1874 in France

• President: Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta • President of the Council of Ministers: Albert, duc de Broglie (until 22 May), Ernest Courtot de Cissey (starting 22 May) ==Events==

• 23 January – Camille Saint-Saëns' composition Danse Macabre is premiered. • 15 March – France and the Nguyễn dynasty of Vietnam sign the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina. • 25 April – Louis Leroy reviews the First Impressionist Exhibition, held in Paris, and coins the term with reference to Claude Monet's Impression, Sunrise. ==Literature==

• Alphonse Daudet - Fromont jeune et Risler aîné • Gustave Flaubert - La Tentation de Saint Antoine • Victor Hugo - Quatrevingt-treize • Jules Verne - ''L'Île mystérieuse'' • Émile Zola - La Conquête de Plassans ==Music==

• Jacques Offenbach - Bagatelle / ''Madame l'archiduc'' ==Births==

January to June • 21 January – René-Louis Baire, mathematician (died 1932) • 19 February – Rose Gelbert, golfer (died 1956) • 22 March – Jean Cau, rower. • 3 May – François Coty, perfume manufacturer (died 1934) • 14 May – Polaire (Emilie Marie Bouchaud), singer and actress (died 1939) July to December • 29 July – Auguste Giroux, rugby union player (died 1953) • 4 September – Jean d'Orléans, duc de Guise, great-grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French (died 1940) • 4 October – Joseph d'Arbaud, poet (died 1950) • 25 October – Henri Bénard, physicist (died 1939) • 2 November – Georges Andrique, painter (died 1964) • 14 November – André-Gaston Prételat, general (died 1969) • 5 December – Henriette Caillaux, socialite and assassin (died 1943) • 6 December – Lucien Démanet, gymnast • 24 December – Yves Le Febvre, writer and politician (died 1959) ==Deaths==

• 8 January – Abbé Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, writer, historian (born 1814) • 9 February – Jules Michelet, historian (born 1798) • 26 August – Julie-Victoire Daubié, journalist (born 1824) • 12 September – François Guizot, Prime Minister (born 1787) • 22 December – Louis Aubert-Roche, physician (born 1818) ==References==