This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2016) |
The following is a list of massacres that have occurred in France (numbers may be approximate):
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Cenabum massacre | 53 BC | Cenabum | Unknown | Carnutes | Carnutes massacre Roman civilians and soldiers |
2nd Cenabum massacre | 53 BC | Cenabum | Unknown | Roman army | Julius Caesar's soldiers massacre the population of Cenabum. |
Siege of Avaricum | 52 BC | Avaricum | 39,200 | Roman army | Julius Caesar's soldiers massacre the population of Avaricum. |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sack of Metz | 7 April 451 | Metz | Unknown | Huns | City sacked and burned and all inhabitants killed by Hun troops under Attila |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vienne massacre | 501 | Vienne | Unknown | Forces of Gundobad and Godegisel | Townspeople slaughtered during battle between competing Burgundian factions. Hostile Gallo-Roman senators and Godegisel's supporters executed by Gundobad's troops. |
Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges massacre | 585 | Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges | Unknown | Kingdom of Orléans | All inhabitants, including priests, put to the sword by royal troops of Guntram |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Siege of Clermont (761) | 761 | Clermont | Unknown | Royal Frankish Army | Men, women and children burned alive by Frankish army of King Pepin the Short. [1] |
Sack of Nantes | 24 June 843 | Nantes | Unknown | Vikings | Town population and monks massacred and burned alive in a church by raiding Vikings. Others captured as slaves. |
Marmoutier massacre | 853 | Marmoutier Abbey | 126 | Vikings | 126 monks killed by Vikings. 20 survivors escaped. |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Orléans heresy | 28 December 1022 | Orléans | 10–20 | Robert II the Pious | 10–20 priests, nuns and lay people burned at the stake on orders of King Robert II of France |
Rouen massacre | September 1096 | Rouen | Unknown | Crusaders | Jews of Rouen rounded up in the synagogue and systematically massacred by Crusaders |
Tournai-sur-Dive massacre | 1105 | Tournai-sur-Dive | 45 | Troops of Robert of Bellême | 45 people burned alive in a church by forces of Robert of Bellême |
Bougy-sur-Risle massacre | 1136 | Romilly-la-Puthenaye | Unknown | Troops of Waleran and Robert de Beaumont | Men and women burned alive in a church by forces of Waleran and Robert de Beaumont |
Vitry massacre | 1142 | Vitry-en-Perthois | 1,300 | Royal Army | 1,300 people burned alive in a church by forces of King Louis VII of France |
Ham massacre | 1143 | Ham | 150 | Unknown | 150 Jews massacred |
Vézelay massacre | 1167 | Vézelay | 7 | Abbot of Vézelay | Seven Burgundian Cathars burned at the stake |
Blois massacre | 26 May 1171 | Blois | 31 | Soldiers of Theobald V, Count of Blois | 31 Jews, including 17 women, locked in and burned alive in a house by Theobald V, Count of Blois on accusations of blood libel |
Bray-sur-Seine massacre | 18 March 1192 | Bray-sur-Seine | 80 | Royal Army | 80 Jews burned by French troops, acting on command of King Philip II of France |
Massacre at Béziers | 22 July 1209 | Béziers | 20,000 | Crusaders | First major military action of the Albigensian Crusade. [2] |
Siege of Minerve | 22 July 1210 | Minerve | 140 | Crusaders | Cathars burned at the stake by Crusaders. |
Alayrac massacre | 1210 | Alayrac | Unknown | Crusaders | Stronghold garrison captured and massacred by Crusaders |
Lavaur massacre | 3 May 1211 | Lavaur | 480 | Crusaders | 80 knights hanged and stabbed to death, 400 Cathars burned by Crusaders |
Les Cassés massacre | 20 May 1211 | Les Cassés | 60–94 | Crusaders | 60–94 Cathars burned alive by Simon de Montfort's Crusaders |
Saint Marcel massacre | 12 May 1212 | Saint–Marcel | 28 | Crusaders | 28 male civilians killed or drowned by Crusaders |
Lavelanet massacre | 1212 | Lavelanet | Unknown | Crusaders | Inhabitants put to the sword by Crusader forces under Guy de Montfort, Lord of Sidon |
Moissac massacre | 8 September 1212 | Moissac | 300 | Crusaders | 300 garrison soldiers executed without trial by Crusaders |
Pujol massacre | May 1213 | Sainte-Foy-d'Aigrefeuille | 60 | Toulousain militia | 60 Crusaders killed in Pujol Castle by mob of soldiers under Roger-Bernard |
