| 1900 | January 1 | The census reports that the population of France and its colonial empire numbers 78,931,494. |
| January 5 | Charles Péguy edits the first issue of Cahiers de la Quinzaine (Fortnightly Notes). |
| January 15 | The deputy from Saint-Menehould, Bertrand, introduces a private bill to outlaw bullfighting. Gaston Doumergue, deputy from a Spanish border district, quashes the initiative. |
| January 18 | A concert is conducted in a French church for the first time with a performance of Handel’s Messiah at the church of Saint Eustache in Paris. |
| January 23 | Advocates of public and private schools exchange polemics in the National Assembly. |
| January 27 | The first telephone booths are installed in Paris. |
| January 31 | Louise, “a musical novel” by Gustave Charpentier opens to triumphal acclaim at l'Opéra-Comique de Paris. January |
| | Paul Déroulède, founder of the Boulangist Ligue des Patriotes, is sentence to 10 years banishment for his role in an aborted coup d'etat. He spends the next five years in exile at Saint Sebastian, Spain. |
| February 1 | Paul Deschanel enters the Académie Française. Deschanel calls for an, “Edict of Nantes of the political parties”, during his reception discourse. Two translations of Tolstoi’s novel Resurrection are published in France. February 5 |
| | L'Opéra Populaire opens in Paris. |
| February 7 | Les éditions Flammarion publishes the memoirs of photographer Nadar (born: Gaspard-Felix Tournachon), entitled Quand j'étais photographe (When I was a Photographer). |
| February 9 | The National Assembly enacts legislation requiring stores and shops to furnish each of their rooms with a number of seats equal to the number of women employed there. Saleswomen are authorized to sit down at their place of work. |
| February 13 | The Bank of France celebrates its centennial. |
| February 24 | The first newsreels are shown at the Olympia de Paris following the main feature. |
| February 25 | A fire in a liquor warehouse at Saint Ouen, Paris, burns out of control for 36 hours. |
| March 1 | The Paris Court of Appeals validates the Goncourt brothers last will and testament. |
| March 2 | Jules Renard’s Poil de Carotte (Carrot Top) is presented at the Théâtre-Antoine, Paris. |
| March 8 | A matinee at the Théatre-Français in Paris is followed by an explosion and fire that leaves 21 year old actress Jane Henriot dead. |
| March 15 | Sarah Bernhardt plays the title role in L'Aiglon (The Eaglet), a historical drama in six acts by Edmond Rostand. She also plays the role of the Duke of Reichstadt and Lucien Guitry that of Flambeau. The multiple tableaus win praise from the critics. |
| March 30 | The Millerand Act establishes an 11 hour workday for women and children and calls for a reduction of the workday to 10 hours for men and women effective January 1, 1906. |
| April 1 | New reforms are instituted governing the police. Each officer is authorized to carry a revolver. |
| | Claudine à l'école (Claudine at School), a novel by Colette but appearing under the signature of her husband Willy, is published. |
| April 9 | A demonstration follows the arrest of striking miners at Carmaux. |
| April 14 | President Emile Loubet inaugurates le Pont Alexandre-III, le Petit and le Grand Palais in ceremonies marking the opening of the Paris Universal Exposition. |
| April 18 | Literary critic and historian Émile Faguet enters the Académie française. Former Premier Émile Ollivier delivers the reception speech. |
| April 21 | The Dugardin process makes color photography accessible to the mass market. |
| April 22 | Passports are no longer required for travel to Alsace-Lorraine. |
| April 29 | A footbridge at the Paris Universal Exposition collapses killing nine people. |
| April 30 | Another accident at the Paris Universal Exposition leaves four people dead. |
| May 1 | The Palais des Beaux-Arts opens at the Paris Universal Exposition. |
| | Le rire. Essai sur la signification du comique (The Laugh. An Essay on the Significance of Laughter) by Henri Bergson is published. |
| May 14 | The Chamber of Deputies passes legislation allowing public servants to organize trade unions. |
| | The second modern Olympiad opens in Paris. The games, held in conjuction with the Universal Exposition, go on until October. |
| May 20 | La Sûreté breaks up Paris’ “Cement Overcoat” gang. May |
| | Le Havre Athletic Club defeats le Club français 1 to 0 to preserve its hold on the French football association championship. The Le Havre team founded by English expatriots in 1872 is the oldest in France and has seven British members, |
| June 1 | Edouard Martel, founder of the Speleogy Society, completes a 27 hour exploration of the Padirac Cave during which he discovers a new gallery 250 meters in length. |
| June 3 | Alphonse Baugé establishes a record speed for a cyclist following a trainer at 63.97 km/h. |
| June 4 | Minister Georges Leygues opens an exposition of works by Auguste Rodin to inaugurate the pavilion at the pont de l’Alma. June 14 |
| | The Boxers surround the foreign legations at Peking, China with an army of 20,000 revolutionaries. |
| | François Charron wins the Paris-Lyon automobile race and the Gordon Bennett Cup. Charron covers the 575 kilometer course in 9 hours 9 minutes behind the wheel of a Panhard. |
| June 21 | Novelist, playwright and diplomat Paul Hervieu enters the Académie Française. |
| June 23 | The dome of the Sacré-Cœur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart) is completed. It provides a panoramic view extending over 30 kilometers from Montmartre. |
| June 24 | The first exposition of works by 20 year old Spanish painter Pablo Picasso is staged in Paris. |
| June | Paul Aymé defeats André Prévost to win his fourth consecutive mens tennis championship at the French Open Tournament. Hélène Prévost wins the women’s competition. July 1 |
| | Quo Vadis?, an 1896 novel by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, is published in French translation. |
| July 4 | La Gare d’Orsay opens in Paris. |
| July 8 | Posters inscribed, “Where then?” appear on the walls of Paris following the issuance of a decree prohibiting spitting on the sidewalks. |
| July 12 | The funicular tramway on Montmartre is placed in service. |
| July 14 | The international expedition to suppress the Boxer Rebellion seizes the town of Tianjin, China. The 19,000 man American, British, French, German, Russian and Japanese military force under the command of German Field Marshal von Waldersee will move on Peking from there. |
