1899 in France

Events from the year 1899 in France.

Incumbents

 * President: Félix Faure (until 18 February), Émile Loubet (starting 18 February)
 * President of the Council of Ministers: Charles Dupuy (until 22 June), Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau (starting 22 June)

Events

 * 18 February – Emile Loubet is elected president following the death of Felix Faure.
 * 16 April – Battle of Lougou, French victory in Niger.
 * 20 June – Right-wing nationalist movement Action Française formed by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois.
 * 17 July – The French Bretonnet-Braun mission is destroyed in the Battle of Togbao, in Chad, by the warlord Rabih az-Zubayr.
 * 19 September – Alfred Dreyfus is pardoned.
 * 28 October – Battle of Kouno, indecisive battle between French forces and a Muslim army led by Rabih az-Zubayr in Chad.
 * Automobile manufacturer Renault established by Louis Renault and his brothers Marcel and Fernand.

Arts and literature

 * 21 January – Actress Sarah Bernhardt, having taken over management of the Paris theatre which she renames the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, opens in the title rôle of Victorien Sardou's La Tosca. On 20 May she premières a French adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet with herself in the title rôle, one of the first successful female actresses to tackle a male part.
 * Henri Matisse paints Still Life with Compote, Apples and Oranges.
 * Camille Pissarro takes an apartment overlooking the Tuileries Garden in Paris and produces a series of paintings of the view.

Sport

 * 31 August – The Olympique de Marseille association football club is founded.
 * 21 September – Henri François Béconnais sets the 1 km speed record (48 seconds) in a Soncin automobile at Achères.

January to March

 * 6 January – Alphonse Castex, rugby union player (died 1969)
 * 7 January – Francis Poulenc, composer (died 1963)
 * 12 January – Pierre Bernac, baritone (died 1979)
 * 15 January – Louis Guilloux, writer (died 1980)
 * 20 January – Pierre Gandon, illustrator and engraver of postage stamps (died 1990)
 * 23 January – Pierre Grany, athlete (died 1968)
 * 7 February – René Crabos, rugby union player (died 1964)
 * 15 February – Georges Auric, composer (died 1983)
 * 21 February – Yvonne Vallée, actress (died 1996)
 * 25 February – Bernadette Cattanéo, trade unionist, communist activist, newspaper editor (died 1963)
 * 9 March – Jules Dewaquez, soccer player (died 1971)
 * 25 March – Jacques Audiberti, playwright, poet and novelist (died 1965)
 * 28 March – Bernard Delaire, last French naval veteran of the First World War (died 2007)

April to June

 * 7 April – Robert Casadesus, pianist (died 1972)
 * 11 April – Clément Dupont, rugby union player (died 1993)
 * 8 May – Jacques Heim, fashion designer (died 1967)
 * 14 May
 * Pierre Victor Auger, physicist (died 1993)
 * Pierre Petiteau, rugby union player (died 1974)
 * 15 May – Jean-Étienne Valluy, general (died 1970)
 * 17 May – Anita Conti, explorer, photographer and first French female oceanographer (died 1997)
 * 24 May – Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player (died 1938)
 * 20 June – Jean Moulin, prefect and Resistance leader (died in custody 1943)

July to September

 * 5 July
 * Marcel Achard, playwright, screenwriter and author (died 1974)
 * Marcel Arland, novelist, literary critic and journalist (died 1986)
 * 7 July – Jean-Albert Grégoire, car pioneer (died 1992)
 * 14 July – Marie-Hélène Cardot, French resistance leader and politician (died 1977)
 * 19 July – Germaine Sablon, singer and actress (died 1985)
 * 26 July – Édouard Bader, rugby union player (died 1983)
 * 9 August – Armand Salacrou, dramatist (died 1989)
 * 14 August – Adolphe Bousquet, rugby union player (died 1972)
 * 28 August – Charles Boyer, actor (died 1978)
 * 9 September – Brassaï, photographer, sculptor and filmmaker (died 1984)
 * 14 September – Youenn Drezen, Breton nationalist writer and activist (died 1972)

October to December

 * 1 October – Joseph Guillemot, athlete and Olympic gold medallist (died 1975)
 * 5 October – Georges Bidault politician and resistance leader (died 1983)
 * 8 October – Edmond Michelet, politician (died 1970)
 * 24 October – Philippe Kieffer, Naval officer (died 1962)
 * 30 October – Georges Capdeville, soccer referee (died 1991)
 * 8 December
 * Fernand Arnout, weightlifter and Olympic medallist (died 1974)
 * François Borde, rugby union player (died 1987)
 * 9 December – Jean de Brunhoff, writer and illustrator (died 1937)

Full date unknown

 * Marcel Fétique, bowmaker (died 1977)
 * Henri-Robert Petit, journalist, Collaborationist under the Vichy regime and far-right activist (died 1985)

Deaths

 * 16 February – Félix Faure, President of France (born 1841)
 * 16 May – Francisque Sarcey, journalist and drama critic (born 1827)
 * 10 June – Ernest Chausson, composer (born 1855)
 * 5 July – Hippolyte Lucas, entomologist (born 1814)
 * 11 July – Charles Joseph Marty-Laveaux, literary scholar (born 1823)
 * 14 July – Jean-François Klobb, colonial officer (born 1857)
 * 20 July – Charlotte de Rothschild, socialite and painter (born 1825)
 * 25 September – Francisque Bouillier, philosopher (born 1813)
 * 28 November – Virginia Oldoini, Mistress of Napoleon III and significant figure in the early history of photography. (born 1837)

Full date unknown

 * Henri Delaborde, art critic and painter (born 1811)