1918 in France

Events from the year 1918 in France.

Incumbents

• President: Raymond Poincaré
• President of the Council of Ministers: Georges Clemenceau

Events

• 21 March – Operation Michael begins in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, launching Germany's Spring Offensive.
• 23 March – The giant German cannon, called the Paris Gun, begins to shell Paris from away.
• 27 May – The Third Battle of the Aisne begins, an attempt by the Germans to capture the Chemin des Dames Ridge before the arrival of the American Expeditionary Force to support France.
• 1 June – The Battle of Belleau Wood begins, near the Marne River.
• 6 June – Third Battle of the Aisne ends with the German advance halted after initial gains.
• 26 June – Battle of Belleau Wood ends in Allied victory.
• 15 July – The Second Battle of the Marne begins, the last major German offensive on the Western Front.
• 18 July-22 July – The Battle of Soissons is fought between the French (with American assistance) and German armies.
• 5 August – Second Battle of the Marne ends with Allied victory.
• 8 August – Battle of Amiens begins.
• 12 September – British victory in Battle of Havrincourt.
• 12 September-15 September – Battle of Saint-Mihiel, Allied victory.
• 18 September – British victory in the Battle of Épehy.
• 8 October-10 October – The Battle of Cambrai ends in a decisive Allied victory.
• 7 November – The Anglo-French Declaration is signed between France and the United Kingdom, agreeing to implement a "complete and final liberation" of countries that had been part of the Ottoman Empire.
• 11 November – Battle of Amiens ends, when the armistice is signed.

Births

• 6 February – Marcel Mouly, artist (died 2008)
• 25 April – Alain Savary, politician and Minister (died 1988)
• 25 April – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, astronomer (died 1995)
• 11 May – Roger Trézel, bridge player (died 1986)
• 26 June – Roger Voisin, trumpeter (died 2008)
• 26 August – Marcel Bleibtreu, Trotskyist activist and theorist (died 2001)
• 31 August – Camille Bonnet, rugby union player (died 2020)
• 14 September – Paul Bonneau, composer (died 1995)
• 30 September – René Rémond, historian and political economist (died 2007)
• 6 October – André Pilette, motor racing driver (died 1993)
• 16 October – Louis Althusser, Marxist philosopher (died 1990)
• 22 October – René de Obaldia, playwright (died 2022)
• 7 November – Paul Aussaresses, general (died 2013)
• 8 December – Gérard Souzay, baritone (died 2004)
• 16 December – Pierre Delanoë, songwriter/lyricist (died 2006)
• 30 December – Lucien Leduc, soccer player and manager (died 2004)

Full date unknown

• Madeleine Giteau, historian (died 2005)
• Gilbert Martineau, author and curator of the French properties on St Helena (died 1995)

Deaths

• 9 January – Charles-Émile Reynaud, science teacher, responsible for the first animated films (born 1844)
• 23 March — Hans Gottfried von Häbler, World War I German flying ace (born 1893)
• 25 March – Claude Debussy, composer (born 1862)
• 25 August – Henri Chantavoine, writer (born 1850)
• 5 October – Roland Garros, aviator and World War I fighter pilot (born 1888)
• 12 October – Émile Étienne Guimet, industrialist, traveller and connoisseur (born 1836)
• 13 October – Marcel Deprez, electrical engineer (born 1843)
• 9 November – Guillaume Apollinaire, poet, writer and art critic (born 1880)
• 3 December – Étienne Destot, radiologist and anatomist (born 1864)
• 22 December – Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais, entomologist (born 1843)

Full date unknown

• Thérèse Humbert, fraudster (born 1856)

See also

• List of French films of 1918