1915 in France
Events from the year 1915 in France.
Incumbents
Events
- 19 January – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
- 27 January – French military casualties begin arriving at the Hôpital Temporaire d'Arc-en-Barrois, established earlier in the month by British volunteers.
- 2 April – Croix de guerre instituted as a military decoration.
- 18 April – Roland Garros lands his aircraft behind enemy lines and is taken prisoner.
- 9 May – Second Battle of Artois starts.
- 15 May – Second Battle of Artois ends in stalemate.
- July – Adrian helmet first issued to the French Army.
- 10 September – Satirical weekly newspaper Le Canard enchaîné first published.
- 15 September – Third Battle of Artois begins.
- 25 September
- *Battle of Loos begins, a major British offensive on the Western Front; first British use of poison gas during World War I.
- *Second Battle of Champagne begins.
- 28 September – Battle of Loos ends with British retreat.
- 16 October – France declares war on Bulgaria.
- 4 November – Third Battle of Artois ends.
- 6 November – Second Battle of Champagne ends.
Births
January to March
- 13 January – Antoine Guillaumont, archaeologist and Syriac scholar
- 14 January – André Frossard, journalist and essayist
- 31 January – Henri Dobert, mechanical or electrician worker, World War II resistant
- 18 February – Marcel Landowski, composer, biographer and arts administrator
- 1 March – Gustave Choquet, mathematician
- 7 March – Jacques Chaban-Delmas, Gaullist politician and Prime Minister
- 24 March – Eugène Martin, motor racing driver
April to June
- 2 April – Jean Sauvagnargues, politician and Minister
- 3 April – Paul Touvier, convicted of crime against humanity for collaborationism in Vichy France
- 20 April – Émile Muller, politician
- 6 May – Achille Zavatta, clown and circus operator
- 12 May – Frère Roger, founder of the Taizé community
- 21 June – Jean Bastien, soccer player
July to December
- 31 July – Henri Decaë, cinematographer
- 19 August – Alphonse Antoine, cyclist
- 22 October – Jules Bigot, soccer player and manager
- 22 October – Jean Despeaux, boxer, Olympic gold-medallist
- 9 November – André François, cartoonist
- 12 November – Roland Barthes, literary critic and philosopher
- 17 November – Michel Arnaud, General
- November – Jean Neuberth, abstract painter
- 17 December – André Claveau, singer
- 19 December – Édith Piaf, singer
Deaths
- 8 April – Louis Pergaud, novelist
- 10 May – Gaston Cros, army officer and archaeologist
- 5 June – Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, painter and sculptor
- 25 July – Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, socialite, model for Portrait of Madame X
- 31 August – Adolphe Pégoud, French acrobatic pilot, World War I fighter ace
- 15 September – Alfred Agache, painter
- 31 August – Adolphe Pégoud, acrobatic pilot, World War I fighter ace
- 11 October – Jean Henri Fabre, entomologist
- 25 November – Michel Bréal, philologist