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

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Birthdays

1692 - Louis Racine (French poet)

1753 - Jean-Baptiste Breval (French composer)

1784 - Laure Junot, Duchesse d'Abrantès (French writer)

1814 - Adolphe Sax (Belgian inventor)

1825 - Charles Garnier (French architect)

1841 - Armand Fallières (French president)

Deaths

1492 - Antoine Busnois (French composer)

1656 - Jean-Baptiste Morin (French scientist)

1692 - Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux (French writer)

1822 - Claude Louis Berthollet (French chemist)

1836 - King Charles X of France

1965 - Edgard Varèse (French composer)

1968 - Charles Munch (French conductor and violinist)

1978 - Heiri Suter (Swiss cyclist)

Holidays/Celebrations

Morocco - Anniversary of the Green March

Milestones/Events

1917 - World War I: Third Battle of Ypres ended

1957 - Félix Gaillard became Prime Minister of France

1975 - Green March began: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans prepared to cross into the Western Sahara

2001 - Belgian national airline Sabena declared bankrupt

2002 - 12 people killed in a fire on a train from Paris to Vienna

Errors and Omissions

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