Casseneuil massacre | 18 August 1214 | Casseneuil | Unknown | Crusaders | Population and garrison massacred |
Massacre at Marmande | 10 June 1219 | Marmande | 5,000 | Royal Army | All men, women and children in the town killed with swords and the town razed and burned to the ground by royal army under prince Louis. [3] |
Labécède massacre | 1227 | Labécède | Unknown | Crusaders | Men killed and Cathar Perfect burnt to death by Crusader forces of Humbert V de Beaujeu |
Moissac massacre | 1234 | Moissac | 210 | Papal Inquisition | 210 Cathars burned at the stake by Inquisitors William Arnald and Peter Seila |
Jewish massacres | July 1236 | Poitou, Anjou and Brittany | 2,500–3,000 | Crusaders | Jews killed by Crusaders |
Montwimer massacre | 29 May 1239 | Montwimer | 183 | Papal Inquisition/Crusaders | 183 Cathars burned at the stake by Robert le Bougre and Thibaut IV of Champagne |
Carcassonne massacre | 8 September 1240 | Carcassonne | 33 | Army of Raymond II Trencavel | 33 clerics massacred by forces of Trencavel after being promised safe passage from the besieged city. |
Avignonet massacre | 28 May 1242 | Avignonet | 11 | Cathars | Two Inquisitors and their nine followers massacred in their sleep by Cathar rebels under Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix |
Siege of Montségur | 16 March 1244 | Château de Montségur | 210–215 | Royal Army | Cathars burned in a bonfire by the Royal Army. |
Agen massacre | 1249 | Agen | 80 | Papal Inquisition | 80 heretics burned at the stake |
Dijon massacre | 1251 | Dijon | 139 | Shepherd Crusaders | 139 Jews massacred |
Troyes massacre | 24 April 1288 | Troyes | 13 | Papal Inquisition | 13 Jews burned at the stake by the Inquisition, supported by King Philip IV of France |
Castelsarrasin massacre | 12 June 1320 | Castelsarrasin | 152 | Shepherd Crusaders | 152 Jews massacred by Pastoureaux |
Toulouse massacre | 15 June 1320 | Toulouse | 115–150 | Shepherd Crusaders | 115–150 Jews massacred by Pastoureaux |
Vitry massacre | 1321 | Vitry-en-Perthois | 77 | Unknown | 77 Jews massacred during the 1321 leper scare. Forty Jews imprisoned and committed mass suicide. |
Chinon massacre | 21 August 1321 | Chinon | 120–160 | Royal authorities | 120–160 Jews burned at the stake on accusation of well poisoning |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battle of Caen (1346) | 26 July 1346 | Caen | 2,500–3,000 | English Army | Town sacked and population massacred by the English under King Edward III of England |
Toulon massacre | 13 April 1348 | Toulon | 40 | Mob | Jewish community of Toulon killed as part of the Black Death Jewish persecutions |
Jacquerie | June 1358 | Northern France | 20,000 | Peasants, aristocracy and nobility | Peasant Jacquerie rebels massacre hundreds of noblemen, women and children. Some 20,000 peasants are in turn exterminated by nobles |
Siege of Limoges | 19 September 1370 | Limoges | 200–400 | English Army | Town sacked and hundreds of civilians killed by the English under Edward the Black Prince [4] |
Benon castle massacre | September 1372 | Poitou | Unknown | Royal Army | English garrison of Benon castle put to the sword by Royal army under Constable of France Bertrand du Guesclin |
Maillotins Revolt | 3 March 1382 | Paris | 30 | Maillotins | 30 people, including 16 Jews, killed by mob [5] |
Battle of Agincourt | 25 October 1415 | Caen | Unknown | English Army | French prisoners of war executed during battle by King Henry V of England |
Siege of Caen (1417) | 4 September 1417 | Caen | 2,000 | English Army | 2,000 men, women and children rounded up in the marketplace and killed by English soldiers under Henry V. Population plundered and raped. |
Paris massacres | 12 June 1418 21 August 1418 | Paris | 1,000–5,000 | Parisian mob | Armagnacs slaughtered by Parisian mob |
Siege of Rougemont | 1421 | Rougemont | 60 | English Army | Garrison hanged and drowned by Henry V |
Sézanne massacre | 24 June 1424 | Sézanne | Unknown | English Army | Most inhabitants of the town massacred by the English under Thomas Montagu, 4th Earl of Salisbury. Women raped, fortifications razed, town looted and burned. 178 survivors. |
Battle of Jargeau | 12 June 1429 | Jargeau | Unknown | Royal Army | English prisoners executed by French troops under Joan of Arc and John II, Duke of Alençon |
Siege of Chaumont | 1434 | Chaumont | 100 | Burgundian Army | Garrison hanged by Philip the Good |
