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

1713 - Jacques-Germain Soufflot (French architect)

1755 - Gaspard de Prony (French mathematician)

1804 - Victor Schoelcher (French politican)

1916 - Marcel Cerdan (French boxer)

1940 - Alex Trebek (Canadian-born game show host)

1946 - Mireille Mathieu (French singer)

Deaths

1461 - Charles VII of France

1713 - Jacques-Germain Soufflot (French architect)

1789 - Joseph-François Foulon (French administrator)

1802 - Marie François Xavier Bichat (French anatomist)

1832 - Napoleon II of France

1852 - Auguste Marmont (French marshal)

1950 - William Lyon Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada)

2004 - Sacha Distel (French singer)

Milestones/Events

1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon elected first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem

1499 - Swabian War: Battle of Dornach - The Swiss decisively defeated the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I

1805 - Napoleonic Wars: War of the Third Coalition - Battle of Cape Finisterre

1812 - Napoleonic Wars: Peninsular War - Battle of Salamanca

Errors and Omissions

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