1855 in France

Incumbents

• Monarch - Napoleon III

  Events

• 1 March - Compagnie Générale des Omnibus established to secure a monopoly over horse-buses in Paris.
• 15 May–15 November - Exposition Universelle in Paris. This gives rise to the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855.
• 16 August - Battle of Chernaya River, Russian troops defeated by French and Sardinian forces in the Crimean War.
• 7 September - Battle of Malakoff, French victory over Russian forces, part of the Siege of Sevastopol.
• 11 September - Siege of Sevastopol ends in Franco-British victory.
• 17 October - Battle of Kinburn, combined British Royal Navy and French Navy force engage Russian forts on shore.

  Births

• 20 January - Ernest Chausson, composer
• 15 February - Jean-Joseph Carriès, sculptor, ceramist, and miniaturist
• 18 February - Jean Jules Jusserand, author and diplomat
• 16 March - Achille Maffre de Baugé, poet
• 27 April - Caroline Rémy de Guebhard, socialist, journalist and feminist
• 27 September - Paul Émile Appell, mathematician
• 5 November - Léon Teisserenc de Bort, meteorologist
• 10 November - Alexandre Darracq, automobile manufacturer

  Deaths

• 15 January - Henri Braconnot, chemist and pharmacist
• 26 January - Gérard de Nerval, poet, essayist and translator
• 3 March
• *Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure, lawyer and Prime Minister
• *Antoine-Geneviève-Héraclius-Agénor de Gramont, aristocrat
• 26 May - Jean Isidore Harispe, Marshal of France
• 18 April - Jean-Baptiste Isabey, painter
• 10 June - Jacques-Jean Barre, engraver
• 23 October - François André Michaux, botanist
• 25 November - Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart, entomologist
• 2 December - Frédéric Berat, poet and songwriter
• Full date unknown - Raymond Gayrard, sculptor

  The arts

• Jean-François Millet produces the engraving "Study of a Woman Churning Butter".