Vicques massacre | August 1434 | Vicques | Unknown | Mercenaries in English pay | Soldiers in English pay massacre a large number of Normans |
Lihons massacre | February 1440 | Lihons | 300 | English Army | 300 men, women and children burned alive in a church by English forces of John Talbot. |
Nesle massacre | 14 June 1472 | Nesle | Unknown | Burgundian Army | Entire population of Nesle slaughtered and town razed to the ground by Burgundian Army under Duke Charles the Bold |
Lectoure massacre | 5 March 1473 | Lectoure | Unknown | Royal Army | Population massacred and city looted, burned and methodically razed to the ground by royal troops under Cardinal Jean Jouffroy. Defeat of the house of Armagnac. |
Avesnes massacre | 11 June 1477 | Avesnes | Unknown | Royal Army | Civilian population completely exterminated and city destroyed by royal troops under Antoine de Chabannes |
Massacre of Mérindol | April 1545 | Mérindol | 3,000 | Provençal/Papal troops | 3,000 Waldensians killed on order of Francis I of France. 670 sold as slaves, crops destroyed, herds killed and unknown number of peasants starved to death |
Amboise conspiracy | 19 March 1560 | Château d'Amboise | 1,200–1,500 | Royal Army | 1,200–1,500 Protestant conspirators executed en masse [6] |
Cahors massacre | 19 November 1561 | Cahors | 40–50 | Catholics | Huguenots burned alive in their place of worship by Catholics |
Grenade massacre | November 1561 | Grenade | Unknown | Catholics | Huguenots massacred by Catholics |
Carcassonne massacre | 15 December 1561 | Carcassonne | 8 | Catholics | 3 Huguenots and 5 non-religious people massacred by Catholics |
Massacre of Vassy | 1 March 1562 | Wassy | 80 | Catholics | Murder of Huguenots by forces of the Duc de Guise. [7] |
Castelnaudary massacre | 22 March 1562 | Castelnaudary | 60 | Catholics | Huguenots burned alive in their place of worship by Catholics. |
Massacre of Sens | 12 April 1562 | Sens | 100 | Catholics | 100 Huguenots tied to poles and drowned by Catholics |
Orange massacre | 6 May 1562 | Orange | Unknown | Catholics | Population massacred by Catholics |
Gaillac massacre | 18 May 1562 | Gaillac | 60–80 | Catholics | Huguenots captured and thrown in the river by Catholics |
Mornas massacre | July 1562 | Mornas | 200 | Protestants | 200 soldiers executed by Protestants |
Tours massacre | 15 July 1562 | Tours | 200 | Catholics | 200 Huguenots bludgeoned to death and thrown in the Loire by Catholics |
Lauzerte massacre | 15 August 1562 | Lauzerte | 94 | Catholics | 94 Huguenots burned alive in a church by Catholics. |
Bar-sur-Seine massacre | 24 August 1562 | Bar-sur-Seine | 300 | Catholics | Catholic soldiers massacre 300 people after reconquering the citadel from the Huguenots |
Michelade | 30 September 1567 | Nîmes | 80–90 | Protestants | Catholics killed by Protestants |
Bondeville massacre | 18 March 1571 | Notre-Dame-de-Bondeville | 40 | Catholics | Protestants attacked by Catholic crowd. 40 killed. |
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre | 24 August 1572 | Paris | 5,000–30,000 | French state/Catholics | Huguenots (French Protestants) were massacred |
Aups massacre | 16 August 1574 | Aups | 18 | Protestants | 18 killed by Protestant troops. Town looted and burned. |
First Issoire massacre | 15 October 1575 | Issoire | Unknown | Protestants | Catholics killed by Protestant troops under Matthieu Merle. Town looted. |
Second Issoire massacre | 12 June 1577 | Issoire | 3,000 | Royal Army | 3,000 surrendering Protestants massacred by royal troops under Francis, Duke of Anjou following orders from King Henry III of France. Town razed. |
Cuers massacre | 10 April 1579 | Cuers | 600 | Peasant rebels | 600 nobles and gentlemen massacred by peasants |
Mende massacre | 25 December 1579 | Mende | 300 | Protestants | 300 Catholic townspeople massacred, mostly in the cathedral, by Protestant troops under Matthieu Merle [8] |
Romans massacre | 16 February 1580 | Romans-sur-Isère | 20 | Local patricians | 20 people massacred by patricians |
Moirans massacre | 26 March 1580 | Moirans | 1,000 [9] | Royal Army | 1,000 peasants massacred by royal troops [9] [10] [11] |
Réquista massacre | June 1581 | Réquista | Unknown | Catholics | Catholics kill Protestants |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Battle of Craon | 24 May 1592 | Craon, Mayenne | Unknown | Spanish Empire Catholic League | English prisoners executed |