| | The first line of the Paris Métropolitain is opened to the public. The 10.6 km trip from Vincennes Neuilly to Porte Maillot takes 33 minutes. |
| July 21 | The Paris water supply is cutoff from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. |
| July 22 | The Paris Olympiad closes. French athletes distinguish themselves in fencing, gymnastics, croquet, archery and rugby to win a total of 24 gold medals. The Americans win 20 gold medals. Michel Théato of France wins the marathon. |
| July 24 | The Academy of Medicine protests the nightly cutoff of the Paris water supply which has lasted for three days. |
| July 28 | The Paris-Toulouse-Paris automobile race and the first Gordon Bennett Cup are won by Alfred Velghe who completes the 1347 kilometer course driving a Mors in 20 hours, 50 minutes and 9 seconds. |
| July | The month of July is the hottest in over a century. The consumption of absinthe reaches record levels. |
| August 2 | Anarchist François Salson attempts to assassinate the Shah of Persia during his visit to Paris. |
| | Paris hosts an exposition of artwork by Gobelins. |
| August 3 | The Paris Inter-parliamentary Peace Congress closes. |
| August 10 | The Invalides footbridge at the Universal Exposition collapses. Four people are killed. |
| August 14 | Field Marshal von Waldersee’s expedition lifts the Boxers’ two month siege of the foreign legations in Peking. |
| August 25 | The word “television” is employed for the first time by Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi at the International Electricity Congress in Paris. |
| August 27 | Gabriel Fauré’s opera Prométhée, written for three brass ensembles, 100 strings, 12 harps, a choir and soloists, premiers at an outdoor theatre in Béziers before an audience of 15,000. |
| August | Journal d'une femme de chambre (A Chambermaid’s Diary) by Octave Mirbeau is published by Editions Fasquelle following a successful serialization the Revue blanche. |
| September 15 | The Paris métro begins operating from 5:30 a.m. to 12:15 a.m. |
| September 22 | The Fifth Congress of the Socialist International opens in Paris with 701 delegates from 21 countries in attendance. The Congress authorizes the creation of an international socialist office to coordinate opposition to war and militarism. |
| October 5 | The Paris Peace Congress condemns British policy towards the Transvaal and reaffirms the right of the people to self-determination. |
| October 11 - 18 | Léopold II of Belgium vacations in Paris. The King visits the métropolitain, the Universal Exposition, indulges his passion for ballerinas with attendance at several fashion shows and his fondness for the automobile by touring the capital in 24 hp car driven by champion driver François Charron and manages to fit a courtesy call on President Loubet into his schedule. |
| October 28 | The French athletic federation organizes a rugby tournament in conjunction with the Universal Exposition between an all star team from France and teams from Frankfurt and Moseley, England. After defeating the Germans 27 to 17, the French, lead by Frantz Reichel, triumph over the British 27 to 8 before 5,000 spectators at Vincennes. |
| October 31 | Sarah Bernhardt schedules a six month tour of the United States. |
| October | A Bullfight choreographed to the music of Bizet’s opera Carmen delights a Bayonne audience. |
| November 12 | The Paris Universal Exposition closes. The number of visitors totals 50,470,400. The city is left with a number of monumental structures; the Petit Palias by Girault; the Grand Palais by Deglane, Louvet & Thomas and the Pont Alexander III by Rescal & Alby. |
| November 13 | The entries of the Paris métro are adorned with cast iron gates by Guimard. |
| November 15 | Le Sud-Express (The Southern Express), the fastest train in the world derails near Dax. Fifteen people including the Peruvian ambassador are killed. |
| November 20 | Irish novelist and poet Oscar Wilde dies in Paris at age 46. |
| November 23 | Twenty six works, a dozen based on Monet’s le Bassin aux nymphéas, are placed on exhibit for the first time at La galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris. |
| November 24 | The President of the Transvaal,Paul Kruger, receives an enthusiastic welcome from the Parisian public. |
| December 9 | Nocturnes for Orchestra & Chorus by Claude Debussy is preformed for the first time. |
| December 14 | France and Italy agree to delimit their spheres of influence in North Africa with an exchange of secret notes. Morocco is accorded to France and Libya to Italy. |
| December 27 | The National Assembly enacts an amnesty to the participants in the Dreyfus Affair. The Army is ameliorated. |
| December 30 | Liquor taxes increase but home distillers maintain their privileges. |
| | Danton, a monologue by Romain Rolland, premiers in Paris. |
| During the Year | The first edition of Michelin’s Red Guide,“designed to provide information that may be useful to the driver wishing to equip or repair his vehicle, find a place to stay or dine, or communicate by post, telegraph or telephone" is published. 35,000 copies were printed and given away free to motorists. Francois Ferdinand Philippe Louis Marie, Prince de Joinville and Orléanais pretender to the throne of France dies at age 82. |
| | Mazas Prison is demolished to make way for a Paris urban renewal project. |
| 1901 | January 9 | Historian and statesman Albert, duc de Broglie, dies at age 80. The Duke was Premier in 1877 and held several cabinet portfolios during the 1870s. |
| January 16 | Artist Camille Pissarro’s works are exhibited in Paris. January 23 |
| | Marthe Francillon becomes the first woman to be accepted as an intern by the hospitals of Paris. There are 77 women practicing medicine in France. |
| January 25 | The automobile, cycling and sports salon opens at the Grand Palais de Paris. |
| January 26 | The first issue of Georges Clemenceau’s weekly gazette Bloc appears. January 31 |
| | Corporal punishment is abolished by decree in the French Army and Navy. |
| February 1 | The first issue of Femina, a bi-monthly fashion magazine, appears. |
| February 6 | The Post Office installs telephone booths in Paris railway stations. |
| February 15 | Astarté, an opera in four acts by Xavier Leroux, premiers in Paris. |
| March 5 | A ministerial directive prohibits the teaching of post-1875 history in secondary schools. |
| | Claudine à Paris (Claudine in Paris), a novel by Colette but as always sign by her husband Willy, is published. |
| March 9 | Marketing of a new butter substitute, végétaline, begins. |
