Events from the year 1756 in France

• Monarch – Louis XV^[1]

• 12 April – French invasion of Minorca, at this time under British control.
• 1 May – Treaty of Versailles.
• 18 May – The Seven Years' War formally begins when Great Britain declares war on France.^[2]
• 20 May – Battle of Minorca: The French fleet under Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière defeats the British under John Byng.
• 29 June – The 2-month Siege of Fort St Philip at Port Mahon ends when the British garrison in Minorca surrenders to the French after two months' siege by Armand de Vignerot du Plessis.
• 14 August – French and Indian War: Fort Oswego falls to the French.

• François Boucher paints portraits of Madame de Pompadour.
• The Vincennes porcelain factory moves to Sèvres as the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.

• 3 January – Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve, writer and politician (died 1794)
• 23 May – Charles Clément Balvay (called Bervic), engraver (died 1822)^[3]
• 28 November – Marie-Madeleine Postel, Roman Catholic saint (died 1846)
• 24 December – Joseph François Augustin Monneron, banker and politician (died 1826)
• Full date missing – Antoine-François Momoro, printer, bookseller and politician (died 1794)

• 27 June – Marie Sallé, dancer and choreographer (born 1707)
• 16 April – Jacques Cassini, astronomer (born 1677)