1956 in France

← 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1956 in France → 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961
Decades:	1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s
See also:	Other events of 1956 History of France  • Timeline  • Years

Events from the year 1956 in France.

Incumbents

• President: René Coty
• President of the Council of Ministers: Edgar Faure (until 1 February), Guy Mollet (starting 1 February)

Events

• 2 January – Legislative Election held.
• 1 February – Socialist leader Guy Mollet becomes prime minister
• 2 March – Morocco declares its independence from France.
• 20 March – Tunisia gains independence from France.
• 23 May – Minister Pierre Mendès-France resigns due to his government's policy on Algeria.
• 23 June – Loi Cadre passed by the French National Assembly, first step in the creation of the French Union.
• 10 September – Guy Mollet visits London and proposes a merger of France and the United Kingdom. However the idea is rejected by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden.^[1]
• 28 September – Eden considers allowing France to join the Commonwealth of Nations, but this idea is also rejected.^[1]
• 31 October – Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
• 6 November – British and French forces seize control of two Egyptian ports before declaring a ceasefire.^[2]
• 7 November – Suez Crisis: The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for the United Kingdom, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Arab lands immediately.
• 23 December – British and French troops leave Suez Canal. region.^[3]
• The Tefal cookware firm is established.

Arts and literatures

• Two attacks are made on Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa in the Louvre.^[4][5]
• 28 November – Roger Vadim's film And God Created Woman (Et Dieu… créa la femme), starring Brigitte Bardot, is released.
• 3 December – Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice, this time for Les Racines du ciel.

Sport

• 5 July – Tour de France begins.
• 28 July – Tour de France ends, won by Roger Walkowiak.

Births

• 1 January – Christine Lagarde, politician
• 6 February – Amaury du Closel, conductor and composer (died 2024)
• 11 February – Didier Lockwood, jazz violinist (died 2018)
• 26 February – Michel Houellebecq, novelist
• 28 May – Francis Joyon, yachtsman
• 4 July – Éric Neuhoff, novelist and journalist
• 28 October – Jean-Luc Montama, karateka^[6]
• 8 December – Pierre Pincemaille, organist (died 2018)
• 9 December – Jean-Pierre Thiollet journalist

Deaths

• 5 January – Mistinguett, singer (born 1875)
• 3 February – Émile Borel, mathematician and politician (born 1871)
• 18 February – Gustave Charpentier, composer (born 1860)
• 17 March – Irène Joliot-Curie, scientist, shared Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 (born 1897)
• 20 May – Pierre Allemane, international soccer player (born 1882)
• 11 September – Lucien Febvre, social historian (born 1878)
• 26 October – Walter Gieseking, pianist and composer (born 1895)^[7]
• 23 November – André Marty, leading figure in the French Communist Party (born 1886)

See also

• 1956 in French television
• List of French films of 1956

References

1. France and UK considered 1950s 'merger', The Guardian
2. Allied forces take control of Suez
3. Jubilation as allied troops leave Suez
4. "Faces of the week". BBC. 29 September 2006. Archived from the original on 3 August 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2008.
5. "Mona FAQ". Mona Lisa Mania. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
6. profil Archived 2012-05-23 at the Wayback Machine www.multimania.fr sports reference retrieved 15 December 2011
7. "Walter Gieseking | German pianist". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 27 March 2019.