| March 13 | The Parisian Press Union organizes an exposition dedicated to the memory of illustrator and painter Honore Dumier. |
| March 15 | The Saint Cloud racetrack is inaugurated. |
| | La Galerie Benheim Jeune, Paris presents an exhibition of works by the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh. |
| March 16 | Quo Vadis? a play adapted from the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, ispresented at the Theatre de la Porte Saint Martin, Paris. |
| March 24 | A census counts 38,962,000 inhabitants of France. |
| April 1 | Renovation work on the Gare de Lyon in Paris is completed. A new buffet sumptuously decorated with gildings and allegories and among the finest example of Belle Epoque architecture is opened. |
| April 10 | President Emile Loubet welcomes and Italian naval squadron to Toulon. |
| April 21 | The unveiling of Auguste Rodin's Victor Hugo monument at the Grand Palais causes an uproar. |
| April 24 | Foreign Affairs Minister Theophile Delcasse makes an official visit to Saint Petersburg, Russia. |
| April 25 | Theophile Delcasse and his Russian counterpart, Count Vladimir Lambsdorff exchange letters concerning plans for joint military action in case of a war with Great Britain. |
| April 29 | L'Ouragan (The Hurricane) a lyric drama written by Emile Zola accompanied by the music of Alfred Bruneau, is produced in Paris. |
| May 1 | The Western Powers demand £65,000,000 in reparations from the Chinese Government for damages arising from the Boxer Rebellion. |
| May 2 | Chemist Marcelin Berthelot enters the Academie Francaise. |
| May 6 | The miners of Montceau les Mines return to work after a three month strike gains them nothing. |
| May 8 | Maurice Materlinck's treatise La Vie des abeilles (The Life of the Bees) is published in Paris. |
| May 16 | Edmond "le Piou-piou" Jacequelin, king of the sprint cyclists, wins the race of the century before a crowd of 20,000 at Paris' Parc des Princes. Jacquelin finishes two lengths ahead of his nearest opponent, American Major Taylor. |
| May 25 | The Socialist Congress adjourns without voting on a proposal to expel Alexandre Millerand for accepting a ministerial position in a bourgeois cabinet. |
| May 30 | Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar, begins an exile in Paris. |
| | Dramatist Edmond Rostand enters the Académie française. |
| June 12 | Henri Becquerel informs the Academy of Sciences of his newest discovery. He exhibits a fragment of radium before his collegues noting its self-luminosity produced without chemical reaction or the storage of light. |
| June 14 | An explosion at a munitions factory in Issy les Moulineaux kills 18 people and wounds many more. |
| June 21 | La musée Galliera (at present the Fashion Museum of the City of Paris) opens. |
| June 21 - 23 | The Radical Party Congress meets in Paris to prepare for the upcoming legislative election. The 1,132 delegates include 78 senators, 201 deputies and 849 members of departmental or municipal councils. Gustave Mesureur, Deputy from the Seine, is elected party president. The party manifesto declares in favor of private property and a graduated tax on income. |
| June 24 | Ambroise Vollard hosts the first Paris exhibition of works by a previously unknown Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso. |
| June 26 | The chauffeurs of Paris protest the order of an employer that prohibits the wearing of moustaches. |
| June | Henri Fournier wins the Paris-Berlin automobile race and the Kaiser Wilhelm Prize. He finishes ahead of two other French drivers, Léonce Girardot and Henri-Charles Brasier. Fournier covers the 1,198 km course in 11 hours, 46 minutes and 10 seconds driving a Mors. |
| July 1 | A law governing nonprofit associations is enacted following a prolonged debate launched in November 1899. The act, introduced by Waldeck-Rousseau, provokes strong reaction, notably from Rome. Religious orders may no longer be formed without government authorization. Unauthorized associations are barred from the teaching profession. The establishment of schools by religious orders requires government authorization. |
| | General Louis André, Minister of War, introduces “le pain du soldat” (soldier’s bread) to the troops. An electrified railway linking the Invalides and Versailles via Meudon is placed in service. |
| July 4 | The Mayor of Marseilles issues a decree limiting the speed of automobiles to 10 km/h in the city. |
| July 6 | Le Légataire universel, an opera in three acts by Jean Pfeiffer based on a work of Jean-François Regnard, premiers in Paris. |
| July 13 | Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont circles the Eiffel Tower in his No.5 dirigeable but then crashes at Boulogne. |
| August 8 | Santos-Dumont experiences a second failure when his airship snags a chimney on the Rue de Passy, Paris. |
| August 10 | An automobile ascends the Alps’ Great St.Bernard Pass (altitude 2473 meters) for the first time. |
| August 20 | The President of the French Republic, Emile Loubet, invites Czar Nicholas II to attend the French Army’s wargames. September 7 |
| | The twelve nations who participated in crushing the Boxer Rebellion sign a protocol with China requiring the latter to pay reparations. |
| September 9 | Painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec dies at his family home in Malromé at age 36. |
| September 18 | Czar Nicolas II attends the French Army’s manoevers in Champagne. The Czar and Czaress stay at the château de Compiègne throughout their visit to France in order to evade rioting and anarchist attacks. |
| September 30 | Louis Lépine, Prefect of Paris, creates a contest to encourage the city’s home workers and small manufacturers of low cost toys and gadgets. The Concours Lépine awards prizes for the most original and creative toys. Max Decugis wins the first European lawn tennis championship. |
| October 1 | René Bazin publishes a new novel with political overtones, Les Oberlé (The Oberlés). The work describes the disunity in a grand Alsatian family, some of whose members accept defeat and collaborate with the Germans and others who protest the annexation bitterly. |
| October 3 | Religious orders which have not accepted the terms of the new law on nonprofit associations are required to leave the national territory. |
| October 15 | A private bill is introduced in the National Assembly to hold automobile drivers criminally responsible in case of accidents. |
| October 16 | France and Morocco sign an accord demarcating the borders of Morocco and Algeria. |
