1851 in France

Events from the year 1851 in France.

Events

1 July - Serial poisoner Hélène Jégado is arrested in Rennes.
17 July - Victor Hugo uses the phrase United States of Europe in a speech to the National Assembly.
2 December - French coup d'état of 1851 is staged by President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, dissolving the National Assembly.
6 December - Trial of Hélène Jégado begins; she is eventually sentenced to death and executed by guillotine.
21 December - Constitutional referendum held, approving President Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, who had been limited to a single four-year term, serving for ten additional years.
Messageries Maritimes merchant shipping company founded as Messageries nationales, initially for service to the Middle East.
Grands Goulets road completed
The Charles Heidsieck champagne house is established.

27 March - Vincent d'Indy, composer
6 April - Guillaume Bigourdan, astronomer
15 April - Anne Boutiaut Poulard, cook
21 April - Charles Barrois, geologist and palaeontologist
6 May - Aristide Bruant, singer, comedian and nightclub owner
21 May - Léon Bourgeois, politician, Prime Minister, awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1920
29 June - Jane Dieulafoy, born Jeanne Magre, archaeologist and novelist
30 September - Auguste Molinier, historian
2 October - Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France, military theorist and writer