1905 in France

Incumbents

• President: Émile Loubet
• President of the Council of Ministers:
• * until 12 March: Emile Combes
• * 12 March-25 October: Maurice Rouvier
• * starting 25 October: Georges Clemenceau

  Events

• February - a fierce storm on the Calvados coast.
• 31 March - German emperor William II asserts German equality with France in Morocco, triggering the Tangier or First Moroccan Crisis.
• 13 May - Mata Hari debuts in Paris.
• 9 December - 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State is passed, enacting laïcité.
• Louis Delâge produces the first Delage automobile in Levallois-Perret.

  Arts and literature

• October - The Fauvist artists, notably Henri Matisse, first exhibit, at the Salon d'Automne in Paris.

  Sport

• 9-30 July - Third Tour de France, won by Louis Trousselier.

  Births

January to March

• 17 January - Louis Armand, engineer
• 21 January - Christian Dior, fashion designer
• 7 February
• *Paul Nizan, philosopher and writer
• *René de Possel, mathematician
• 8 February - Andre Richaume, archetier/bowmaker
• 3 March - Marie Glory, actress
• 14 March - Raymond Aron, philosopher, sociologist and political scientist
• 20 March - Jean Galia, boxer and pioneering rugby footballer
• 28 March - René Maheu, professor of philosophy and Director General of UNESCO

  April to June

• 2 April - Edmond Jouhaud, one of four generals who staged the Algiers putsch of 1961
• 4 April - Eugène Bozza, composer
• 5 April - Waldeck Rochet, politician
• 13 April - Pierre Schneiter, politician
• 14 April - Jean Pierre-Bloch, French Resistance member
• 24 April - Pierre Chevalier, caver and mountaineer
• 6 May - René Dreyfus, motor racing driver
• 14 May - Jean Daniélou, theologian and historian
• 15 May - Albert Dubout, cartoonist, illustrator, painter and sculptor
• 20 June - Hélène Bouvier, operatic mezzo-soprano
• 21 June - Jacques Goddet, sports journalist and Tour de France director
• 21 June - Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher, dramatist, novelist and critic

  July to September

• 25 July - Georges Grignard, motor racing driver
• 29 July - Pierre Braunberger, producer and actor
• 30 July - Jeanne-Marie Darré, pianist
• 8 August - André Jolivet, composer
• 9 August - Pierre Klossowski, writer, translator and artist
• 20 August - André Giriat, rower and Olympic medallist
• 5 September - Maurice Challe, General

  October to December

• 10 October - Armand Marcelle, rower and Olympic medallist
• 11 October - Jean-Marie Villot, Cardinal
• 24 October - Pierre Frank, Trotskyist leader
• 18 November - Paul Paillole, soldier
• 29 November - Marcel Lefebvre, Roman Catholic archbishop
• 22 December - Pierre Brasseur, actor
• 25 December - Étienne Mattler, international soccer player
• 31 December - Guy Mollet, politician

  Full date unknown

• Jacques Baron, poet.
• Albert-Félix de Lapparent, palaeontologist and Jesuit priest
• René Taupin, translator, critic and academic

  Deaths

January to June

• 4 February - Louis-Ernest Barrias, sculptor
• 5 February - Antoine Alphonse Chassepot, gunsmith and inventor
• 24 March - Jules Verne, author
• 26 May - Alphonse James de Rothschild, banker and philanthropist
• 1 June - Émile Delahaye, automotive pioneer
• 4 June - Edme-Armand-Gaston d'Audiffret-Pasquier, politician

  July to December

• 9 August - Placide Louis Chapelle, Archbishop in Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans
• 19 August - William-Adolphe Bouguereau, painter
• 13 September - René Goblet, politician, Prime Minister of France
• 14 September - Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, explorer
• 25 September - Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, politician
• 12 December - François Paul Meurice, dramatist