| October 17 | The Premier meets with the Secretary General of the Miners Union in an effort to head off a general strike in that industry. The Secretary insists that questions of wages and retirement are a matter to be decided by the employees and the employers. The Government demands that firearms be turned over to the police to prevent a conflict that could degenerate into an insurrection. |
| October 19 | Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont wins the 100,000 franc Deutsch-de-la-Meurthe Prize awarded to the first person to fly an airship from Saint Cloud around the Eiffel Tower and back to Saint Cloud in under 30 minutes. |
| October 23 | Les Barbares, an opera in three acts by Camille Saint-Saëns, premiers in Paris. |
| October 27 | The Léon-Gambetta, a 12,600 ton cruiser, is launched in the presence of Navy Minister Jean de Lanessan at the Arsenal de Brest. |
| October 30 | The flag of the French Expeditionary Corps in China is placed in the Invalides. |
| November 1 | Le Voile du bonheur (The Veil of Happiness), a fable by Georges Clemenceau with music by Gabriel Fauré, premiers in Paris. |
| November 11 | An alcohol powered motorboat is demonstrated on the Seine in Paris. |
| November 20 | Grisélidis, an opera by Jules Massenet based on a play by Armand Silvestre, premiers at l’Opéra-Comique, Paris. November 24 |
| | Marcelin Berthelot, renowned chemist and statesman, is elected to the Academie francaise. |
| | A monument to the memory of Heinrich Heine is unveiled in the cemetery of Montmartre, Paris. |
| November 30 | Barnum & Bailey’s American circus makes its first appearance in Paris. December 2 |
| | The actors of the Comédie-Française revolt against their director, Jules Claretie, and refuse to go on stage. |
| December 7 | Captain Ferdinand Ferber makes a flight of about 15 meters in his glider No. 4 at Nice. |
| December 9 | The National Assembly’s Military Affairs Commission calls for a two year term of compulsory service. |
| December 10 | Frédéric Passy, founder and president of La Société française pour l'arbitrage entre nations (French Society for international arbitration) is awarded a share of the first Nobel Peace Prize. |
| | The first Nobel Prize for Literature is awarded to René François Armand “Sully” Prudhomme, "in special recognition of his poetic composition, which gives evidence of lofty idealism, artistic perfection and a rare combination of the qualities of both heart and intellect." During the Year |
| | Jean Jaurès and Aristide Briand found the French Socialist Party. |
| | Charles Pathé produces 70 motion pictures shot on 3,000 meters of film at his studio on the Rue du Polygone, Vincennes. |
| | American anarchist Benjamin Tucker’s attempt to publish a translation of Octave Mirbeau’s A Chambermaid’s Diary is stopped by the United States Post Office on grounds of obscenity. 1902 |
| January 1 | The first telephone link between Paris and Milan is established. |
| January 5 | Le Détour, the second play by Henri Bernstein, is produced in Paris. |
| January 16 | Captain Debureau informs the Academy of Sciences of his intent to revive Commandant Hourst’s proposed crossing of the Sahara by balloon from Gabès, Tunisia to a point in the Sudan 2,500 kilometers away. |
| January 21 | The Association for the Advancement of Science calls on the Government to select a single time keeping system from among the three currently coexisting in the country; local time which differs from region to region, Paris time and railway time. |
| January 22 | Les Bouffes-Parisiens presents a comedy in three acts based on Colette’s novel Claudine à Paris which is preceeded by a prologue from Claudine à l’école. |
| January 25 | Gaston Calmette becomes editor of Le Figaro. |
| January 30 | Noces corinthiennes (Corinthian Weddings) by Anatole France premiers at the Paris Odéon. |
| January 31 | Paris is defeated 4 to 0 by Marlow FC in the first football match played by a French team in England. |
| January | The Counicl of State, faced with a growing phenomena of private individuals lending buildings to religious orders for the operation of denominational schools, rules that such properties will be considered property of the orders and therefore require government authorization for use as schools. |
| February 8 | The German embassy in London reports that an agreement is about to be reached between the British Colonial Minister, Joseph Chamberlain, and Paul Cambon, the French ambassador, on the Morocco and Egypt questions. |
| February 9 | The workday for miners is set at 9 hours. |
| | Doctor Doyen separates Radica and Doodica, a pair of Siamese twin from the Barnum Circus. Only one survives the year. |
| February 12 | French engineer Eugène Ducretet conducts a wireless telegraphy test two months after Marconi’s trans-Atlantic transmission. February 19 |
| | A public health law requires smallpox vaccination for children from age one. |
| February 28 | Premier Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau is gravely injured in a carriage accident. |
| February | The first congress of the Young Turk movement meets in Paris. |
| March 2 | The centennial of Victor Hugo’s birth is marked by a memorial at the Panthéon. |
| March 4 | The French Socialist Party is founded at Tours. |
| March 5 | The National Congress of Mineworkers calls a general strike to back its demand for an 8 hour workday. |
| | President Emile Loubet is invited to visit the Czar by the Russian ambassador. |
| March 21 | Quatorze Juillet (July 14th), a play by Romain Rolland premiers in Paris at the théâtre de la Renaissance. |
| March 23 | Le Racing Club de France defeats le Stade bordelais 6 to 0 to wins the French rugby championship. |
| March 26 | The Paris land registery shows 28,000 building are not connected to the sewers. |
| April 1 | The workday for women and children is reduced from 11 hours to 10½ hours. Wages are reduced proportionately. |
| April 5 | Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes executes the premier performance of Maurice Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte and Jeux d’eau at La salle Pleyel, Paris. April 20 |
| | Contemporary style gains notice at the Paris Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts. |
| | German rider Thaddäus Robl defends his European and World cycling championship titles at the Paris cycling championships. He sets a new world record by traveling 67.353 kilometers in an hour. |
| April 21 | A 3.5 square meter mosaic portraying the rise of Europe is discovered by archeologists in Provence. |
