August 2

Today in French History

Historical Events

1738 France offers Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI mediation in his war against Turkey

1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson further decimates the French fleet

1802 Napoleon Bonaparte declared "Consul for Life" after winning national referendum

1819 1st parachute jump in US by Frenchman Louis-Charles Guille over Jersey City

1830 Charles X of France abdicates in favour of his grandson the Duc de Bordeaux

1940 Clermont-Ferrand sentences General Charles de Gaulle to death in absentia

1674 Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Regent of France (1715-23), born in Château de Saint Cloud, France (d. 1723)
1723 Nicolas de Pigage, French classical builder (Schloss Benrath), born in Lunéville, France (d. 1796)

French-born American architect who laid out Washington, D.C., born in Paris, France

French sculptor (designed the Statue of Liberty), born in Colmar, France

1871 John French Sloan, American painter and etcher, born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania (d. 1951)
1920 Louis Pauwels, French writer and editor, born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1997)
1955 Anne Lacaton, French architect (Lacaton & Vassal, Pritzker Prize - 2021), born in Saint-Pardoux-la-Rivière, France
1959 Christian Larièpe, French soccer defender (FC Montceau Bourgogne) and sporting director (AS Saint-Étienne, FC Lausanne-Sport, FC Nantes), born in Montceau-les-Mines, France (d. 2023)
1967 Aline Brosh McKenna, American screenwriter (The Devil Wears Prada), and director (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), born in France

King of France (1574-89) and Poland (1573-75), assassinated by Dominican friar Jacques Clément at 37

1661 Louis Couperin, French composer and organist, dies (b. 1626)
1776 Louis François I, Prince of Conti, French nobleman and military leader, dies at 58
1815 Guillaume Brune, French marshal, dies at 52
1823 Lazare Carnot, French politician, engineer and mathematician known as the Organizer of Victory in the French Revolutionary Wars, dies at 70
1890 Louise-Victorine Ackermann, French poet (works characterized by a deep sense of pessimism), dies at 76
1903 Edmond Nocard, French veterinarian (Louis Pasteur Institute), dies at 53
1914 Gabriel Édouard Xavier Dupont, French composer, dies of tuberculosis at 36
1936 Louis Blériot, French aviator who made the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier than air aircraft, dies of a heart attack at 64
1973 Jean-Pierre Melville, French filmmaker (Bob Le Flambeur), dies of a heart attack at 57
1992 Michel Berger [Hamburger], French singer-songwriter, and record producer. dies of a heart attack at 44
1996 Michel Debre, French politician, Prime Minister of France (1959-62), dies at 84