Siege of Fort Crozon | 19 November 1594 | Pointe des Espagnols | Unknown | English Army | Spanish soldiers, women and children put to the sword |
Capture of Ham (1595) | 22 June 1595 | Ham, Somme | Unknown | Royal Army | Spanish garrison massacred |
Siege of Doullens | July 1595 | Doullens | 4,000 [12] | Army of Flanders | Garrison and civilian population killed |
La Châtaigneraie massacre | 13 August 1595 | La Châtaigneraie | 31 | Catholics | 31 Protestants out of 230 massacred by 45 cavalrymen [13] [14] |
Siege of Nègrepelisse | 11 June 1622 | Nègrepelisse | 800 | Royal Army | All inhabitants of the Huguenot stronghold killed, all women raped and the town looted and burned to the ground on order of King Louis XIII of France |
Massacre at the Hôtel de Ville | 4 July 1652 | Hôtel de Ville, Paris | 150 | Parisian mob | 150 people, including judges, massacred by a mob during the Fronde |
Serre massacre | 19 February 1689 | Saint-Genest-Lachamp | Unknown | Royal Army | Protestant gathering massacred by royal troops. 400 killed and wounded. [15] |
Belvezet massacre | 5 January 1703 | Belvezet | 20–25 | Camisards | 20–25 inhabitants massacred by Camisards |
Chamborigaud massacre | 17 February 1703 | Chamborigaud | 26 | Camisards | 26 Catholics massacred by Camisards [16] |
Fraissinet massacre | 26 February 1703 | Fraissinet-de-Fourques | 33 | Camisards | 33 inhabitants massacred by Camisards [17] |
Moulin de l’Agau massacre | 1 April 1703 | Nîmes | 21–50 | Royal Army | 21–50 Protestants locked in a barn and burned alive by royal troops [18] |
Valsauve massacre | 5 July 1703 | Verfeuil | 16–17 | Camisards | 16–17 Catholics massacred by Camisards |
Potelières massacre | 12 September 1703 | Potelières | 22–31 | Camisards | 22 Catholics massacred by Camisards [19] |
Saint-Sériès massacre | 20 September 1703 | Saint-Sériès | 11 | Camisards | 11 Catholics massacred by Camisards [20] |
Saturargues massacre | 20 September 1703 | Saturargues | 59 | Camisards | 59 Catholics massacred by Camisards [20] |
Sainte-Cécile-d'Andorge massacre | 11 October 1703 | Sainte-Cécile-d'Andorge | 9 | Camisards | 9 Catholics massacred by Camisards [19] |
Branoux massacre | 30 October 1703 | Branoux-les-Taillades | 47–52 | Catholic vigilantes | 47–52 inhabitants massacred by 600–700 Catholic vigilantes [21] |
Cévennes massacres | January 1704 | Cévennes | 600 | Royal Army | Over 600 people massacred in a rampage by royal troops under general Planque. [22] |
Franchassis massacre | 24 February 1704 | Pranles | Unknown | Royal Army | All inhabitants killed by royal troops under general Julien. Village looted, burned and razed to the ground. [23] |
Cévennes massacres | April 1704 | Cévennes | 1,000 | Royal Army/Catholic vigilantes | Over 1,000 people massacred in a killing spree by 4,000 royal troops and Catholic vigilantes under Lieutenant General marquis La Lande. [24] |
Villars' terror campaign | August 1704 | Cévennes | Unknown | Royal Army | Dozens of villages burned and their inhabitants massacred by royal forces under Marshal Claude Louis Hector de Villars [25] |
Vernoux massacre | 12 December 1745 | Vernoux | 30 | Bourgeois militia/Royal Army | 30 Protestants killed by bourgeois militia and soldiers |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Champ de Mars Massacre | 17 July 1791 | Paris | 12–50 | Royal Army | 12–50 republicans killed by royalist troops under Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette |
Massacres of La Glacière | 17 October 1791 | Avignon | 60 | Patriots | 60 papists massacred by patriots |
September Massacres | September 1792 | Paris | 1,500 | National Guard | Multiple massacres with varying death tolls during French Revolution |
First Massacre of Machecoul | 11 March 1793 | Machecoul | 200 | Catholic and Royal Army | Royalist rebels massacre Republican civilians and soldiers |
First Battle of Noirmoutier | 12 October 1793 | Noirmoutier | 200 | Catholic and Royal Army | Republican prisoners executed by rebels |
Drownings at Nantes | November 1793 / February 1794 | Nantes | 4,800 | French Revolutionary Army | Multiple massacres by drownings by revolutionaries |
Avranches massacre | 21 November 1793 | Avranches | 800 | French Revolutionary Army | 800 counter-revolutionary rebels executed by firing squad. |
