1879 in France

• President: Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta (until 30 January) Jules Grévy (starting 30 January) • President of the Council of Ministers: • until 4 February: Jules Armand Dufaure • 4 February-28 December: William Waddington. • starting 28 December: Charles de Freycinet ==Events==

• April – Postman Ferdinand Cheval begins to build his Palais Idéal at Hauterives. • 1 June – Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial (Napoléon IV), great-nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte, Bonapartist Pretender to the throne, dies in Africa during the Anglo-Zulu War. • 17 July – Freycinet Plan enacted to extend rail and other transportation systems. • "La Marseillaise" is restored as the French national anthem. ==Literature==

• Joris-Karl Huysmans - Les Sœurs Vatard • Pierre Loti - Aziyadé • Albert Robida - Voyages très extraordinaires de Saturnin Farandoul • Jules Verne • Les Cinq Cents Millions de la Bégum • ''Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine'' ==Music==

• Jacques Offenbach - La fille du tambour-major ==Births==

• 22 January – Francis Picabia, painter and poet (died 1953) • 4 February – Jacques Copeau, journalist, actor, playwright, director, teacher (died 1949) • 23 March – René Jeannel, entomologist (died 1965) • 20 April – Paul Poiret, fashion designer (died 1944) • 5 June – René Pottier, cyclist, winner of 1906 Tour de France (died 1907) • 9 June – Joseph Avenol, 2nd Secretary General of the League of Nations (died 1952) • 1 July – Léon Jouhaux, trade union leader who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951 (died 1954) • 13 July – Eugène Freyssinet, structural and civil engineer (died 1962) • 11 September – Louis Coatalen, automobile engineer and racing driver (died 1962 in the United Kingdom) • 23 September – Charles Camoin, painter (died 1965) • 21 October – Joseph Canteloube, composer (died 1957) • 17 December – Jean-Marie Charles Abrial, Admiral and Minister (died 1962) • 31 December – Joseph Darnand, Bishop (died 1962) ==Deaths==

• 10 February – Honoré Daumier, printmaker, caricaturist, painter and sculptor (born 1808) • 25 February – Jean-Baptiste Glaire, Roman Catholic priest and Hebrew and Biblical scholar (born 1798) • 2 March – Jules Bastide, publicist (born 1800) • 30 March – Thomas Couture, painter and teacher (born 1815) • 16 April - Bernadette Soubirous, nun and visionary of Lourdes apparitions (born 1844) • 20 May – Pierre-Jules Mêne, sculptor (born 1810) • 29 May – Pierre Adolphe Piorry, physician (born 1794) • 1 June – Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial, only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo (born 1856) • 26 August – Charles Marie Edouard Chassaignac, physician (born 1805) • 6 September – Amédée de Noé, caricaturist and lithographer (born 1818) • 17 September – Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, architect and theorist (born 1814) • 12 November – Jean-Charles Chenu, physician and naturalist (born 1808) • 18 November • Michel Chevalier, engineer, statesman and economist (born 1806) • André Giroux, photographer and painter (born 1801) • 19 November – Jean-Joseph Gaume, Roman Catholic theologian and author (born 1802) • 29 December – Jean Étienne Bercé, entomologist (born 1803) ==References==