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The History of France - Timeline
The principal dates in the history of France are listed below. For brevity, Kings other than the first and last and Presidents before the Second World War are not listed.
| 30000-12000 BC | First human habitation. |
| 57-62 BC | Under Julius Caesar, Roman Army conquers Gaul. |
| 406-406 | Barbarians invade Gaul. |
| 751 | First royal house, Merovingien, created; rules until 768. |
| 800 | Charlemagne becomes emperor of the Occident. |
| 885-886 | Vikings besiege Paris. |
| 1095 | First Crusade. |
| 1135-1144 | Gothic art begun in Paris region. |
| Late 12th century | Legend of Tristian et Yseut first written down. |
| 1230-1275 | Novel De la rose changes ideals of courtesy. |
| 1269 | Philosopher Pierre Pelerin de Maricourt explores magnetism and invents compass. |
| 1300-1314 | Polyphonic music evolved. |
| 1309 | Pope Clemit V takes up residence at Avignon, initiating 70 years of French papacy. |
| 1314 | Lordre des Templiers founded. |
| 1337 | War against Great Britain (Hundred years war). |
| 1344 | Museum built on site of former residence of Abbots of Cluny; now most known example of medieval civil architecture in Paris. |
| 1378-1417 | Great Schism of the Occident. |
| 1415 | Defeat on 25 October by forces of Henry V at battle of Azincourt. |
| 1431 | Jean d'Arc burned at the stake 30 May. |
| 1450 | First passion play. |
| 1453 | Hundred Years War ends. |
| 1529 | College de France founded. |
| 1539 | French made official language. |
| 1555 | Nostradamus publishes Les Proprieties, discussed to this day. |
| 1624 | Cardinal de Richelieu appointed minister and evolves concept of nation-state. |
| 1635 | LAcademie frangaise founded by Richelieu. |
| 1641 | Rene Descartes evolves Cartesian philosophy. |
| 1666-1671 | Moliere evolves modern drama. |
| 1673 | Performance of first opera, Cadmus et Hermione by Lully. |
| 1685 | Edict of Nantes revoked. |
| 1719 | John Law, an expatriate Scot, creates first modern financial services. |
| 1737 | Pierre Simon Fournier devises first point system for sizes of type. |
| 1748 | Political science defined as a discipline of study. |
| 1751-1772 | First encyclopaedia published. |
| 1772-1789 | Antoine Laurent Lavoisier founds modern chemistry. |
| 1774-1792 | Reign of Louis XVI |
| 1789 | Revolution starts 14 July. |
| 1793 | First Republic declared 24 June. |
| 1793 | First public museum, the Louvre. |
| 1795 | Metric system of measurement made obligatory. |
| 1801 | Xavier Bichat founds modern anatomy. |
| 1804-1814 | Napoleon I Emperor. |
| 1809 | Jean Baptiste Lamarck proposes a theory of evolution. |
| 1815 | Defeat at Waterloo. |
| 1816-1826 | Joseph Niepce originates photographic process. |
| 1830 | Algeria conquered; colonial empire begins. |
| 1830-1848 | Reign of Louis-Philippe I, last King. |
| 1830-1857 | Gustave Flaubert and Henri Beyle Stendhal write first novels mirroring society. |
| 1835-1840 | Charles Alexis deTocqueville advocates liberalism in government. |
| 1841-1863 | Hector Berlioz initiates romantic music. |
| 1848 | Second Republic declared 4 November. |
| 1861-1869 | R & E. Michaux invent bicycle with pedals. |
| 1862 | Louis Pasteur evolves theory of infection. |
| 1870-1871 | War against Germany. |
| 1870 | Third Republic declared 4 September. |
| 1871-1893 | Emile Zola evolves naturalism as genre of literature. |
| 1874-1886 | Impressionist movement in art. |
| 1881 | Compulsory secular primary school education initiated. |
| 1884 | Edouard Delmare-Debouteville patents world's first car. |
| 1887-1889 | Eiffel Tower built. |
| 1894-1906 | Dreyfus affair. |
| 1896 | H Becquerel discovers radioactivity. |
| 1902 | Claude Debussy writes first comic opera. |
| 1904 | Entente Cordiale agreement ends hostilities between France and Great Britain. |
| 1914-1918 | First World War. |
| 1924-1930 | Surrealism in art. |
| 1938-1948 | Jean Paul Sartre evolves existentialism. |
| 1939-1945 | Second World War. |
| 1945-1973 | Les trente g/orieuses post-war prosperity period. |
| 1946 | Fourth Republic declared 13 October. |
| 1946 | Jacques Heim and Louis Reard design first bikini bathing suit. |
| 1946-1954 | War in Indochina. |
| 1947 | Dior creates New Look. |
| 1954-1962 | Algerian War of Independence. |
| 1955-1972 | Production of the Caravelle, first commercially successful jet passenger aircraft. |
| 1955-1975 | Three million logements sociaux built in the banlieues |
| 1958 | Fifth Republic declared 4 October. |
| 1959 | Age for leaving compulsory schooling raised to 16. |
| 1959-1962 | Charles de Gaulle President. |
| 1968 | Student uprisings in May. |
| 1969-1974 | Georges Pompidou President. |
| 1970 | Death of Charles De Gaulle. |
| 1974-1981 | Valery Giscard d'Estaing President. |
| 1976-2000 | Anglo-French Concorde, first and to date only supersonic passenger aircraft in service. |
| 1981 | Train a Grand Vitesse (TGV) enters service; capable of speeds up to 320 km/h. |
| 1981-1995 | Frangois Mitterand President. |
| 1983 | Luc Montagnier discovers human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). |
| 1995 | Jacques Chirac President. |
