1792 in France

25 March – The Legislative Assembly agrees that the guillotine should be used for judicial executions.

20 April – The Legislative Assembly declares war against Austria, starting the French Revolutionary Wars and War of the First Coalition.
25 April
- Highwayman Nicolas Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine in France, in what becomes the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville in Paris.
- La Marseillaise, the French national anthem, is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg.

10 August – French Revolution: Insurrection of 10 August 1792 – The Tuileries Palace is stormed and Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody.
20 August – War of the First Coalition: Battle of Verdun – Prussia defeats France, opening a route to Paris.^[3]
21 August – Royalist Louis Collenot d'Angremont becomes the first person executed by guillotine for political reasons, in the Place du Carrousel in Paris.

2–19 September – 1792 French National Convention election.
2–7 September – French Revolution: September Massacres – Rampaging mobs in Paris slaughter three Roman Catholic bishops and more than 200 priests, together with at least 1,000 criminals.
9 September – 9 September massacres at Versailles.
11 September – Six men steal some of the former French Crown Jewels from a warehouse, where the revolutionary government has stored them.
14 September – Radical antimonarchist Thomas Paine flees from England to France, after being indicted for treason. He is tried in absentia during December and outlawed.^[4]
20 September – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Valmy – The French revolutionary army defeats the Prussians under the Duke of Brunswick after a 7-hour artillery duel.

21 September – French Revolution: A Proclamation of the abolition of the monarchy by the French Convention goes into effect, and the French First Republic is established, effective the following day.
22 September – French Revolution: The Era of the historical French Republican Calendar begins.

6 November – War of the First Coalition: Battle of Jemappes – Austrian armies under the command of Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen are defeated in Belgium (at this time part of the Austrian Netherlands) by the French Army led by General Charles François Dumouriez.^[5]
19 November – The National Convention passes a resolution pledging French support for the overthrow of the governments of other nations.^[6]

Claude Chappe successfully demonstrates the first semaphore line, between Paris and Lille.
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, future general, becomes sub-lieutenant.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (January 2025)

1 March – Jean Godin des Odonais, cartographer and naturalist
12 May – Charles Simon Favart, dramatist
29 July – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, Chancellor of France
21 August – Louis Collenot d'Angremont, counter-revolutionary (guillotined)
23 August – Arnaud II de La Porte, statesman (executed)
25 August – Jacques Cazotte, writer (executed)
3 September
- Karl Josef von Bachmann, Swiss Guards commander (guillotined)
- Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe, princess, courtier to Marie Antoinette (killed in September Massacres)
9 September
- Louis Hercule Timoléon de Cossé, 8th Duke of Brissac, military commander (killed in September Massacres)
- Claude Antoine de Valdec de Lessart, politician
- Charles d'Abancourt, minister (killed in September Massacres)
22 October – Guillaume Le Gentil, astronomer
7 December – Marie Jeanne Riccoboni, novelist
Full date unknown – Nicholas Adam, grammarian

Incumbents