events that took place before this time. This timeline therefore starts with the French Revolution of 1789, which is usually considered the foundational moment of modern French history.
July 1789
The French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille on 14 July.
1791–1804
The Haitian Revolution.
1792–1804: First Republic
September 1792
Abolition of the monarchy and foundation of the First Republic.
1793–1794
The period of violence known as La Terreur (The Terror).
November 1799
General Napoleon Bonaparte overthrows the French Directory in the Coup of 18 Brumaire.
May 1804
Napoleon is declared emperor and announces the end of the First Republic; in its place, he inaugurates the First Empire.
June 1815
Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo and the First Empire comes to an end; the monarchy is restored.
July 1830
The July Revolution; King Charles X is deposed and replaced by Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans.
1848–1851: Second Republic
February 1848
The February Revolution forces Louis-Philippe to abdicate; foundation of the Second Republic.
December 1851
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor Napoleon III, thereby bringing the Second Republic to an end.
1851–1870
The Second Empire.
July 1870–May 1871
Franco-Prussian War.
1870–1940: Third Republic
September 1870
Foundation of the Third Republic during the Siege of Paris.
March–May 1871
Paris Commune.
December 1905
The legal separation of Church and State.
July 1914–November 1918
First World War.
May 1936–April 1938
The Popular Front government of Léon Blum, a left-wing coalition of radicals, socialists and communists.
June 1940
The fall of France, which is followed by the Nazi occupation of northern France and the establishment of the Vichy administration in the southern ‘free’ zone.
November 1942
The Nazis invade and occupy the southern ‘free’ zone.
August 1944
Liberation of Paris.
1946–1958: Fourth Republic
October 1946
The adoption of the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
March 1947–February 1949
Unsuccessful anti-colonial uprising in Madagascar.
April 1951
The Treaty of Paris establishes the European Coal and Steel Community.
May 1954
The French army is defeated at Dien Bien Phu; the French formally withdraw from Indochina in August 1954.
November 1954
The Algerian War begins.
March 1956
Tunisia and Morocco become independent.
March 1957
The Treaty of Rome establishes the European Economic Community.
May 1958
Charles de Gaulle is invited to form a new government; he becomes president in January 1959.
1958–present: Fifth Republic
October 1958
The adoption of the constitution of the Fifth Republic.
1958–1960
Independence of all the territories formerly part of French West Africa (AOF) and French Equatorial Africa (AEF).
February 1960
France tests its first nuclear bomb in the Algerian Sahara.
March 1962
De Gaulle signs the Évian Accords that end the Algerian War.
May–June 1968
Widespread student and worker protests across France.
June 1969
De Gaulle resigns as president; he is replaced by Georges Pompidou.
October 1973
The first global oil crisis.
1974–1981
Presidency of the liberal Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (one term).
January 1975
The ‘Loi Veil’ legalizes abortion.
1981–1995
Presidency of the socialist François Mitterrand (two terms).
March 1983
After two years of left-wing social and economic reforms, Mitterrand announces policy of austerity.
1984
Unemployment rate exceeds 10% for the first time since the Second World War.
September 1992
In a referendum, the French narrowly support the adoption of the Maastricht Treaty.
1995–2007
Presidency of the centre-right Jacques Chirac (two terms).
December 1999
Introduction of the euro.
April 2002
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of the extreme right Front National party, reaches the second round of the presidential election.
March 2004
Promulgation of a law banning conspicuous religious symbols in state schools.
May 2005
In a referendum, the French reject a proposed European Constitution; as a result the entire project is abandoned.
October–November 2005
Major riots in French cities in response to police violence.
2007–2012
Presidency of the centre-right Nicolas Sarkozy (one term).
March 2011
France leads the NATO intervention in Libya.
March 2011
After a referendum in 2009, the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean becomes France’s