| | The Academy of Sciences reports that the investigation of the Shroud of Turin by Doctor Vignon seems to establish its authenticity. |
| April 30 | Pelléas et Mélisande, a lyric opera in five acts and thirteen scenes by Maurice Maeterlinck and Claude Debussy premiers at the Opéra-Comique de Paris. |
| May 7 | The Humbert Affair is uncovered; over an 18 year period Thérèse Humbert has swindled 50 million gold francs. Humbert borrowed ceasely throughout the 18 years preying on the generous and the naive while claiming to be an heir to the American Crawford fortune. A remorseful lender finally breaks the scandal and Humbert flees to Spain with her family. |
| May 8 | Martinique’s Mount Pelée erupts destroying the island’s capital, Saint Pierre. The town’s 30,000 inhabitants are exterminated. The sole survivor is a prisoner in the local jail who was protected from the effects of the pyroclastic explosion by the dungeon’s thick walls. May 10 |
| | Georges Méliès begins filming Le Voyage dans la Lune at his studios in Montreuil. The picture, based on Jules Verne’s story, is the first true science fiction film. The director foresees a three month shooting schedule and a budget of 10,000 francs. |
| May 11 | The religious question dominates the legislative elections. The Republican Bloc of the Left (Radicals, Radical-Socialists and independent Socialists) emerges victorious with 340 seats against 250 for the coalition of the Right (127 Progressives, 35 Action libérale populaire, 43 Nationalists and 41 Conservative monarchists). 20.8% of the electorate abstains from the vote. |
| May 12 | The dirigeable Pax explodes during a test flight over Paris killing the Brazilian aeronaut Augusto Severo and his mechanic, Georges Saché. |
| May 15 | Claudine en ménage (Claudine at Home) is published. Colette’s latest work is signed by her husband Willy as always. May 17 |
| | Maurice Maeterlinck’s Monna Vanna is produced in Paris. May 20 - 24 |
| | President Emile Loubet visits Czar Nicholas II in Saint Petersburg. |
| May 22 | The International Miners Congress calls for the nationalization of all mines but rejects the Belgian and French delegates’ call for a general strike. May 28 |
| | Premier Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau resigns for personal and political reasons. He is afflicted with liver cancer and has little use for the new Radical majority. |
| May 31 | Secondary education is reformed. Literary and Scientific bacclaureates are accorded equal recoginition for university entry. |
| | Charles Pathé presents two newsreels, the President in Russia and the Coronation of the King of Spain. |
| June 1 | Léon Bourgeois is elected President of the Chamber of Deputies over Paul Deschanel by a vote of 303 to 267. |
| | The 11th Bordeaux-Paris cycling race is won by Edouard Wattelier who completes the 575 kilometer course in 22 hours and 47 minutes. Wattelier cross the finish line at the Parc au Princes first despite a wrist injury sustained in a mid-race fall. |
| | Le Mercure de France publishes André Gide’s L’Immoraliste, in a limited run of 300 copies with a subsidy from the author. |
| June 3 | The anticlerical Bloc assumes power with the elevation of Emile Combes to the Premiership. |
| | A new express train begins service between Paris and London on a 6 hour 45 minute one way schedule. |
| June 4 | A museum of decorative arts opens at the Louvre. |
| | Burter, a 400 year old tortoise, dies at the Paris Zoo. |
| June 5 | Joseph Apesteguy aka Chiquito de Cambo popularizes the Basque game of pelote in Paris. |
| June 7 | The Chamber of Deputies gives its confidence to the Government of newly appointed Premier Émile Combes. Anticlerical fanatic Combes retains the Interior and Religious Affairs portofolios as well. General Louis André becomes Minister of War, Camille Pelletan Navy Minister and Gaston Doumergue Minister of Colonies. |
| June 10 | L’Arriviste, a first work by Félicien Champsaur, is published by Les éditions Albin Michel. |
| June 12 | Archeologist, historian and diplomat Melchior de Vogué enters the Académie francaise. |
| June 27 | The President signs a decree closing more than 2,500 denominational schools which have not received government authorization including those housed in private buildings. The long dormant school war awakes. Demonstrations are organized throughout the country. |
| | The legal workday is reduced to 10½ hours. |
| June 28 | The United States Congress enacts the Spooner Law authorizing the President to negotiate with France to obtain the right to construct a canal through the Isthmus of Panama. |
| July 1 | The Paris-Vienna automobile race attracts 148 competitors. Marcel Renault, driving one of seven Renault Brothers entries, triumphs in the small car category. Renault covers the 1,441 kilometer course in 29 hours and 30 minutes (four hours faster than the express train). Henri Farman wins in the large car category. |
| July 2 | La Comédie-Française presents Le Passé by Georges de Porto-Riche. |
| July 10 | France and Italy sign a secret accord of reciporical neutrality in North Africa. |
| July 24 | The Associations Law forces religious order which have not received authorization to close their schools. |
| | A landmine explodes during an experiment at Satory. Six soldiers are killed. |
| July 27 | Partisans and opponents of religious orders scuffle in Paris. |
| August 1 | The August vacation tradition begins in earnest. The Stock Exchange decides to close one hour later during the month. |
| August 5 | Amable Chanot is elected Mayor of Marseilles. |
| August 6 | President Loubet pardons a condemned man because no one can remember where the guillotine is installed. |
| August 15 | War Minister Louis André delivers a speech at Villefranche calling for the French defeat of 1870 to be avenged. |
| | Léon Levavasseur signs a contract with industrialist Jules Gastambide to produce an airplane equipped with an ultralight engine. |
| August 23 | The omnibus is vanquished by the métropolitain on the Hôtel de Ville-PorteMaillot line. The horsecars make their way down the Champs-Elysées for the last time. |
| August 28 | Léon Levasseur patents a V-8 engine. |
| August | Violent demonstrations protesting the closure of religious schools erupt in Brittany. |
| September 1 | Lucien Guitry becomes director of the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris. |
| September 29 | Emile Zola dies at age 62 asphixiated by chimney smoke at his Paris home. |