Lyon Revolt | 4 December 1793 | Lyon | 60 | French Revolutionary Army | 60 rebels massacred by soldiers |
Lyon Revolt | 5 December 1793 | Lyon | 209 | French Revolutionary Army | 209 rebels massacred by soldiers |
Battle of Savenay | December 1793 | Savenay | 663–2,000 | French Revolutionary Army | Rebel prisoners executed by Republicans |
Infernal columns | January 21–May 17 1794 | Vendée | 20,000 - 50,000 | French Revolutionary Army | A series of massacres in an area previously affected by the Royalist uprising. |
Thermidorian Reaction | 28 July 1794 | Paris | 169 | Thermidorians | 169 Robespierrists, Communards and Montagnards executed by Thermidorians |
Lyon massacre | 4 April 1795 | Lyon | 99 | Mob | 99 Jacobin prisoners killed by rioters |
Aix-en-Provence massacre | 11 May 1795 | Aix-en-Provence | 30 | Mob | 30 Jacobin prisoners killed |
Fort Saint-Jean massacre | 5 June 1795 | Lyon | 100 | Mob | 100 Jacobin prisoners out of 127 killed by armed band |
Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise | 24 December 1800 | Paris | 22 (+50 injured) | Chouannerie Royalists | Failed Royalist assassination attempt by bombing on First Consul Napoleon |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Second White Terror | 1815 | Nationwide | 300–500 | Royalists | Royalist mobs kill 300–500 people |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Massacre de la rue Transnonain | 13 April 1834 | Paris | 19 | National Guard | Insurrectionists and civilians killed by the National Guard in Rue Transonain number 12 |
Attentat de Fieschi | 28 July 1835 | Paris | 18 (+22 injured) | Giuseppe Marco Fieschi | Attempted assassination of King Louis Philippe I with volley gun |
Massacre of Boulevard des Capucines | 23 February 1848 | Paris | 52–65 | French Army | Regular soldiers fire on crowd during the French Revolution of 1848 |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rouen riots | April 1848 | Rouen | 59 | French Army | Insurrection suppressed after 59 rioters were killed by soldiers |
June Days uprising | June 1848 | Paris | 1,500–3,000 | French Army | Suppression of June Days uprising. 1,500–3,000 rebels summarily executed and 12,500 arrested, of whom 4,500 deported to Algeria. |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Orsini affair | 14 January 1858 | Paris | 8 (+102 injured) | Felice Orsini | Attempted assassination of Emperor Napoleon III by Italian revolutionary |
Fusillade d'Aubin | 8 October 1869 | Aubin, Aveyron | 14 (+20 wounded) | French Army | French soldiers fire on striking miners. |
Passavant massacre | 25 August 1870 | Passavant-en-Argonne | 49 | Prussian Army | 49 Garde Mobile prisoners of war shot by Prussian troops |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Suppression of the Paris Commune | May 1871 | Paris | 6,000–20,000 | French Army | Prisoners shot by the army of the Versailles government |
Hostage shooting during the Paris Commune | 24 May 1871 | Paris | 6 | Paris Commune | Six hostages, including Archbishop Georges Darboy shot by members of the National Guard of the Paris Commune. |
Fusillade de Fourmies | 1 May 1891 | Fourmies | 9 (+35 injured) | French Army | French troops shot at peaceful strikers during the International Workers' Day |
Carmaux mining company bombing | 8 November 1892 | Paris | 5 | Émile Henry | Five police officers killed by bomb planted by anarchist Émile Henry. |
Massacre of Italians at Aigues-Mortes | 17 June 1893 | Aigues-Mortes | 17 (+150 injured) | French villagers and labourers | Italian migrant workers massacred by French mob |
Gerbéviller massacre | 24 August 1914 | Gerbéviller | 64 | Imperial German Army | 64 civilians killed by German soldiers, including 15 mutilated or burned alive. |
6 February 1934 crisis | 6 February 1934 | Place de la Concorde, Paris | 16 (+2000 injured) | French police | French police shot at far-right demonstrators, mostly members of Action Française |
Assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia | 9 October 1934 | Marseille | 6 (+5 injured) | Vlado Chernozemski | Bulgarian revolutionary Vlado Chernozemski shoots King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French foreign minister Louis Barthou |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abbeville massacre | 20 May 1940 | Abbeville | 22 | French Army | French soldiers shot a number of Flemish nationalists and members of the Belgian Communist Party as the German army cut off the area during the Battle of France |
