1914 in France

Events from the year 1914 in France.

Incumbents

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. (She is later acquitted.)
26 April - French legislative election held.
10 May - French legislative election held.
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.

4 January - Jean-Pierre Vernant, historian and anthropologist (d.2007)
3 February - Michel Thomas, linguist, language teacher and decorated war veteran (d.2005).
17 February - René Vietto, cyclist (d.1988).
19 February - Jacques Dufilho, actor (d.2005).
28 February - Élie Bayol, motor racing driver (d.1995).
21 March - Paul Tortelier, cellist and composer (d.1990).

4 April - Marguerite Duras, writer and film director (d.1996).
17 April - Janine Micheau, lyric soprano opera singer (d.1976).
25 April - Claude Mauriac, author and journalist (d.1996).
26 April - Lilian Rolfe, heroine of World War II (d.1945).
27 April - Albert Soboul, historian (d.1982).
28 April - Michel Mohrt, editor, essayist, novelist and historian.
8 May - Romain Gary, novelist, film director, World War II aviator and diplomat (d.1980).
14 May - Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont, militant communist, resistance fighter and politician (d.2006).
18 May - Pierre Balmain, fashion designer (d.1982).
18 May - Marcel Bernard, tennis player (d.1994).
16 June - Louis Gabrillargues, soccer player (d.1994).
26 June - Antoine Argoud, twice attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle (d.2004).

5 July - Alain de Boissieu, Army chief-of-staff (d.2006).
5 July - Jean Tabaud, artist (d.1996).
21 July - Philippe Ariès, medievalist and historian (d.1984).
30 July - André Nocquet, aikido teacher (d.1999).
31 July - Louis de Funès, actor (d.1983).
19 August - Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury, politician and Prime Minister of France (d.1993).
19 August - Raymond Marcellin, politician (d.2004).
20 August - Yann Goulet, sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany (d.1999).
13 September - Henri Curiel, political activist, assassinated (d.1978).
23 September - Maurice Limat, science fiction author (d.2002).

13 November - Henri Langlois, pioneer of film preservation and restoration (d.1977).
21 November - Henri Laborit, physician, writer and philosopher (d.1995).
2 December - Louis de Maigret, Military officer (d.2001).
4 December - Claude Renoir, cinematographer (d.1993).
5 December - Odette Joyeux, actress and writer (d.2000).

18 January - Georges Picquart, army officer and Minister of War, exposed the truth in the Dreyfus Affair (b.1854).
30 January - Paul Déroulède, author and politician (b.1846).
25 March - Frédéric Mistral, poet, shared the Nobel Prize in literature in 1904 (b.1830).
31 July - Jean Jaurès, socialist and pacifist (assassinated) (b.1859).
3 August - Louis Couturat, logician, mathematician, philosopher, and linguist (b.1868).
4 August - Hubertine Auclert, feminist and campaigner for women's suffrage (b.1848).
4 August - Jules Lemaître, critic and dramatist (b.1853).
3 September - Albéric Magnard, composer (b.1865).
26 September - Alain-Fournier, author and soldier (b.1886).