| October 1 | Dakar is select to be the capital of French West Africa. |
| | Gustave Charpentier establishes le conservatoire Mimi-Pinson for young workers who will study song, the harp and dance. |
| October 5 | Anatole France delivers a eulogy at the funeral of Emile Zola. France concludes his oration by declaring Zola, “a monument to the human conscience.” |
| October 7 | Etoile-Anvers, the second line of the Paris metro, is placed in service. |
| October 9 | A miners committee declares a general strike. |
| October 16 | Henri-Léon Scheffer becomes the first criminal foiled by Bertillon’s anthropometeric fingerprinting method. October 24 |
| | Henri Contenet sets a new world record for distance cycled behind a trainer in an hour at 75.492 kilometers. |
| October 30 | Monarchist deputy the Marquis de Dion and Socialist Gérault-Richard exchange insult, slaps and kicks in the corridors of the National Assembly. A duel is scheduled for the following week. |
| November 1 | Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Prinetti and French ambassador Brarrere exchange letters detailing the two countries reciprocal agreements with regard to Libya and Morocco. |
| November 4 | Deputies De Dion and Gerbault Richard fight a duel in the Bois de Boulogne. Although the exact location, the gardens of the hippodrome, is kept secret to thwart police interference over a hundred people including journalists and photographers attend. The duel ends when Gerault Richard is scratched on the arm. |
| November 14 | Resurrection, a play by Henri Bataille based on a novel by Leon Tolstoi, is produced in Paris. |
| November 23 | A monument honoring Honore de Balzac is unveiled. |
| November 24 | The first Congress of Professional Photographers is held in Paris. |
| | The first electric sign show is organized in Paris. |
| November 25 | The Academy of Medicine’s new offices are inauguration in Paris. November 26 |
| | Joujou, a play by Henri Bernstein, is produced in Paris. |
| December 3 | La Duchesse des Folies Bergeres, a play by Georges Feydeau, is produced in Paris. |
| December 10 | The Fifth Salon de l'automobile at the Grand Palais in Paris presents several innovations; the Krebs carburetor, magneto headlights and valve gearing by camshaft. |
| December 11 | A new museum of fine arts is inaugurated in the Petit Palais, Paris. The treasures of the Dutuit, collection; works by Rembrant, Veronese, Durer, Greuze, Daumier, Courbet and Rodin are on display along with furniture, porcelain and tapestries from the Renaissance to the 18th century. |
| December 13 | King Leopold II of Belgium travels to Paris for an incognito visit to the salon de l'Automobile at the Grand Palais. |
| December 17 | Paillasse, a French adaptation of Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera Pagliacci, is produced in Paris by Eugene Crosti. |
| December 20 | A worldwide search begun in May ends with the arrest of Therese Humbert who is accused of perpetrating a 50 million franc swindle. Humbert and her family are located at a private mansion in Madrid, arrested and extradited to France for trial. |
| December 27 | The Moulin-Rouge ballroom closes. |
| | L'Affaire Humbert, Georges Mendel's film version of the scandal, is released one week after the arrest of Therese Humbert in Madrid. |
| During the Year | Emile Zola’s ashes are transferred to the Pantheon. Alfred Dreyfus is wounded by shot from a revolver. |
| | The game of badminton is introduced from England at Le Havre. |
| 1903 | January 12 | The first meeting the Goncourt Academy is held in Paris. |
| January 14 | The Franco-Bulgarian Naval Convention is renewed for five years. |
| January 16 | The Government’s ban on the Breton language in the pulpit, sermons and catechism classes is challenged in the Chamber of Deputies. January 19 |
| | Henri Desgrange, editor of L'Auto, announces the creation of a Tour de France for cyclists. |
| January 31 | The Paris metro’s No. 2 branch line between the Anvers and Nation stations is placed in service. January |
| | Physician and Orientalist Joseph Charles Mardrus publishes a new adaptation of A Thousand and One Nights. |
| February 10 | The mint announces that the 25 centime coin will soon be made of nickel. |
| February 11 | The trial of Therese Humbert begins in Paris. |
| February 13 | Alcoholic beverage dealers respond to a campaign against alcoholism with the testimony of Doctor Duclaux that, "alcohol is not a poison but a food." |
| February 20 | Master Vignaux wins the world billiards championship in Paris. |
| February 21 | Charlemont defeats Casteres 12 to 8 in the world championship of boxing at La Salle Wagram in Paris. The Parisian public is introduced to English boxing during the exhibitions. |
| February 25 | Le Figaro publishes Marcel Proust's first article on the salons of Paris. |
| March 2 | The centennial of Edgar Quinet's birth is marked by several republican demonstrations in Paris. |
| March 10 | The Academy of Medicine issues a report denouncing alcoholic beverages and calls for increased taxation and limits on the number of bars. |
| March 17 | Colette publishes the fourth of her Claudine novels, Claudine s'en va (Claudine goes away). |
| March 18 | Mugette, an opera by Edmond Missa, premiers in Paris at l'Opera Comique. |
| March 20 | Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck exhibit their works at the Salon des indépendants, Paris. |
| March 21 | The Saitapharnes tiara is declared a fake but a marvel. The forger, Rouchomovsky, had reproduced scenes from the Illiad on the brushed gold cap. The Louvre continues its forgery lawsuit but keeps the tiara on display. |
| March 28 | The Chamber of Deputies passes a bill restricting religious orders by a vote of 304 to 246. The clergy is barred from the teaching profession. |
| | Crainquebille, a play by Anatole France based on his novel of the same title, is produced in Paris. |
| March | The French Billiards Federation is formed. |
| April | Benito Mussolini, a 20 year old Italian socialist revolutionary, takes refuge at Annemasse during a brief expulsion from Switzerland. |
| April 4 | The Government prohibits auto racing on the Nice - La Turbie road following an accident which takes the life of race driver Zborowski. |
| April 7 | A fire ravages le Grand Theatre de la Ville de Paris. |
| April 12 | President Loubet travels to Algeria. |
| April 16 | Le Sire de Vergy, an opera written by Robert Fler and Gaston Caillavet with music by Claude Terrasse, premiers in Paris. |
| April 20 | Les affaires sont les affaires (Business is Business), a comedy by Octave Mirbeau, is produced in Paris. |
