1914 in France

Incumbents

• President: Raymond Poincaré
• President of the Council of Ministers:
• * until 9 June: Gaston Doumergue
• * 9 June-13 June: Alexandre Ribot
• * starting 13 June: René Viviani

  Events

• 16 March - Wife of French minister Joseph Caillaux shoots Gaston Calmette, the editor of Le Figaro because he threatened to publish Caillaux's love letters to her during his previous marriage.
• 26 April - French legislative election held.
• 10 May - French legislative election held.
• 31 July - Jean Jaurès assassinated by a French nationalist fanatic
• 3 August - Germany declares war on Russia's ally France.
• 9 August - Battle of Mulhouse begins, the opening attack of World War I by the French army against Germany.
• 26 August - Allies withdraw from Le Cateau to St. Quentin, after Battle of Le Cateau.
• 29 August - French Fifth Army attack St. Quentin.
• 30 August - French Fifth Army retreat from St. Quentin.
• 25 September - Battle of Albert begins.
• 27 September - First Battle of Artois begins.
• 1 October - Battle of Arras begins.
• 4 October - Lens is lost, as French Tenth Army fails to hold back the Germans.
• 4 November - Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
• 20 December - First Battle of Champagne begins.

  Arts and literature

Sport

• 28 June - The 12th Tour de France begins.

  Births

January to March

• 4 January - Jean-Pierre Vernant, historian and anthropologist
• 9 January - Lucien Bodard, reporter and writer on events in Asia
• 3 February - Michel Thomas, linguist, language teacher and decorated war veteran
• 17 February - René Vietto, cyclist
• 19 February - Jacques Dufilho, actor
• 28 February - Élie Bayol, motor racing driver
• 21 March - Paul Tortelier, cellist and composer

  April to June

• 4 April - Marguerite Duras, writer and film director
• 17 April - Janine Micheau, lyric soprano opera singer
• 25 April - Claude Mauriac, author and journalist
• 26 April - Lilian Rolfe, heroine of World War II
• 27 April - Albert Soboul, historian
• 28 April - Michel Mohrt, editor, essayist, novelist and historian
• 8 May - Romain Gary, novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat
• 14 May - Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont, militant communist, resistance fighter and politician
• 18 May - Pierre Balmain, fashion designer
• 18 May - Marcel Bernard, tennis player
• 16 June - Louis Gabrillargues, soccer player
• 26 June - Antoine Argoud, twice attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle

  July to September

• 5 July - Alain de Boissieu, Army chief-of-staff
• 5 July - Jean Tabaud, artist
• 21 July - Philippe Ariès, medievalist and historian
• 30 July - André Nocquet, aikido teacher
• 31 July - Louis de Funès, actor
• 19 August
• *Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, politician and Prime Minister of France
• *Raymond Marcellin, politician
• 20 August - Yann Goulet, sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany
• 30 August - Jean Bottéro, historian
• 13 September - Henri Curiel, political activist, assassinated
• 23 September - Maurice Limat, science fiction author

  October to December

• 22 October - André Neher, Jewish scholar and philosopher
• 13 November - Henri Langlois, pioneer of film preservation and restoration
• 21 November - Henri Laborit, physician, writer and philosopher
• 4 December - Claude Renoir, cinematographer
• 5 December - Odette Joyeux, actress and writer
• 18 December - Aimé Teisseire, military officer

  Deaths

• 18 January - Georges Picquart, army officer and Minister of War, exposed the truth in the Dreyfus Affair
• 30 January - Paul Déroulède, author and politician
• 13 February - Alphonse Bertillon, police officer and forensic scientist
• 25 March - Frédéric Mistral, poet, shared the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904
• 31 July - Jean Jaurès, socialist and pacifist
• 3 August - Louis Couturat, logician, mathematician, philosopher, and linguist
• 4 August - Hubertine Auclert, feminist and campaigner for women's suffrage
• 4 August - Jules Lemaître, critic and dramatist
• 3 September - Albéric Magnard, composer
• 6 September - Alfred Mayssonnié
• 16 September - Louis Bach
• 23 September - Gaston Lane
• 26 September - Alain-Fournier, author and soldier
• 2 October - Joé Anduran

  Full date unknown

• Jean Alfred Fournier, dermatologist