France Timeline

732 Oct 10 The Battle of Tours (Poitiers)
The Battle of Tours (October 10, 732), also called the Battle of Poitiers and in Arabic: معركة بلاط الشهداء‎ (ma‘arakat Balâṭ ash-Shuhadâ’) Battle of Court of The Martyrs, was fought in a...
1340 Jun 24 The Battle of Sluys
The decisive naval Battle of Sluys was fought on 24 June 1340 as one of the opening conflicts of the Hundred Years' War. It is historically important in that it resulted in the destructio...
1346 Aug 26 The Battle of Crécy
The Battle of Crécy (occasionally called the Battle of Cressy in English) took place on 26 August 1346 near Crécy in northern France, and was one of the most important battles of the Hund...
1356 Sep 19 The Battle of Poitiers
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundre...
1415 Oct 25 The Battle of Agincourt
The Battle of Agincourt was an English victory against a much larger French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday 25 October 1415 (Saint Crispin's Day), in norther...
1519 Leonardo da Vinci Dies in Amboise
From September 1513 to 1516, Leonardo spent much of his time living in the Belvedere in the Vatican in Rome, where Raphael and Michelangelo were both active at the time. In October 1515, ...
1534 Jun 9 Jacques Cartier Sails Upriver
French navigator Jacques Cartier sailed into the St. Lawrence River for the first time on June 9, 1534. Commissioned by King Francis I of France to explore the northern lands in search of...
1635 May 20 Battle of Les Avins
The Battle of Les Avins or Battle of Avein was fought on May 20, 1635 during the Thirty Years' War between a French and a Spanish army. The battle was fought in the Belgian village of ...
1638 Dec 17 The Siege of Breisach Ends in a French Victory
Battle of Breisach was fought on August 18 — December 17, 1638 as part of Thirty Years' War. It ended when a garrison of the Holy Roman Empire surrended to the French, commanded by Bernar...
1640 May 22
to 1640 Sep 20
 The Siege of Turin
The 1640 siege of Turin was a major action in two distinct wars: the Franco-Spanish War (1635) and the Piedmontese Civil War. Thomas of Savoy and his supporters had seized the city of Tur...
1642 May 26 Battle of Honnecourt
In spring 1642, cardinal Richelieu concentrated his forces to besiege the city of Perpignan in the province of Roussillon, leaving the rest of his armies in a defensive position. In Fland...
1643 May 19 Battle of Rocroi
The Battle of Rocroi was fought on 19 May 1643, late in the Thirty Years' War. It resulted in a decisive victory of the French army under the Duc d'Enghien, against the Spanish army under...
1643 Nov 24 Battle of Tuttlingen
The Battle of Tuttlingen was fought in Tuttlingen on November 24, 1643. Those involved in the conflict were the French forces led by Marshal Josias Rantzau and the armies of the Holy Roma...
1644 Aug 3
to 1644 Aug 9
 Battle of Freiburg
The Battle of Freiburg, also called the Three Day Battle, took place on August 3, August 5 and August 9, 1644 as part of the Thirty Years' War. The entrenched Bavarians led by Franz von M...
1645 May 2 Battle of Mergentheim
The Battle of Herbsthausen, or the Battle of Mergentheim, was fought on May 2, 1645.The battle was between French forces led by Marshal Turenne and the Bavarian army led by Franz von Merc...
1645 Aug 3 Second Battle of Nördlingen
The second Battle of Nördlingen (or Battle of Allerheim) was fought on August 3, 1645 southeast of Nördlingen near the village of Alerheim. France and its Protestant German allies defeate...
1648 May 7 Battle of Zusmarshausen
The Battle of Zusmarshausen was fought on May 7, 1648 between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden and France (led by Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne and Louis II de Bourbon, ...
1648 May 15
to 1648 Oct 24
 The Peace of Westphalia is Achieved through the Treaties of Osnabrück and Münster
The term Peace of Westphalia refers to the two peace treaties of Osnabrück and Münster, signed on May 15 and October 24, 1648, respectively, and written in French, that ended both the Thi...
1648 Aug 20 Battle of Lens
The Battle of Lens (20 August 1648) was a French victory under Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé against the Spanish army under Archduke Leopold in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648). I...
1654 Aug 25 Battle of Arras
The Battle of Arras, fought on August 25, 1654, was a victory of a French army under Turenne against a Spanish army commanded by Don Fernidand de Salis and Condé. Cyrano de Bergerac, w...
1656 Jul 16 Battle of Valenciennes
With a little further sacrifice of pride on the part of Spain peace might, perhaps, have been made after the deaths of Louis XIII and Richelieu had placed Anne of Austria in power as Rege...
1659 Nov 7 Treaty of the Pyrenees
The Treaty of the Pyrenees is the last major diplomatic achievement by Cardinal Mazarin. Combined with the Peace of Westphalia, it allowed Louis XIV remarkable stability and diplomatic ad...
1697 Sep 20 Signing of the Treaty of Ryswick
The Treaty of Ryswick or Ryswyck was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick (now known as Rijswijk) in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the Nine Years' War, which pitte...
1740
to 1748
War of Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) involved nearly all the powers of Europe (except for the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire). The war began under the pre...
1754
to 1763
The French & Indian War
The Seven Years War (1689-1763) was a massive conflict involving Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Sweden. The conflict was played out in Europe, India, and North Amer...