Le Paradis massacre | 27 May 1940 | Le Paradis village, commune of Lestrem, Northern France | 97 (+2 injured) | SS Totenkopf | shooting of British POWs by German troops (SS Totenkopf) |
Wormhoudt massacre | 28 May 1940 | Wormhoudt | 80 (+15 injured) | Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler | shooting of British and French POWs by German troops (SS Adolf Hitler) |
Massacre of the Bois d'Eraine | 11 June 1940 | Cressonsacq | 64 | Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland | Senegalese Tirailleurs and their white officers executed by Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland. |
Karl Hotz reprisals | 22 October 1941 | Châteaubriant, Nantes, Paris | 48 | German forces | 48 French hostages executed as reprisal for the French resistance killing of Karl Hotz |
Ascq massacre | 1 April 1944 | Ascq, France | 86 | 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend | murder of French civilians by German troops (SS Hitlerjugend) |
Audouville massacre | 6 June 1944 | Audouville-la-Hubert | 30 | 101st Airborne Division | 30 Wehrmacht prisoners of war executed by US paratroopers |
Ardenne Abbey massacre | June 1944 | Ardenne Abbey | 20 | 12th SS Hitlerjugend | 20 Canadian POWs massacred by 12th SS Hitlerjugend |
Tulle massacre | 9 June 1944 | Tulle, Corrèze | 120 killed, 149 deported | 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich | murder and deportation to Dachau of French civilians by German troops (SS Das Reich) |
Oradour-sur-Glane massacre | 10 June 1944 | Oradour-sur-Glane | 642 | 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich | murder of French civilians by German troops (SS Das Reich) |
Graignes massacre | 11 June 1944 | Graignes, Manche | 61 | 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division | 17 American POWs were stabbed, shot to death and 44 French civilians were executed by German troops by shooting. |
Dun-les-Places massacre | 28 June 1944 | Dun-les-Places | 27 | German security forces | 27 villagers taken as hostages and executed by German forces |
Dortan Massacre | 12 July 1944 | Dortan | 35 | Freiwilligen-Stamm-Division | 35-36 villagers arrested, tortured, raped and executed by German forces |
Tragedy of the Guerry's wells | July 1944/August 1944 | Savigny-en-Septaine | 36 | Sicherheitsdienst Milice | 36 Jews slain by Milice under SD command |
Penguerec massacre | 7 August 1944 | Gouesnou | 44 | Kriegsmarine 3rd anti-air brigade | 44 French civilians massacred by Kriegsmarine personnel |
First Saint-Julien massacre | 9 August 1944 | Saint-Julien-de-Crempse | 17 | German Army | 17 villagers executed by German troops as reprisal for French resistance activity |
Saint-Genis-Laval massacre | 20 August 1944 | Saint-Genis-Laval | 120 | Sicherheitspolizei Milice | 120 prisoners executed by Sipo and Milice |
Maillé massacre | 25 August 1944 | Maillé, Indre-et-Loire | 124 | 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen | murder of French civilians by German troops (17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen) |
Affair of 27 martyrs | 25 August 1944 | Chatou | 27 | German forces | 27 Frenchmen executed as reprisal for French Resistance attack. |
Massacre de la vallée de la Saulx | 28 August 1944 | Vallée de la Saulx | 86 | 3rd Panzergrenadier Division | 86 French villagers massacred by 3rd Panzergrenadier Division |
Second Saint-Julien massacre | 10 September 1944 | Saint-Julien-de-Crempse | 17 | French resistance | 17 Wehrmacht prisoners of war executed by villagers as revenge for first massacre |
Name | Date | Location | Deaths | Perpetrators | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 July 1953 demonstration | 14 July 1953 | Paris | 7 (+50 demonstrators, 16 police wounded) | French police | Seven people, including 6 Algerians, killed by French police |
1961 Vitry-Le-François train bombing | 18 June 1961 | Blacy, Marne | 24–28 (+132–170 injured) | Organisation armée secrète | Train derailed by OAS explosive, killing up to 28. |
Paris massacre of 1961 | 17 October 1961 | Paris | 40 (government sources) ~200 (opposition sources) | French police | Algerian demonstrators killed by French police. |
The Charonne Metro Station Massacre | 8 February 1962 | Charonne | 9 | French police | CGT Trade union members and communists killed by French police |
