The following lists events that happened during 1865 in the French Empire.
Incumbents
Monarch – Napoleon III
Events
1 January - The French government suppresses promulgation of the Papal "Syllabus of Errors" from the pulpit. 3 November - Opening of the first Printemps department store, in Paris. 6 December - Treaty with Monaco. Count Alexandre Colonna-Walewski, son of Napoleon, becomes President of the Corps législatif. Flag reformed.
Arts and literature
1 January - Hector Berlioz finishes his memoirs. Édouard Manet's painting Olympia is first exhibited, at the Salon (Paris), and causes controversy. Jean-François Millet's painting The Angelus (L'Angélus) is first exhibited and becomes very popular in France.
Births
20 January - Yvette Guilbert, singer and actress (died 1944) 9 June - Albéric Magnard, composer (died 1914) 23 September - Baroness Emma Orczy, writer (died 1947) 1 October - Paul Dukas, composer and teacher (died 1935) 8 December - Jacques Hadamard, mathematician (died 1963)
Deaths
19 January - Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, political philosopher (born 1809) 16 February - Louis Pierre Gratiolet, anatomist and zoologist (born 1815) 13 April - Achille Valenciennes, zoologist (born 1794) 18 April - Léon Jean Marie Dufour, medical doctor and naturalist (born 1780) 30 March - Gustave de Beaumont, magistrate, prison reformer and travel companion to Alexis de Tocqueville (born 1802) 21 November - Jean-Claude-Léonard Baveux, priest and missionary in Canada (born 1796) Full date unknown - César Lecat de Bazancourt, military historian (born 1810)