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

1663 - Prince Eugene of Savoy (French-born Austrian general)

1903 - Cecile de Brunhoff (French storyteller)

1918 - Louis Althusser (French Marxist philosopher)

Deaths

1628 - François de Malherbe (French poet and critic)

1793 - Marie Antoinette (Queen of France)

1877 - Theodore Barrière (French dramatist)

1893 - Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta (French President)

1937 - Jean de Brunhoff (French writer and illustrator)

1962 - Gaston Bachelard (French philosopher and poet)

Milestones/Events

1793 - French Revolution: Marie Antoinette guillotined

1793 - French Revolution: Battle of Wattignies

1813 - Battle of Leipzig: Sixth Coalition attacked Napoleon Bonaparte

1946 - Ten WWII war criminals hanged

1970 - Canada: In response to the October Crisis terrorist kidnapping, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act

1992 - Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson filed a US$1.4 million lawsuit against French tabloids for printing topless photos of her on the French Riviera

Errors and Omissions

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