| April 21 | Comedian Constant Coquelin decides to establish a retirement home for elderly artists. |
| April 29 | The Carthusian monks of Grande Chartreuse are forcibly expelled from their monastery by the local garrison despite their offer of 2 million francs to the government and over the objections of conservative opinion. |
| | An earthquake centered near Mont Blanc shakes the Franco-Italian border. |
| May 1 | King Edward VII of England makes an official visit to Paris. The trip is interpreted as a political rapprochement but French public opinion remains reserved given the the divergent interests of the two countries. |
| May 8 | Painter Paul Gauguin dies at age 55 at Atuona, in the Marquesas Islands. |
| May 12 | Paris city council members walk in step with automobiles to demonstrate that speed limits in the capital are too low. |
| May 13 | The French General Staff makes plans for intervention to maintain order and safeguard European interests in Morocco where Sultan seems threatened by rebellion. |
| May 17 | Socialists and Catholics scuffle in Paris over the religious orders question. |
| May 23 | Paris and Rome are linked by telephone for the first time. |
| May 24 | The Government stops the Paris – Madrid automobile race at Bordeaux. The 200 competitors traveling at an average speed of 105 kmh have been involved in numerous accidents which have left 7 dead and 15 injured. The dead include 2 drivers of whom 21 year old Marcel Renault is one, 3 mechanics and 2 spectators. |
| May 30 | Isidora Duncan’s Dance Idylles premiers in Paris. |
| June 7 | Two steamers, the Insulaire and the Liban, collide in clear weather and calm seas off Marseilles. The Insulaire returns to port but the Liban sinks. 122 persons are drownded. |
| June 20 | Le musée de l’Opéra opens in Paris. |
| June 30 | At the request of Captain Ferdinand Ferber, Ernest Archdeacon launches an appeal to the Aéro-Club to fund a prize for the longest distance flow by a glider. |
| | The Victor Hugo Museum created on the initiative of his friend Paul Meurisse opens in the writer’s former home on the Place des Vosges, Paris.June |
| | Max Decugis defeats André Vacherot to win the first of his eight French Open tennis championships. Adine Masson wins her fourth women’s championship. |
| July 1 | The premier Tour de France, created by Henri Desgrange, publisher of the newspaper L’Auto commences. The race covers a 2,428 km course in six stages (Paris-Lyon-Marseille-Toulouse -Bordeaux-Nantes-Paris). Sixty riders begin the race. |
| July 4 | The Chamber of Deputies approves an appropriation to fund the Antarctic expedition to be led by Doctor Jean Charcot. |
| | President Loubet and Foreign Minister Théophile Delcassé meet with King Edward VII in London. |
| July 17 | France and Spain declare their intention to maintain the status quo in Morocco. |
| July 19 | The premier Tour de France concludes with 21 riders crossing the finish line at Ville d’Avray. Victory and a prize of 6075 gold francs belong to Maurice Garin, a 32 year old Frenchman riding a Française-Diamant bicycle equipped with Dunlop tires at an average speed of 25.579 kmh. Garin led three of the race’s six stages, Paris – Lyon, Bordeaux – Nantes and Nantes – Ville d’Avray. |
| July | Reinforced concrete is used as a structural framework in a building for the first time. The building located at 25b Rue Franklin in the 16th arrondisment of Paris is the work of architect Auguste Perret. |
| August 5 | The Congress of Teachers, meeting at Marseilles, enthusiastically endorses the Government’s policy of removing religion courses from the school curriculum. August 11 |
| | Fire in the Paris metro near the station des Couronnes leave 84 people dead. Most of the fatalities are due to asphyxiation. |
| August 22 | Thérèse Humbert and her husband are sentenced to five years in prison for forgeries and swindles based on an imaginary heritage. |
| August 30 | Premier running of the Tour de Paris footrace is held. |
| September 1 | The first issue of La Fronde, a daily journal produced entirely by women, appears. |
| September 19 | The Government decides to reorganize the colonial army. |
| September 28 | Henry de La Vaulx pilots his airship Paris to Hull, England. |
| October 1 | La Morale et la Science des mœurs (Morals and the Science of Manners), by philosopher Lucien Lévy-Bruhl is published.October 13 |
| | 40,000 textile workers strike for higher wages and better working conditions. The strike centers on Houplines and Armentière in the Nord Department and is marked by boycotts and acts of sabotage. |
| | L’Opéra-Comique de Paris presents a performance of La Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini. The orchestra is under the direction of André Messager. |
| October 14 | King Victor Emmanuel III and the Queen of Italy pay an official visit to Paris. The journey is meant to emphasize a growing rapprochement between the two countries. |
| October 17 | The brothers Lumière register a patent on the Autochrome process for making color photographs. |
| October 29 | Police and union organizers clash outside the Paris labor exchange. |
| November 5 | The Paris metro’s Etoile-Trocadéro line is placed in service. |
| November 8 | The title “champion of French athletics” is bestowed on Irene Bordoni who defeats Jeanne Ferroy in the 500 meters in a meet at Paris’ Parc des Princes. |
| November 12 | The Lebaudy brothers establish a distance record for dirigeables by flying 61 kilometers between Moissons and Paris. |
| | Painter Camille Pissarro, the doyen of the impressionnists, dies in Paris at age 73. |
| November 25 | La Paix chez soi (Peace at Home), a play by Georges Courteline, premiers at the Théâtre-Antoine, Paris. |
| December 4 | L’Etranger (The Stranger) a musical by Vincent d’Indy opens at L’Opera in Paris. |
| December 10 | The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Antoine Henri Becquerel, “in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity” and to Pierre and Marie Curie, “in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel.” |
| December 15 | La Sorcière, a play by Victorien Sardou, opens in Paris. |
| December 21 | The first Goncourt Prize is awarded to Eugène Torquet nom de plume John Antoine Nau, for his novel Force Ennemie. |
| December 22 | Le garde des Sceaux (Attorney General) requests that the Rennes trial of Alfred Dreyfus be set aside. |
| December 25 | France and Italy sign an arbitration convention. |