Marseille bar massacre | 3 October 1978 | Marseille | 10 | Armed gunmen | Organized crime war |
Sofitel massacre | 5 August 1983 | Avignon | 7 | Robbers | Four luxury hotel employees and three customers killed by robbers |
Ille-et-Vilaine massacre | 19 June 1985 | Ille-et-Vilaine | 7 | Guy Martel | spree killing |
Luxiol massacre | 12 July 1989 | Luxiol | 14 | Christian Dornier | spree killing, 3 family members and random inhabitants |
Besançon massacre | 1 July 1992 | Besançon | 7 (+5 wounded) | Franck Zoritch | 7 people killed by Franck Zoritch |
Cuers massacre | 24 September 1995 | Cuers | 16 | Éric Borel | spree killing, 3 family members and random inhabitants, perpetrator committed suicide. |
Tours massacre | 29 October 2001 | Tours | 4 (+7 wounded) | Jean-Pierre Roux-Durrafourt | 4 people killed by Jean-Pierre Roux-Durraffourt |
Nanterre massacre | 27 March 2002 | Nanterre | 9 (+19 injured) | Richard Durn | spree killing, perpetrator committed suicide. |
2012 Midi-Pyrénées massacre | 19 March 2012 | Midi-Pyrénées region | 7 (+5 injured) | Mohammed Merah | A French radical Islamist man attacks a Jewish school, he murders 3 young children and a rabbi at the school, and also kills 3 French soldiers. |
Annecy shootings | 5 September 2012 | Chevaline, Haute-Savoie | 4 | Unknown | 3 Britons and 1 Frenchman killed in shooting. |
2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre | 7 January 2015 | Paris | 12 (+11 injured) | Chérif and Saïd Kouachi | Two French radical Islamist brothers attack an office, they murder 11 at the office and kill a French police officer on the street. |
2015 Porte de Vincennes massacre | 9 January 2015 | Paris | 5 (+11 injured) | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | A French radical Islamist man attacks a Jewish supermarket and murders 4, a French policewoman is also killed on the street the previous day. |
Germanwings Flight 9525 deliberate crash | 24 March 2015 | Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence | 150 | Andreas Lubitz | Andreas Lubitz, the German co-pilot, deliberately crashed the plane on the French Alps, killing all passengers and crew. |
November 2015 Paris attacks | 13 November 2015 | Paris | 130 (+368 injured) | ISIL | Eight radical Islamists men of ISIL perform coordinated attacks upon the French public at various locations in Paris using assault rifles and explosives; [26] |
2016 Nice truck attack | 14 July 2016 | Nice | 86 (+434 injured) | Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel | A Tunisian/French radical Islamist man attacks the French public celebrating Bastille Day, he drives a 19 tonne cargo truck through the public on the street thereby killing indiscriminately. |
Carcassonne and Trèbes attack | 23 March 2018 | Trèbes and Carcassonne | 4 (+15 injured) | Redouane Lakdim | Islamist terrorist Redouane Lakdim shoots and stabs four people to death. |
2018 Strasbourg attack | 11 December 2018 | Strasbourg | 5 (+12 injured) | Chérif Chekatt (29 years old) | Islamist terrorist Chérif Chekatt shoots five people to death with a revolver and injures several people by stabbing with a knife. Chekatt was killed 2 days later by the police, after a razzia in Strasbourgs district Neudorf. He was shot after opening fire on several police officers. |
February 2019 Paris fire | 5 February 2019 | Paris | 10 (+36 injured) | Unknown | Arson at an apartment block. |
Paris police headquarters stabbing | 3 October 2019 | Paris | 4 (+2 injured) | Mickaël Harpon | Police employee stab four colleagues to death. |
Toulouse summer 2020 attacks [27] | 13 July 2020 - 7 September 2020 | Toulouse | 5 (+3 injured) | Unknown | 1 (+1 injured) in September, 2 (+2 injured) in August, 2 in July. |
Catharism was a Christian quasi-dualist or pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a heretical sect by the Catholic Church, its followers were attacked first by the Albigensian Crusade and later by the Medieval Inquisition, which eradicated the sect by 1350. Many thousands were slaughtered, hanged, or burnt at the stake, sometimes without regard for "age or sex."
Year 1531 (MDXXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Year 1579 (MDLXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, and a common year starting on Monday of the Proleptic Gregorian calendar.
Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.
