People

Colette

Colette was the pen name of the famous French novelist Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (January 28, 1873 – August 3, 1954).

She was born in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye, Yonne, in the Burgundy Region of France, the daughter of Jules-Joseph Colette and Adele Eugenie Sidonie Landoy (‘Sido’). In 1893 she married Henri Gauthier-Villars. Her first books, the Claudine series, were published under the pen name of her husband, ‘Willy’.

Alfred Dreyfus

Alfred Dreyfus (October 9, 1859 – July 12, 1935), French military officer best known for being the focus of the Dreyfus affair.

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc, (January 6, 1412 – May 30, 1431) Jeanne d’Arc in French, also called the Maid of Orléans, is a national heroine of France and saint of the Catholic Church. During the Hundred Years’ War she led the French against the English and was ultimately captured and executed.

Pasquale Paoli

Pasquale Paoli (1725 – February 5, 1807), Corsican general and patriot, was born at Stretta in the parish of Rostino.

He was the son of Giacinto Paoli, who had led the Corsican rebels against Genoese tyranny. Pasquale followed his father into exile, serving with distinction in the Neapolitan army; on his return to Corsica he was chosen commander-in-chief of the rebel forces, and after a series of successful actions he drove the Genoese from the whole island except a few coast towns. He then set to work to reorganize the government, introducing many useful reforms, and he founded a university at Corte. In 1767 he wrested the island of Capraia from the Genoese, who, despairing of ever being able to subjugate Corsica, again sold their rights over it to France.

Gustave Eiffel

Gustave Eiffel (December 15, 1832 – December 27, 1923), French architect.

 

Born Alexandre Gustave Eiffel in Dijon, Côte-d’Or, France, he is most famous for building the Eiffel Tower, built from 1887-1889 for the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition in Paris, France, as well as the armature for the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, USA. He also designed ironwork for bridges.

Louis XVI

Louis XVI of France (August 23, 1754 – January 21, 1793) succeeded his grandfather (Louis XV of France) as King of France on May 10, 1774; he was crowned on June 11, 1775. His father, the dauphin, had died in 1765.

On May 16, 1770 he married Marie Antoinette, daughter of Francis I of Austria and Empress Maria Theresa , a Habsburg. They had four children: