1894 in France

Events from the year 1894 in France.

Incumbents

 * President: Marie François Sadi Carnot (until 26 June), Jean Casimir-Perier (starting 26 June)
 * President of the Council of Ministers: Jean Casimir-Perier (until 30 May), Charles Dupuy (starting 30 May)

Events

 * 4 January – Franco-Russian Alliance: A military alliance is established between France and the Russian Empire, pledged to remain so as long as the Triple Alliance (1882) exists.
 * 15 February (04:51 GMT) – French anarchist Martial Bourdin attempts to destroy the Royal Observatory, London, England with a bomb.
 * 22 June – Dahomey becomes a French colony.
 * 23 June – International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
 * 24 June – Assassination of Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France.
 * 15 August – Sante Geronimo Caserio is executed for the assassination of Marie François Sadi Carnot.
 * 15 October – Alfred Dreyfus is arrested for spying: Dreyfus affair begins.
 * 5 November – Crédit Agricole established.
 * 7 November – The Masonic Grand Lodge de France is founded, splitting from the larger and older Grand Orient de France.
 * 19 December – Trial and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus begins at the Cherche-Midi prison and lasts four days.
 * 22 December – Alfred Dreyfus is convicted of treason.
 * 31 December – Dreyfus' appeal to the military court of revision — a formality — is rejected.
 * Venus of Brassempouy is discovered.
 * Émile Delahaye produces the first Delahaye automobile in Tours.

Arts and literature

 * Paul Cézanne paints Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier.


 * Claude Debussy composes premieres Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune in December 1894, a symphonic poem based on Stéphane Mallarmé.

January to June

 * 12 January – Georges Carpentier, boxer (died 1975)
 * 18 January – Romain Bellenger, cyclist (died 1981)
 * 6 February – André Marchal, organist and organ teacher (died 1980)
 * 14 March – Marie-Simone Capony, teacher, fifth-oldest person in the world (died 2007)
 * 26 March – Albert Achard, World War I flying ace (died 1972)
 * 9 April – Jean Gounot, gymnast and Olympic medallist (died 1978)
 * 23 April – Georges Renavent, actor (died 1969)
 * 10 May – Paul Dujardin, water polo player and Olympic medallist (died 1959)
 * 27 May – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, writer (died 1961)
 * 2 June – Jean Gachet, boxer and Olympic medallist (died 1968)
 * 13 June – Jacques Henri Lartigue, photographer and painter (died 1986)

July to September

 * 25 July – Yvonne Printemps, singer and actress (died 1977)
 * 19 August – André Lefèbvre, automobile engineer (died 1963)
 * 27 August – André Lurçat, architect (died 1970)
 * 3 September
 * Marie Dubas, music-hall singer and comedian (died 1972)
 * André Hébuterne, painter (died 1992)
 * 8 September – Andrée Vaurabourg, pianist and teacher (died 1980)
 * 14 September – Pierre-Marie Théas, Bishop (died 1977)
 * 15 September – Jean Renoir, film director (died 1979)

October to December

 * 17 October – Félix Amiot, aircraft constructor (died 1974)
 * 25 October – Claude Cahun, photographer and writer (died 1954)
 * 30 October – Jean Rostand, biologist and philosopher (died 1977)
 * 4 November – Gabriel Auphan, Admiral (died 1982)
 * 5 November – René Laforgue, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (died 1962)
 * 7 December – Louis Béguet, rugby union player (died 1983)
 * 19 December – Paul Baudouin, banker, politician and Minister (died 1964)
 * 25 December – Maurice Floquet, France's oldest man on record (died 2006)

Full date unknown

 * Marcel LaFosse, classical trumpeter (died 1969)
 * Georges Miquelle, cellist (died 1977)

Deaths

 * 29 January – Armand Gautier, painter and lithographer (born 1825)
 * 3 February – Edmond Frémy, chemist (born 1814)
 * 6 February – Maria Deraismes, author and pioneer for women's rights (born 1828)
 * 9 February – Maxime Du Camp, writer and photographer (born 1822)
 * 14 February – Jacques-Léonard Maillet, sculptor (born 1823)
 * 20 May – Philippe Édouard Foucaux, Tibetologist (born 1811)
 * 25 June – Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of France (assassinated) (born 1837)
 * 1 July – Jean-Joseph Carriès, sculptor, ceramist, and miniaturist (born 1855)
 * 2 September – Pauline Duvernay, dancer (born 1813)
 * 8 November – Louis Figuier, scientist and writer (born 1819)
 * 7 December – Ferdinand de Lesseps, developer of the Suez Canal (born 1805)

Full date unknown

 * Jacques Claude Demogeot, man of letters (born 1808)