Time line of France

Historical dates

A list of important dates and periods in French history:

• 10 000 BC Paleolithic age
• 5000 - 2500 BC Neolithic age
• 51 BC - 486 AD Gaule
• 486 - 751 AD Merovingiens
• 481 - 511 AD King Clovis
• 629 - 638 Dagobert I
• 721 - 737 Thierry IV
• 751 - 987 AD Carolingiens
• 751 - 768 King Pepin le Bref
• 768 - 814 Charlemange
• 843 - 877 Charles II
• 877 - 879 Louis II
• 879 - 882 Louis III
• 898 - 923 Charles III
• 936 - 954 Louis VI
• 996 - 987 Louis V
• 987 - 1328 Capetiens , King Hugues Capets
• 987 - 996 Hugues
• 996 - 1031 Robert II le Pieux
• 1031 - 1060 Henri I
• 1060 - 1108 Philippe I
• 1096 - Contruction of the Basillica Vézelay
• 1108 - 1137 Louis VI
• 1130 Construction of the Abbey of Fontenay
• 1137 - 1180 Louis VII
• 1180 - 1223 Philippe II
• 1223 - 1226 Louis VIII
• 1226 - 1270 Louis IX
• 1270 -1285 Philippe le Hardi III
• 1285 - 1314 Philippe le Bel IV
• 1039 - The Pope moves to Avignon
• 1350 - 1364 Jean II le bon
• 1364 - 1380 Charles V
• 1380 - 1422 Charles VI
• 1422 - 1461 Charles VII
• 1431 Jean d'Arc is burnt to death
• 1442 - Joan of Arc executed at Reims
• 1461 - 1483 Louis XI
• End of the Middle Ages 1486
• 1483 - 1498 Charles VIII
• 1483 - 1595 Renaissance period
• 1498 - 1515 Louix XII
• 1539 - The king Francois 1st declares French as the offical language of France
• 1559 - 1560 Francois II, end of the war with Italy
• 1589 - 1610 Henry IV (murdered by Ravaillac)
• 1610 - 1643 Louis XIII
• 1643 - 1715 Louis XIV Roi Soleil
• 1661 Louis XIV begins the construction of Versailles
• 1715 - 1774 Louis XV
• 1774 - 1792 Louis XVI
• 1778 The American Colonies and France signed this military treaty on February 6.
• 1789 The French Revolution
  • Prise de la Bastille the 14th July
  • The declaration of "Droits de l'homme" 26th August
  • The wealth of church is given to the nation 2nd November
• 1792 1st Republic
• 1793 Louis XVI is guillotined 21st January
• 1795 France adopts the metric system
• 1796 Napoleon named as general of the army of Italy
• 1799 Creation of the Bank of France
• 1804 - 1814 Napoleon 1
• 1809 Napoleon takes Moscow
• 1814 - 1824 Louis XVIII
• 1814 Restoration
• 1816 Napoleon defeated at Waterloo
• 1821 Death of Napoleon 1
• 1824 - 1830 Charles X
• 1830 - 1848 Louis-Philippe I
• 1848 2nd Republic
• 1852 - 1870 2nd Empire Napoleon 3
• 1858 The vision of Bernadette Soubrious at Lourdes
• 1862 Victor Hugo writes "Les Miserables"
• 1871 3rd Republic
• 1887 - 1894 Sadi Carnot
• 1894 The affair Drefus, accused of treason
• 1889 World Expo at Paris with the Eiffel Tower
• 1898 J'accuse by Emile Zola
• 1905 The law seperates the state from the church
• 1906-1913 Clemenceau
• 1914 - 1918 World War I
  • Detailed dates and timeline
  • ANZAC
• 1926 Death Claude Monet
• 1936-1945 Second World War
  • Detailed dates and timeline
  • Petain 1940-1944
  • D-Day June 6 1944
  • World war II, all in French, but excellent site
• 1944 - 1946 Charles De Gaulle
• 1944 April 21st, France finally gives women the right to vote.
• 1946 - 1947 Leon Blumme
• 1947 4th Republic
• 1947-1954 Vincent Henrauriol
• 1954-1959 René Coty
• 1959 Fith Republic
• 1959-1969 Charles de Gaulle
• 1962 End of the war in Algeria
• 1968 - May student riots
• 1969 - 1974 President Pompidou
• 1969 Frist flight of the Anglo-Fernch Concorde
• 1970 Death of Charles De Gaulle
• 1974 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing elected President
• 1981 François Mitterrand elected President
• 1988 François Mitterrand re-elected President
• 1991 Edith Cresson, the first French Prime Minister
• 1995 Jacques Chirac elected President as the 5 President of the 5th French Repulic
• 1996 Miterrand Francois dies
• 2001 Constitution is changed, the President is elected for 5 years (7 years before)
• 2002 Jacques Chirac re-elected President
• 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy elected as the 6 President of the 5th French Repulic

Many thanks to Christianne Maniere for assisting with the dates

Family tree of the French kings