List of incidents of civil unrest in France


This is a list of incidents of civil disorder that have occurred France since the 13th century, including riots, strikes, violent labor disputes, minor insurrections, and other forms of civil unrest.
According to one dataset, there were 8,516 rebellions in France over the period 1661–1789.

13th century

14th century

  • 1307: Revolt in Paris
  • 1309: Crusade of the Poor in northern Europe and notably Picardy, Avignon and Marseille
  • 1320: Shepherds' Crusade, widespread violence in France and Aragon
  • 1338: Peasant revolt near Laon
  • 1347: Tax revolt in Rouen
  • 1351: Tax revolt in Rouen
  • 1358: Jacquerie peasant revolt in northern France
  • 1364: Peasant revolt near Toulouse
  • 1378–1384: Tuchin revolt in southern France
  • 1378–1382: Tax revolts across France, including the Harelle and Maillotins uprisings in Rouen and Paris

15th century

16th century

17th century

18th century

  • 1702–1710: Camisard Rebellion, a prolonged local guerrilla war by Protestants of the Cévennes region in the wake of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV.
  • 1707: Croquant rebellions in Quercy
  • 1709–1710: Food riots during the famine of 1709–1710
  • 1718–1720: Pontcallec conspiracy, a rebellion in Brittany
  • 1725: Food riot in Paris
  • 1739–1740: Food riots
  • 1749: Food riots
  • 1752: Food riots
  • 1768: Food riots
  • 1770: Food riots
  • 1775: Flour War, a wave of riots in April to May 1775, that followed an increase in grain and bread prices, because police withheld grain from the royal stores in addition to poor harvests.
  • 1785: Food riots
  • 1786: in Lyon
  • 1788: Day of the Tiles in Grenoble
  • 1789–1799: French Revolution, a revolution that overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, experienced violent periods of political turmoil, and finally culminated in a dictatorship by Napoleon that forcibly brought many of its ideals to Western Europe.

19th century

20th century

21st century