The Albigensian Crusade or Cathar Crusade (1209–1229) was a military and ideological campaign initiated by Pope Innocent III to eliminate Catharism in Languedoc, what is now southern France. The Crusade was prosecuted primarily by the French crown and promptly took on a political aspect. It resulted in the significant reduction of practicing Cathars and a realignment of the County of Toulouse with the French crown. The distinct regional culture of Languedoc was also diminished.
Vendée is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442. Its prefecture is La Roche-sur-Yon.
The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholics and Protestants from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease directly caused by the conflict, and it severely damaged the power of the French monarchy. One of its most notorious episodes was the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572. The fighting ended with a compromise in 1598, when Henry of Navarre, who had converted to Catholicism in 1593, was proclaimed King Henry IV of France and issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted substantial rights and freedoms to the Huguenots. However, Catholics continued to disapprove of Protestants and of Henry, and his assassination in 1610 triggered a fresh round of Huguenot rebellions in the 1620s.
The Waldensians, also known as Waldenses, Vallenses, Valdesi, or Vaudois, are adherents of a church tradition that began as an ascetic movement within Western Christianity before the Reformation. Originally known as the Poor of Lyon in the late twelfth century, the movement spread to the Cottian Alps in what is today France and Italy. The founding of the Waldensians is attributed to Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant who gave away his property around 1173, preaching apostolic poverty as the way to perfection.
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations and a wave of Catholic mob violence directed against the Huguenots during the French Wars of Religion. Traditionally believed to have been instigated by Queen Catherine de' Medici, the mother of King Charles IX, the massacre started a few days after the marriage on 18 August of the king's sister Margaret to the Protestant King Henry III of Navarre. Many of the wealthiest and most prominent Huguenots had gathered in largely Catholic Paris to attend the wedding.
Camisards were Huguenots of the rugged and isolated Cévennes region and the neighbouring Vaunage in southern France. In the early 1700s, they raised a resistance against the persecutions which followed Louis XIV's Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, making Protestantism illegal. The Camisards operated throughout the mainly Protestant Cévennes and Vaunage regions including parts of the Camargue around Aigues Mortes. The revolt broke out in 1702, with the worst of the fighting continuing until 1704, then skirmishes until 1710 and a final peace by 1715. The Edict of Tolerance was not finally signed until 1787.
The War in the Vendée was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loire in western France. Initially, the revolt was similar to the 14th-century Jacquerie peasant uprising, but the Vendée quickly became counter-revolutionary and Royalist. The revolt headed by the newly formed Catholic and Royal Army was comparable to the Chouannerie, which took place in the area north of the Loire.
Mende is a commune and the prefecture of the department of Lozère, in the region of Occitania, Southern France. Its inhabitants are called the Mendois. The city, including the first traces of dwellings date back to 200 BC, was originally named Mimata, probably in reference to the mountains that surround it.
Saint Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland is the principal church of the Reformed Protestant Church of Geneva. Previously it was a Roman Catholic cathedral, having been converted in 1535. It is known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the church is a wooden chair used by Calvin.
The Diocese of Mende is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese covers the department of Lozère.
Maillezais Cathedral is a ruined Roman Catholic church in the commune of Maillezais in the Vendée, France. Formerly the site of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre, the site grew from the 10th century abbey to the cathedral completed in the 15th century, with the many structures at the site abandoned by the end of the 17th century. Today's ruins consist of a cathedral, refectory, dormitory, kitchen, cellars, turrets and ramparts. The cathedral has been declared a heritage monument in reflection of its Romanesque and Gothic architectural form. It was designated a monument historique on 30 January 1924. The cathedral belonged to the Diocese of Luçon, with Roman Rites, and with St. Peter as the patron saint.
Protestantism in France has existed in its various forms, starting with Calvinism and Lutheranism since the Protestant Reformation. John Calvin was a Frenchman, as were numerous other Protestant Reformers including William Farel, Pierre Viret and Theodore Beza, who was Calvin's successor in Geneva. Peter Waldo was a merchant from Lyon, who founded a pre-Protestant group, the Waldensians. Martin Bucer was born a German in Alsace, which historically belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, but now belongs to France.
Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie is a commune in the Vendée department, region of Pays de la Loire, western France.
Gilbert Prouteau was a French poet and film director. He was born in Nesmy, Vendée. In 1948 he won a bronze medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "Rythme du Stade". At the beginning of the 1990s he was, with Jean-Pierre Thiollet, one of the writers contributing to the French magazine L'Amateur d'Art.
Philip Benedict is an American historian of the Protestant Reformation in Europe, currently holding the title of Professor Emeritus at the University of Geneva’s Institute for Reformation History.
Pierre Levesville was a 17th-century French architect.