Cameroons.
(Econ, 3/11/17, p.48)(https://tinyurl.com/y9478eyl)
1920 Jan 3, The last of the U.S. troops quit France.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1920 Jan 24, Amedeo Modigliani (b.1884), Italian sculptor, painter, died in Paris. His mistress Jeanne Hebuterne, pregnant with his child, committed suicide 2 days later rather than live without him. In 2006 Jeffrey Meyers authored “Modigliani: A Life."
(www.guggenheimcollection.org/site/artist_bio_110.html)(WSJ, 3/21/06, p.D8)
1920 Jan 26, Jeanne Hebuterne (b.1898), the mistress of Amadeo Modigliani, killed herself 2 days following Modigliani’s death while carrying his child.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_H%C3%A9buterne)
1920 Feb, Emile Coue (1857-1926), French pharmacist, Coué made plans to come to the USA for a lecture tour, in conjunction with the first English translation of his book "Self Mastery Through Conscious Auto Suggestion." Coue had devised the mantra "Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better" to promote his theory of self-improvement through auto-suggestion.
(Baltimore Sun, 5/21/1922, Section 5, p.4)
1920 May 16, Joan of Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV.
(AP, 5/16/97)(HN, 5/16/98)
1920 Jun 4, The Treaty of Trianon, signed at Versailles, was forced upon Hungary by the victorious Allies after WWII and resulted in Hungary giving up nearly three-fourths of its territory to Romania, Czechoslovakia and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croat and Slovenes. Hungary lost more than half its population, including some 3 million Hungarians. Hungary ceded the hills of Transylvania to Romania.
(HNQ, 7/5/98)(WSJ, 1/2/97, p.1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon)
1920 Aug 10, The Ottoman sultanate at Constantinople signed the Treaty of Sevres with the Allies and associated powers. It promised a homeland for the Kurds, but the nationalist government in Ankara did not sign the treaty. It set the borders of Turkey recognized Armenia as an independent state. France and Britain backed the treaty and a Kurdish state, but refused to allow Kurds in Iraq and Syria to join it.
(SFC, 2/17/99, p.A10)(www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/versa/sevres1.html) (EWH, 4th ed, p.1086)(Econ, 7/13/13, SR p.5)
1920 Oct 15, The Paris Conference on Passports & Customs Formalities and Through Tickets opened. The week-long event ending on Oct 21 was hosted by the League of Nations and set standards for passports.
(Econ, 3/3/12, p.73)(www.indiana.edu/~league/1920.htm)
1920 Dec 30, Ho Chi Minh helped found the Communist Party of France on December 30, 1920, while a student there. Known then as Nguyen Ai Quoc, Ho went on to Moscow in 1923 for training in revolutionary strategy by the Communist International. After several years in the Soviet Union and China, Ho returned to Vietnam to lead his nation’s revolutionary movement.
(HNQ, 4/13/99)
1920 Sara (b.1883) and Gerald Murphy (d.1964) rented a floor of the Hotel du Cap on the French Riviera for the summer while their villa was being built, and invited their friends, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Marlene Dietrich, and the Windsors. Hemingway’s book, "A Moveable Feast," was a memoir on the Murphys. Fitzgerald’s characters of Dick and Nicole Diver in "Tender Is the Night" was based on the Murphys. In 1962 Calvin Thomas published "Living Well Is the Best Revenge," based on the Murphys. In 1983 Honoria Murphy published a personal memoir of her parents "Sara and Gerald." In 1998 Amanda Vail published "Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy-- A Lost Generation Love Story."
(CNT, Nov.,1994, p.219)(SFEC, 8/9/98, BR 9 p.9)
1920 The French film "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" was directed by Germaine Dulac.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.D5)
1920 Leon Bourgeois (b.1851), French premier (1895-96) won the Nobel Peace Prize.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1920 Suzanne Lenglen of France, wearing a shockingly short skirt, won 2 gold medals in tennis at the Olympic games in Antwerp, Belgium.
(NG, 8/04, Geographica)
1920 France, following populations losses in World War I, devised the Medal of the French Family with a special gold medal award to women who had 8 or more children.
(Econ, 4/19/08, p.62)
1920 Chad was separated from Ubangi-Shari to form a 4th colony of French Equatorial Africa.
(www.discoverfrance.net)
1920-1925 In Paris, The Swedish Ballet, founded by Rolf de Mare, brought together painters, filmmakers, actors, dancers and composers in Paris. Designs by Ferdnand Leger and Giorgio de Chirico, music by Eric Satie and Cole Porter, and film by Rene Clair marked the performances.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.D1)
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