1915 in France

Incumbents

• President: Raymond Poincaré
• President of the Council of Ministers: René Viviani, Aristide Briand

  Events

• 19 January - Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
• 18 April Roland Garros lands his aircraft behind enemy lines and is taken prisoner.
• 9 May - Second Battle of Artois starts.
• 15 May - Second Battle of Artois ends in stalemate.
• 10 September - Satirical weekly newspaper Le Canard enchaîné first published.
• 15 September - Third Battle of Artois begins.
• 25 September
• *Battle of Loos begins, a major British offensive on the Western Front; first British use of poison gas during World War I.
• *Second Battle of Champagne begins.
• 28 September - Battle of Loos ends with British retreat.
• 16 October - France declares war on Bulgaria.
• 4 November - Third Battle of Artois ends.
• 6 November - Second Battle of Champagne ends.

  Sport

Births

January to March

• 14 January - André Frossard, journalist and essayist
• 18 February - Marcel Landowski, composer, biographer and arts administrator
• 1 March - Gustave Choquet, mathematician
• 7 March - Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Gaullist politician and Prime Minister
• 24 March - Eugène Martin, motor racing driver

  April to June

• 2 April - Jean Sauvagnargues, politician and Minister
• 3 April - Paul Touvier, convicted of crime against humanity for his Collaborationist role during Vichy France
• 20 April - Émile Muller, politician
• 6 May - Achille Zavatta, clown and circus operator
• 12 May - Frère Roger, founder of the Taizé community
• 21 June - Jean Bastien, soccer player

  July to December

• 19 August - Alphonse Antoine, cyclist
• 22 October - Jules Bigot, soccer player and manager
• 22 October - Jean Despeaux, boxer, Olympic gold-medallist
• 9 November - André François, cartoonist
• 12 November - Roland Barthes, literary critic and philosopher
• 17 November - Michel Arnaud, General
• November - Jean Neuberth, abstract painter
• 17 December - André Claveau, singer
• 19 December - Édith Piaf, singer

  Full date unknown

• Henri Decaë, cinematographer.
• Antoine Guillaumont, archaeologist and Syriac scholar

  Deaths

• 15 September - Alfred Agache, painter
• Michel Bréal, philologist