The hypodermic syringe with a plunger is simultaneously developed in France and in Scotland

Britain and France enter the war between Turkey and Russia, on the Turkish side

Frances restores and enlarges Strawberry Hill including the addition of the Waldegrave Drawing Room, spending in excess of £100,000.

Gustave Flaubert publishes Madame Bovary, a novel of frustrated romanticism in a provincial French context

French chemist Louis Pasteur proves the existence of micro-organisms by showing that a liquid will only ferment if exposed to contamination from the air

Charles Baudelaire publishes his first and extremely influential collection of poems, Les Fleurs du Mal

Napoleon III and Cavour hatch a secret plan at Plombièes to tempt Austria into war in north Italy, and agree how to divide up the spoils

Hector Berlioz completes his 4-hour opera The Trojans (not performed as a complete work until 1890)

A French and Piedmontese army liberates Milan from Austrian rule

The opera Faust, by French composer Charles Gounod, has its premiere in Paris

French and Piedmontese forces defeat the Austrians decisively at Solferino, in a battle involving appalling casualties

French author Stendhal publishes his novel La Chartreuse de Parme ('The Charterhouse of Parma')

The treaty of Turin brings much of north Italy under the control of Cavour (for the kingdom of Sardinia), who in return cedes Savoy and Nice to France

The future Cassel Hospital estate, now with a single mansion, is leased for nine years to HRH Robert Philippe, Duc de Chartres, exiled from France along with his grandfather, King Louis Philippe

Louis Pasteur uses heat to destroy the micro-organisms in liquid food, in the process that becomes known as pasteurization

Victor Hugo publishes his novel Les Misérables, an immensely complex story about the adventures of ex-convict Jean Valjean

France establishes a protectorate over Cambodia

French author Paul Verlaine wins a reputation with his first published collection, Poémes saturniens ('Saturnine Poems')

Britain, France and Italy take joint control of the finances of a bankrupt Tunisia

Young French artists Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir paint together in the open air at La Grenouillère, developing the Impressionist style

French part-time painter Henri Rousseau becomes known as Douanier ('customs officer') Rousseau because of his paid employment

Coppélia, with choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to music by Delibes, has its premiere at the Paris Opera

With public opinion in France outraged by the Ems telegram, the French government declares war on Prussia

16-year-old Arthur Rimbaud sends some of his poems to Paul Verlaine, already an established poet

French artist Claude Monet, fleeing from the Franco-Prussian War, arrives in London