French economist Jean Monnet becomes the first president of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

In his first book of Structures, for two pianos, Pierre Boulez provides a classic of serial music

Le Corbusier's completes his most massive modernist development, the Unité d'Habitation at Marseilles

Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot ('En attendant Godot') is first performed in French in Paris

French composer Olivier Messiaen uses birdsong with piano and orchestra in his Waking of the Birds

French actor Jacques Tati directs and stars in the zany comedy Mr Hulot's Holiday

Cambodia wins independence from the colonial power, France

19-year-old Françoise Sagan has a major international success with her first novel, Bonjour Tristesse

In an armistice ending the Indochina War, France acknowledges the independence of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

Relations are normalized between West Germany and the USA, France and Britain, ending the postwar period of occupation

Le Corbusier completes the reinforced-concrete pilgrimage church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp

An armed uprising in Morocco persuades France to accept the principle of independence for the colony

Brigitte Bardot is directed by her husband Roger Vadim in his first film, And God Created Woman

Tunisia wins independence from France, with Habib Bourguiba as prime minister

Nasser disregards a French and British ultimatum to withdraw from the Suez canal

Under international pressure Britain and France agree to a humiliating withdrawal from Suez

French critic Roland Barthes develops in Mythologies the theory of semiotics, relating to signs and symbols

Six founding nations (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, West Germany) establish the European Economic Community (EEC)

Spanish-born Paris designer Cristóbal Balenciaga produces an ostensibly shapeless garment, the 'sack', that greatly excites the world of fashion

Christian Dior dies and is followed by Yves St Laurent as head designer at the famous fashion house

French Algerians seize government buildings in Algiers, in a campaign to ensure that Algerian remains French

Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita is published in Paris

The national assembly in Paris grants de Gaulle six months of unrestricted power as president – his condition for returning to government

On his second day in power, de Gaulle visits Algiers to confront the settlers with an unwelcome message

French citizens approve the new constitution proposed by de Gaulle, thus introducing the Fifth Republic