1756
to 1763
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a major military conflict that lasted from 1756, as a result of the French and Indian War that erupted in North America in 1754, until the conclusion of the treat...
1778 France declares war on Britain in support of the American colonies
France entered the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1778, and assisted in the victory of the Americans seeking independence from Britain (realized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris). ...
1778 Feb 6 Franco-American Alliance Signed
On February 6, 1778, France and the fledgling United States of America signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris, France. The Treaty of Amity and Commerc...
1778 Dec 15 Battle of St. Lucia
Admiral Barrington was alerted to the presence of the French fleet by the frigate Ariadne. He organized his line of battle such that Isis and his three frigates (Venus, Aurora, and Ariadn...
1779 Jun 24
to 1783 Feb 7
 Great Siege of Gibraltar
Eventually on 13 September 1782 the Bourbon allies launched their great attack; the number involved nearly 70,000 fighting men both French and Spanish. On land an army of 40,000 which con...
1779 Jul 6 Battle of Grenada
The French fleet, under Admiral Comte d'Estaing, consisted of 25 ships of the line and several frigates. The British fleet, under Vice-Admiral John Byron, had 21 ships of the line and 1 f...
1780 Apr 17 Battle of Martinique
In the first meeting between them on April 17 to the leeward of Martinique, Guichen escaped disaster only through the clumsy manner in which Sir George's orders were executed by his capta...
1781 Mar 9
to 1781 May 8
 Battle of Pensacola
On April 28, siege operations finally got underway. By May 1 they had emplaced a battery of cannons overlooking the Queen's Redoubt, and begun digging trenches toward an even more advanta...
1781 Mar 16 Battle of Cape Henry
The Battle of Cape Henry was naval battle in the American War of Independence which took place near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay on 16 March 1781 between a British squadron led by Vice Adm...
1781 Apr 29
to 1781 Apr 30
 Battle of Fort Royal
In 1762, the English land in the island and take the highest points on the Northern town. With a beautiful view and a solid platform, looking over the defences in order to bomb soldiers a...
1781 Aug 19
to 1782 Feb 5
 Invasion of Minorca
Work soon began on gun emplacements to besiege St. Philip's Castle, the most important being at La Mola, on the opposite side of the harbor mouth, and at Binisaida, near Georgetown. The B...
1781 Sep 5 Battle of the Chesapeake
When the British fleet of 19 ships, now under Graves's command, arrived back at the Chesapeake on the morning of September 5, they found 25 French ships at anchor behind Cape Henry. The r...
1781 Sep 28
to 1781 Oct 19
 Battle of Yorktown
By October 14, the trenches were within 150 yards (140 m) of redoubts #9 and #10. Washington ordered that all guns within range begin blasting the redoubts in order to weaken them for the...
1782 Jan 25
to 1782 Jan 26
 Battle of St. Kitts
When Hood returned to the West Indies in late 1781 after the Battle of the Chesapeake, he was for a time in independent command owing to Rodney's absence in England. The French Admiral, t...
1782 Apr 9
to 1782 Apr 12
 Battle of the Saintes
On 12 April, De Grasse bore up with his fleet to protect a dismasted ship that was being chased by four British ships as he made for Guadaloupe. Rodney recalled his chasing ships and made...
1782 Aug 25
to 1782 Sep 3
 Battle of Trincomalee
Following the battle off Negapatam, Hughes had spent two weeks at see before putting into Madras for repairs. There he was joined by Sceptre and San Carlos. Notified by one his scouts tha...
1782 Oct 20 Battle of Cape Spartel
There was a tempest on 10 October, and some of the Franco-Spanish ships, which were anchored off Algeciras, were damaged, although none were sunk. Howe's fleet, escorting a Gibraltar-boun...
1783 Sep 3 Treaty of Paris
The treaty document was signed at the Hôtel de York – which is now 56 Rue Jacob – by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay (representing the United States) and David Hartley (a memb...
1784 Feb 29 French Soldiers Raid Deerfield, Massachusetts
On February 29, 1704, between two and three hundred French soldiers and their Native American allies raided the tiny frontier settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The assault was a ti...
1788 Jun 7 Day of the Tiles
The Day of the Tiles (French: Journée des Tuiles) is an event that took place in the French town of Grenoble on June 7, 1788. It was among the first of the revolts which preceded the Fren...
1788 Jul 21 Assembly of Vizille
The Assembly of Vizille was the result of a meeting of various representatives in Grenoble, which took place on June 7th 1788. Its purpose was to discuss the events of The Day Of The Tile...
1789 Apr 28 Reveillon riot
The Réveillon Riot occurred on 28 April 1789 in the St. Antoine district of Paris where a factory which produced luxury wallpaper was owned by Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. The factory employe...
1789 Jun 20 Tennis Court Oath
The Tennis Court Oath (French: serment du jeu de paume) was a pivotal event during the French Revolution. The Oath was a pledge signed by 576 out of the 577 members from the Third Estate ...
1789 Jul 9
to 1791 Sep 30
 National Constituent Assembly formed
The National Constituent Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale constituante) was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. After ...
1789 Jul 14 The storming of the Bastille
The Storming of the Bastille, in Paris, was the flashpoint of the French Revolution and signified the fall of the monarchy and royal authority. A crowd of about 1,000 armed civilians g...
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