France timeline

  • Courrières Mine Disaster

    The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst mining accident, caused the death of 1,099 miners (including many children) in Northern France on 10... Read more

  • Battleship Iéna Explosion

    Iéna was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the French Navy. Her design was derived from the preceding Charlemagne class battleships with a heavier... Read more

  • Battleship Liberté Explosion

    Liberté's magazines explode accidentally on Sept. 25, 1911, destroying the 3-year-old ship and showering her neighbors in Toulon Harbor (including... Read more

  • The Battle of Mulhouse

    The Battle of Mulhouse (or Mülhausen), which began on August 9, 1914, was the opening attack of World War I by the French army against Germany. The... Read more

  • Battle of Lorraine

    On the morning of August 15, 1914, General de Castelnau's Second French army moved rapidly toward the Lorraine border on a front extending from... Read more

  • Battle of the Ardennes

    The Battle of the Ardennes was one of the opening battles of World War I. It took place from August 21-23, 1914, part of the Battle of the... Read more

  • Battle of Charleroi

    The French army of Gen. Lanrezac, on the day following the battle of Neufchateau, met with defeat, because that general had failed to carry out his... Read more

  • Siege of Maubeuge

    Skilful Retreat Conducted by Foch De Castelnau's Lorraine army was still in peril, however, and a further withdrawal across the Seille and... Read more

  • First Battle of Guise

    The Battle of St. Quentin (also called the First Battle of Guise (French: 1ere Bataillede Guise)) was fought during World War I. On the night of... Read more

  • First Battle of the Aisne

    The First Battle of the Aisne (French: 1re Bataille de l'Aisne) was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army... Read more

  • Battle of Flirey

    The Battle of Flirey (French: 1re Bataille de Flirey) was a First World War battle fought between the 19th of September and 11th of October 1914.... Read more

  • Battle of Albert (1914)

    The Battle of Albert began on September 25, 1914 as part of the Race to the Sea during World War I. It directly followed the First Battle of the... Read more

  • First Battle of Arras

    The Battle of Arras (also known as the First Battle of Arras), which began on October 1, 1914, was an attempt by the French Army to outflank the... Read more

  • Battle of the Yser

    The Battle of the Yser secured part of the coastline of Belgium for the allies in the "Race to the Sea" after the first three months of World War... Read more

  • Second Battle of Ypres

    Canadian Forces, 30,000 First Brigade, Gen. Mercer Second Brigade, Gen. Currie Third Brigade, Gen. Turner Artillery, Gen. Burstall British... Read more

  • Second Battle of Artois and the Battle of Aubers Ridge

    Allied Forces, 430,000 General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief French Army Group—280,000 General Foch, Commander General Petain General... Read more

  • United States Occupation of Haiti

    In an effort to limit German influence, in 1910-11 the State Department backed a consortium of American investors, assembled by the National City... Read more

  • Battle of Arras

    The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during World War I. From 9 April to 16 May, 1917, British, Canadian, and Australian troops attacked... Read more

  • Battle Of Cantigny

    The Battle of Cantigny, fought on 28 May 1918, the second day of the great German offensive, was the first American offensive of World War... Read more

  • Paris Peace Conference

    The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors in World War I to set the peace terms for Germany and other defeated nations, and... Read more

  • Signing of the Treaty of Versailles

    The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers.... Read more

  • First Mid-Air Collision of Commercial Airliners

    On April 7, 1922 the first midair collision of commercial airliners took place some 70 miles north of Paris. The aircraft involved were a... Read more

  • Theo van Doesburg Refurbishes Café Aubette

    In 1926 van Doesburg, with artists Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber, obtained the commission to refurbish the interior of a mid-eighteenth-century... Read more

  • The British Airship R101 Crashes and Kills 48 in the Ensuing Fire

    R101 was a British rigid airship completed in 1929 as part of the Imperial Airship Scheme. After initial flights, and two enlargements to the... Read more

  • Lagny-Pomponne Railroad Disaster

    The worst rail tragedy in France's peacetime history occurred on the night of 23 December 1933 near Lagny, about seventeen miles east of Paris. The... Read more