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Mar 14, 2022 · When you think of famous French people in history, the following come to mind: Napoleon Bonaparte (famous military leader), Joan of Arc (famous French heroine), and Louis XIV (known as France’s most famous king). This article will cover the best known French people throughout history ranging from military leaders, artists, scientists, authors ...
- Napoleon Bonaparte
- Joan of Arc
- Marie Curie
- René Descartes
- Marie Antoinette
- Gustave Eiffel
- Jacques Cartier
- Edith Piaf
- Coco Chanel
- Charles de Gaulle
Born in Corsica to a minor Italian noble family, a man named Napoleon Bonaparte rose quickly through the ranks of the French Army. By 1799, he is elected First Consul of the Republique and by 1804, Napoleon was “voted” Emperor of France. Napoleon was not content however, just being the Emperor of France. He went on to traverse the Alpsconquer and p...
In the midst of the 100 years’ war between England and France, a young maid named Jeanne d’Arc (Joan of Arc)would become the woman to capture the imagination of France. Born to a relatively poor family, the young girl said that she received visions of the archangel Michael instructing her to support the French King Charles VII from the English. Nic...
Marie Sklodowska moved to Paris as a young woman, which is where she met her husband, a French physicist named Pierre Curie. Together, they would identify radioactive isotopes develop the theory of “radioactivity” and share the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. Marie Curiewould go on to also win the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, after the death of her ...
René Descartes was a famous French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist who invented analytical geometry, linking the previously separate fields of geometry and algebra. Descartes’s statement became a fundamental element of Western philosophy, about rationality, knowledge, and doubt. His book The Meditations on First Philosophy(1641) continues...
When Austrian Princess Marie-Antoinette married the future French King Louis XVI, France was slowly going bankrupt. She entered the Château of Versaillesat its height of elegance as a mere teenager. However, the 16-year-old Marie-Antoinette was desperately homesick. Adding to her misery, her husband took 7 years to consummate the marriage and give ...
It is not often a civil engineer becomes famous. The Eiffel Tower is named after its engineer, Gustave Eiffel who was from the French city of Dijon. Eiffel was not just any guy. He had constructed several buildings, bridges and viaducts around France before the Eiffel Tower. He was also just coming off of another large project building the metal fr...
In 1534, a Frenchman named Jacques Cartier set off from Saint-Maloon the west coast of France to discover a western passage to the wealthy markets of Asia. Having already located the entrance to the St. Lawrence River in Canada on his first voyage, he opened up the greatest waterway for the European penetration of North America. It was the start of...
One of the most famous musicians and singersin France has to be the indomitable Edith Piaf. Only 4ft8 in height, she was nicknamed “La Môme Piaf”, which is slang for “The Waif Sparrow” or “The Little Sparrow”. On the list of the most famous french songs of all time, La vie en rosestill defines France. Written in 1945, it was especially meaningful t...
After World War I, people wanted to let loose. The roaring 1920s would see corsets being banished and complicated dresses pushed to the back of the closet. In 1926 Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, a French couturier, published a picture of a short, simple black dress in American Vogue. It was calf-length and straight, and a revolution in terms of women’s c...
In 1939, the man leading the French Government at the time was a celebrated war hero. Maréchal Philippe Pétain was the Commander-in-Chief who had led the troops during World War I and earned the respect of the French people. But by the time World War II rolled around, he was a tired old man. Appointed as Prime Minister of France in June 1940 he pro...
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- Coco Chanel. Gabrielle Bonheur “Coco” Chane, born on August 19, 1883, was a renowned French designer and the founder of the high-end fashion brand Chanel.
- Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton’s designs became popular amongst the elite during the reign of Napoleon III. Napoleon commissioned Louis to create special luggage for his wife to pack and transport her “fashions.”
- Constance Jablonski. The French model Constance Jablonski was born on April 17, 1991, in Lille, France. Her birthnames are Constance Marie Jeanine Jablonski.
- Claude Monet. Oscar-Claude Monet was one of the most famous French painters of his time. This prominent artist was the founder of impressionist painting, which many consider a crucial precursor to modernism, especially in his approach to painting nature as his brilliant mind perceived it.
- Victor Hugo (1802 – 1885) Victor-Marie Hugo famously known as Victor Hugo is one of the most important people in French history and the literary world.
- Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970) Charles de Gaulle, born Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, was a French army officer and one of the most prominent French historical figures.
- Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) When mentioning famous French people in history, one cannot forget Marie Antoinette even though she didn’t leave behind the best reputation.
- Gustave Eiffel (1832 – 1923) One of the most iconic attractions that France is synonymous with is the Eiffel Tower and the engineer behind this world-famous structure is none other than Alexandre Gustave Eiffel.
- Chanel. Coco became interested in fashion when she was about 18 years old. It all began in 1909. She was the mistress of a businessman named Étienne Balsan at the time, who helped her launch a hat-making firm in Paris in 1910.
- Dior. Christian Dior was born in Granville, a small town on France’s Normandy coast, in 1905. As a child, he was always interested in art and aspired to be an architect.
- Rene Lacoste. When a well-known tennis player becomes a designer, the public expects something genuinely exceptional, which is exactly what we got with Lacoste.
- Yves Saint Laurent. This French designer dubbed the “King of Fashion” for a reason, has revolutionized the fashion world. He has done it all, from setting ground-breaking trends like the introduction of the tuxedo suit for women to using non-white models.
A list of famous French people from Joan d’ Arc to Zinedine Zidane. William the Conqueror (1028 – 1087) William I was a Norman King who invaded England in 1066. William defeated the English King Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
Mar 8, 2021 · Napoléon Bonaparte. One of the most celebrated and controversial political figures in history, Napoléon rose to prominence during the French Revolution and dominated European affairs for more than a decade. A brilliant military commander, he built a vast empire that ruled over continental Europe until that unfortunate business at Waterloo.
