1855 in France

• Monarch – Napoleon III

• 1 March – Compagnie Générale des Omnibus established to secure a monopoly over horse-buses in Paris.
• 16 April – Emperor Napoleon III, with Empress Eugénie, begins a 6-day state visit to Britain.{{cite web|title=The reception of the Emperor and Empress of the French at Windsor Castle, 16 April 1855|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/919799/the-reception-of-the-emperor-and-empress-of-the-french-at-windsor-castle-16-april|publisher=The Royal Collection Trust|accessdate=2025-05-10}}
• 18 April – The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, requested by Napoleon III for the Exposition Universelle (opening 15 May), first appears.{{cite web|url=http://www.wine-searcher.com/recipes/pickled.htm|title=The Official Classification of Medoc and Graves of 1855|work=Wine-Searcher|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330162629/http://www.wine-searcher.com/recipes/pickled.htm|archive-date=2010-03-30|url-status=dead|access-date=2019-05-03}}
• 15 May–15 November – Exposition Universelle (an early World's fair) officially opens in Paris.
• 16 June – Compagnie des chemins de fer de l'Ouest formed by amalgamation.{{cite book|title=Atlas historique et statistique des chemins de fer français|url=https://archive.org/details/atlashistorique00joangoog|last= Joanne|first=Adolphe|year=1859|publisher=Hachette|location=Paris|pages=[https://archive.org/details/atlashistorique00joangoog/page/n37 21]–22|language= fr}}
• 16 August – Battle of Chernaya River: Russian troops are defeated by French and Sardinian forces in the Crimean War.
• 18 August – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, with Prince Albert, begins a 10-day state visit to Paris,{{cite web|title=Queen Victoria's entry into Paris, 18 August 1855|url=https://www.rct.uk/collection/920060/queen-victorias-entry-into-paris-18-august-1855|publisher=The Royal Collection Trust|accessdate=2025-05-10}} the first visit of a reigning British monarch to France since 1413. While there, she visits the Exposition Universelle.{{cite web|title=Thomas Cook’s first tours to the continent|first=Jill|last=Hamilton|url=https://thehistorypress.co.uk/article/thomas-cooks-first-tours-to-the-continent/|publisher=The History Press|date=2017-07-04|accessdate=2025-05-10}}
• 7 September – Battle of Malakoff, French victory over Russian forces, part of the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War.
• 11 September – Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855) ends in Franco-British victory.
• 17 October – Battle of Kinburn (Crimean War) – Combined French and British forces subdue Russian shore forts. The successful use of French floating batteries makes this the first use of modern ironclad warships in action.{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Herbert Wrigley|author-link=Herbert Wrigley Wilson|title=Ironclads in Action: A Sketch of Naval Warfare from 1855 to 1895|url=https://archive.org/details/ironcladsinacti00wilsgoog|year=1896|publisher=S. Low, Marston and Company|location=London}}
• 17 December – London General Omnibus Company established in Paris as the Compagnie Générale des Omnibus de Londres; in the following year it will absorb a substantial proportion of horse-bus operators in London.
• Undated – Réunion des Organismes d'Assurance Mutuelle (ROAM) association is founded.

• 20 January – Ernest Chausson, composer (died 1899)
• 15 February – Jean-Joseph Carriès, sculptor, ceramist, and miniaturist (died 1894)
• 18 February – Jean Jules Jusserand, author and diplomat (died 1932)
• 16 March – Achille Maffre de Baugé, poet (died 1928)
• 27 April – Caroline Rémy de Guebhard, socialist, journalist and feminist (died 1929)
• 27 September – Paul Émile Appell, mathematician (died 1930)
• 5 November – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, meteorologist (died 1913)
• 10 November – Alexandre Darracq, automobile manufacturer (died 1931)

• 15 January – Henri Braconnot, chemist and pharmacist (born 1780)
• 26 January – Gérard de Nerval, poet, essayist and translator (born 1808)
• 3 March
• Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure, lawyer and Prime Minister (born 1767)
• Antoine-Geneviève-Héraclius-Agénor de Gramont, aristocrat (born 1789)
• 18 April – Jean-Baptiste Isabey, painter (born 1767)
• 26 May – Jean Isidore Harispe, Marshal of France (born 1768)
• 10 June – Jacques-Jean Barre, engraver (born 1793)
• 22 July – Raymond Gayrard, sculptor (born 1807)
• 23 October – François André Michaux, botanist (born 1770)
• 25 November – Pierre-Justin-Marie Macquart, entomologist (born 1778)
• 2 December – Frédéric Berat, poet and songwriter (born 1801)

• 15 May–15 November – The Exposition Universelle includes a retrospective of the paintings of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. Gustave Courbet, having had several paintings rejected for the Exposition, exhibits in a temporary "Pavillon du Réalisme" adjacent.
• 13 June – Verdi's opera Les vêpres siciliennes (The Sicilian Vespers) is premiered in Paris.{{cite book|first=Sarah|last=Hibberd|chapter=The Creation of Les Vêpres siciliennes|title=Les Vêpres siciliennes: programme book|location=London|publisher=Royal Opera House, Covent Garden|year=2013|pages=11-17}}
• 5 July – Jacques Offenbach inaugurates performances of operettas as director of his own Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens.
• October – Victor Hugo moves to Hauteville House, Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, accompanied by his mistress, Juliette Drouet.
• Jean-François Millet produces the engraving "Study of a Woman Churning Butter".

{{reflist}}

{{France year nav}}

{{Year in Europe|1855}}

Category:1850s in France