| During the Year | A French expedition led by Doctor Jean Charcot leaves for the Antarctic. |
| 1904 | January 2 | Mathilde Bonaparte, daughter of Jérôme Bonaparte, dies in Paris at age 84. |
| January 5 | The Socialist Federation of the Seine expels Alexandre Millerand. |
| January 10 | The premier performance of Estampes (Engravings), a piano concerto by Claude Debussy is given in Paris. |
| February 6 | L’Alhambra, the largest music hall in Paris, opens.February 20 |
| | An explosion and fire on the Rue Etienne Marcel, Paris, claims sixty victims. |
| February 25 | Vincent d’Indy conducts L’Orfeo, an opera by Claudio Monteverdi.March 1 |
| | La main passé (She's All Yours), a play by Georges Feydeau opens in Paris. |
| March 22 | Le Mannequin d’osier (The Wicker Work Woman), a play by Anatole France based on his novel of the same title, is produced in Paris.March |
| | Denominational schools are prohibited. |
| April 1 | Crucifixes are removed from the courts. |
| April 2 | Dialogues de bêtes (Animal Dialouges), a novel by Colette, is published. |
| April 5 | Wireless telegraphy experiments are carried out from the Eiffel Tower. |
| April 8 | The foreign ministers of France and Great Britain, Paul Delcassé and Lord Lansdowne, sign an accord settling various colonial disputes including the 200 year old question of fishing rights in Newfoundland. The agreement grants liberty of action to France in Morocco and to the Britian in Egypt. The Royal Navy is given control of the North Sea and the French fleet control of the Mediterranean . Mais Delcassé hopes to stymie Germany while the British seek to stifle the Franco- Russian alliance. |
| April 16 | Auguste Renoir exhibits a full scale model of his sculpture Penseur (The Thinker) at the Grand Palais de Paris. |
| April 18 | Jean Jaurès founds the Socialist daily newspaper L’Humanité. Circulation reaches 130,000 copies. Jaurès is aided by the collaboration of Aristide Briand, Anatole France and later on from Jules Renard and Léon Blum. |
| April 20 | Le Fils de l’étoile, an opera by Catulle Mendès and Camille Erlanger is produced in Paris. |
| April 23 - 24 | President Emile Loubet makes an official visit to Rome. |
| April 28 | René Bazin, author and law professor enters the Académie française. |
| April | The United States purchases the assets of the French Panama Canal Company for 210 million francs. |
| May 5 | The visit of President Loubet to Rome poisons diplomatic relations between France and the Vatican. |
| May 9 | Claude Monet exhibits a series of 37 views of the Thames at London at La galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, |
| May 16 | Demolition of Perpignan’s ancient city walls begins. |
| May 17 | L’Humanité publishes a papal note protesting the visit of President Loubet to Rome.The first performance of Melodies from Shéhérazade, poems for orchestra by Maurice Ravel is given in Paris. |
| May 21 | The French Government recalls its ambassador to the Holy See. |
| June 2 | Henri Matisse exhibits a number of works titled The Effects of Snow at the Pont Saint Michel at Gallerie Vollard, Paris. |
| June 3 | A spokesman for the German ministry of foreign affair, Friedrich von Hosltein, denounces French intentions to annex Morocco. |
| June 13 | A geological survey uncovers potash deposits in the Alsatian forest of Nonnenbruck. |
| June 17 | Leon Théry wins the Gordon Bennett Cup driving Richard-Brasier automobile in the race at Hamburg, Germany. |
| June 27 | The Rothschild brothers establish a foundation to construct low cost housing. |
| July 9 | La Comédie-Française produces Francis de Croisset’s play, le Paon. |
| July 12 | Muhammad al-Hadjdj, the Bey of Tunis, pays an official visit to Paris. |
| July 24 | Maurice Garin finishes first in the Tour de France but is eventually disqualified in favor of Henri Cornet who becomes the youngest winner ever at age 20. The second Tour is marred by rock throwing, tire slashing and beatings from fans who suspect a fix. |
| July 29 | Diplomatic relations between France and the Holy See are broken off. |
| July 30 | The French chargé d’affaires to the Holy See leaves Rome. The Quai d’Orsay informs the Papal nuncio to Paris that his presence no longer serves a purpose. |
| August 9 | The International Congress of Miners, meeting in Paris, demands a minimum wage and a reduction of the workday to 8 hours. |
| August 10 | Former Premier Waldeck-Rousseau dies in Corbeil at age 58. |
| September 24 | L’Aéro-Club sponsors a contest with a prize of 1,500 to the first airplane to fly 100 meters against a headwind. Furthermore the straight line deviation between the takeoff and landing points shall not exceed 17 centimeters. |
| October 1 | Robert Esnault-Pelterie, inventor of the aileron, experiments with his glider on Wissant beach near Boulogne. He reports that the use of wing warping to maintain transverse equilibrium is too dangerous. |
| October 3 | A Franco-Spanish accord recognizes a Spanish protectorate over northern Morocco and the right of France to oversee and assist the Sultan. |
| October 4 | Sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi whose monumental works include the Statue of Liberty and the Lion of Belfort, dies at age 70. |
| November 4 | Nationalist deputy Gabriel Syveton is jailed for slapping General André. |
| November 7 | Henri Bergson is appointed to the philosophy chair at the Collège de France. |
| November 15 | Deputy Syveton is found dead in his jail cell. The Minister of War, Louis André, is compelled to resign. His portfolio is assumed by Maurice Berteaux. |
| November 30 | The Union Vélocepedique de France disqualifies disqualifies 13 riders including the top four finishers in the 1904 Tour de France. Winner Maurice Garin is disqualified and banned from cylcing for two years. Lucien Pothier is banned for life. The new winner, Henri Cornet, receives a warning. |
| December 5 | Shakespeare’s King Lear is produced in a French translation by Pierre Loti. |
| December 10 | Frédéric Mistral is awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, "in recognition of the fresh originality and true inspiration of his poetic production, which faithfully reflects the natural scenery and native spirit of his people, and, in addition, his significant work as a Provençal philologist". |
| December 16 | Article 298 of the Civil Code which prohibits persons divorced for adultery from marrying their accomplices is repealed. |
| December 31 | Le Racing Club de France defeats Sparta of Rotterdam 2 to 0 in the first appearance by a Dutch football team in France. |
