French History This Month - March

• Events:
  • The first test flight of the Concorde - 2.03.1969
    from Toulouse
  • Opera Carmen by Bizet opens - 3.03.1875
    at the Opéra Comique in Paris
  • First non-stop flight from Paris to London - 7.03.1912
    made by Henri Seimet
  • First pilot's licenses issued - 8.03.1910
    to an Englishman (J.T.C. Moore Brabazon) and a Frenchwoman (Elise Deroche)
  • Napoléon marries Josephine de Beauharnais - 9.03.1796
    
  • Foreign Legion founded - 9.03.1831
    in Algeria. Its headquarters moved to France in 1962.
  • France makes Tunisia a protectorate - 12.03.1881
    
  • First public striptease act - 13.03.1928
    performed in Paris
  • First public bus service - 18.03.1662
    began operating in Paris
  • Paris-London telephone link established - 18.03.1891
    
  • US Senate does not ratify the Versailles Treaty - 19.03.1920
    ending World War I and establishing the League of Nations
  • Napoléon returns to Paris from exile on Elba - 20.03.1815
    beginning the 100 Days, his last moment of power, ending in his exile to St. Helena
  • Tunisia gains independence from France - 20.03.1956
    
  • Auguste & Louis Lumière give first demonstration of celluloid film - 22.03.1895
    in Paris
  • The BBC begins broadcasting in Morse code to the French Resistence - 22.03.1942
    
  • France signs the Treaty of Rome - 25.03.1957
    together with Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, establishing the European Common Market
  • First seaplane took off from Marseille - 28.03.1910
    
  • Crimean Wars ends with signing of the Treaty of Paris - 30.03.1856
    
  • Sicilian Vespers end - 31.03.1282
    massacre of the French in Sicily, begun the previous evening.
  • Eiffel Tower inaugurated - 31.03.1889
    
• Births:
  • Cyrano de Bergerac - 6.03.1619 - Novelist and playwright
  • Maurice Ravel - 8.03.1875 - Composer
  • Arthur Honegger - 10.03.1892 - German expatriate composer who lived in Paris
  • Urbain Leverrier - 11.03.1811 - Astronomer
  • Georges de la Tour - 19.03.1593 - Painter
  • Marcel Marceau - 22.03.1923 - Mime
  • Pierre Boulez - 26.03.1925 - Conductor and composer
  • Paul Verlaine - 30.03.1844 - Poet
  • René Descartes - 31.03.1596 - Philosopher and mathematician
• Deaths:
  • Jean-François Champollion - 4.03.1832 - Egyptologist
  • Jules Mazarin - 9.03.1661 - Cardinal and politician
  • Ferdinand Foch - 20.03.1929 - Army marshal
  • Raoul Dufy - 23.03.1953 - Painter
  • Stendhal - 23.03.1945 - novelist
  • Jules Verne - 24.03.1905 - Novelist
  • Sarah Bernhardt - 26.03.1923 - Actress
  • Claude Debussy - 27.03.1918 - Composer
  • Frédéric Mistral - 27.03.1914 - Poet
  • Eugène Ionesco - 28.03.1994 - Romanian born French playwright of the Theater of the Absurd
  • Marc Chagall - 28.03.1985 - Russian born French painter
  • Georges-Pierre Seurat - 29.03.1891 - Painter
  • Francis I - 31.03.1547 - King of France