1889 in France

Incumbents

• President: Marie François Sadi Carnot
• President of the Council of Ministers: Charles Floquet, Pierre Tirard

  Events

• January – Defense minister Georges Boulanger contemplates a coup but is forced to flee the country.
• 4 February – The Tribunal Civil de la Seine orders the winding up of the Panama Canal Company.
• 31 March – The Eiffel Tower is inaugurated.
• 6 May – Exposition Universelle opens in Paris.
• 28 May – Rubber tyre company Michelin is registered by Édouard and André Michelin.
• 22 September – Legislative election held.
• 6 October
• * Legislative election held.
• * Moulin Rouge built and opened in Paris.
• 31 October – Exposition Universelle closes.
• The fashion house of Lanvin is established in Paris by Jeanne Lanvin.

  Births

January to June

• 20 January – Jean Odin, politician
• 2 February – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, general, military hero of World War II
• 24 February – Suzanne Bianchetti, actress
• 17 April – Marcel Boussac, entrepreneur and horse breeder
• 17 May – Marcel Moyse, flautist
• 24 May – Théophile Marie Brébant, military officer
• 13 June – Alfred Janniot, sculptor

  July to December

• 5 July – Jean Cocteau, poet, novelist, dramatist, designer and filmmaker
• 22/23 July – Georges Bonnet, politician
• 7 August
• * Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu, Admiral
• * Léon Brillouin, physicist
• 15 August – Marthe Richard, prostitute, spy and politician
• 20 October – Suzanne Duchamp, painter
• 25 October – Abel Gance, film director, producer, writer, actor and editor
• 6 November – Gabriel Hanot, soccer player and journalist
• 26 November – Albert Dieudonné, actor, screenwriter, film director and novelist
• 5 December – Marie-Louise Damien, singer and actress
• 7 December – Gabriel Marcel, philosopher
• 17 December – Antoine Béthouart, General

  Deaths

• 16 March – Edmond Henri Adolphe Schérer, theologian, critic and politician
• 9 April – Jean-Baptiste Arban, cornetist and conductor
• 20 April – Charles Friedel, chemist and mineralogist
• 23 April – Jules Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, novelist and short story writer
• 24 April - Zulma Carraud, children's author
• 10 July – Joseph Projectus Machebeuf, French-American Catholic missionary and the first Bishop of Denver
• 19 August – Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam, writer
• 29 September – Louis Faidherbe, general and colonial administrator
• 22 October – Philippe Ricord, physician
• 25 October – Émile Augier, dramatist
• 14 December – Jean Baptiste Lucien Buquet, entomologist
• 31 December – Ernest Cosson, botanist