• President: Raymond Poincaré
• President of the Council of Ministers:
  • until 20 March: Aristide Briand
  • 20 March-12 September: Alexandre Ribot
  • 12 September-16 November: Paul Painlevé
  • starting 16 November: Georges Clemenceau

• 13 February – Dutch dancer Mata Hari is arrested in Paris for spying for Germany.
• 9 April – Battle of Arras, a British Empire offensive, begins.
• 16 April – Second Battle of the Aisne begins, the main action of the French Nivelle Offensive.
• 26 April – The Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, between France, Italy and the United Kingdom, to settle interests in the Middle East, is signed.
• 29 April – Architect of the Second Battle of the Aisne and French Commander-in-Chief, General Robert Nivelle, is dismissed and replaced on 15 May by Philippe Pétain.
• 3 May – 1917 French Army mutinies begin when the French 2nd Division refuses to follow orders to attack.
• 9 May – Second Battle of the Aisne ends in failure, leading to desertions.
• 27 May – 1917 French Army mutinies: French Army desertions turn to mutiny as up to 30,000 soldiers leave the front line and reserve trenches and return to the rear at Missy-aux-Bois.
• 16 May – Battle of Arras ends.
• 1 June – 1917 French Army mutinies: A French infantry regiment seizes Missy-aux-Bois, and declares an anti-war military government. Other French army troops soon apprehend them.
• 8 June – 1917 French Army mutinies: French military authorities take action with mass arrests, followed by mass trials.
• 15 August – Battle of Hill 70, an Anglo-Canadian offensive, starts on the outskirts of Lens in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.
• 25 August – Battle of Hill 70 ends.
• 15 October – Mata Hari is executed by firing squad at Vincennes for spying.
• 15 November – Georges Clemenceau becomes prime minister of France.
• 20 November – Battle of Cambrai, a British campaign, begins. First successful use of tanks in a combined arms operation.
• 6 December – Battle of Cambrai ends.

January to June edit

• 3 January – Pierre Dervaux, operatic conductor and composer (died 1992)
• 24 January – Marcel Hansenne, middle-distance runner (died 2002)
• 11 February – Bernard Destremau, tennis player (died 2002)
• 16 April – Lucienne Delyle, singer (died 1962)
• 22 April – Yvette Chauviré, prima ballerina assoluta (died 2016)
• 25 April – Jean Lucas, motor racing driver (died 2003)
• 29 May – Élie de Rothschild, banker (died 2007)
• 31 May – Jean Rouch, filmmaker and anthropologist (died 2004)

July to December edit

• 14 June – Gilbert Prouteau, poet (died 2012)
• 18 July – Henri Salvador, singer (died 2008)
• 25 July – Philippe De Lacy, actor (died 1995)
• 27 July – Bourvil, actor and singer (died 1970)
• 15 August – Philippe Viannay, journalist (died 1986)
• 17 August – Paul Tessier, surgeon (died 2008)
• 24 September – Jean Hermil, Roman Catholic bishop of Viviers (died 2006)
• 20 October – Jean-Pierre Melville, filmmaker (died 1973)
• 22 October – Annette Laming-Emperaire, archeologist (died 1977)
• 30 October – Maurice Trintignant, motor racing driver (died 2005)
• 5 November – Jacqueline Auriol, aviator, holder of several world speed records (died 2000)
• 11 November – Madeleine Damerment, World War II heroine (executed) (died 1944)
• 19 November – Philippe Ragueneau, journalist and writer (died 2003)
• 22 November – Jean-Étienne Marie, composer (died 1989)
• 24 November – Maurice Lauré, creator of taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA) (died 2001)

Full date unknown edit

• Philippe Charbonneaux, industrial designer (died 1998)

January to June edit

• 4 January – Auguste Chauveau, professor and veterinarian (born 1827)
• 20 January – Amédée Bollée (Amédée père), bell-founder (born 1844)
• 5 February – Édouard Drumont, journalist and writer (born 1844)
• 16 February – Octave Mirbeau, journalist, art critic, pamphleteer, novelist and playwright (born 1848)
• 17 February – Carolus-Duran, painter (born 1837)
• 23 February – Jean Gaston Darboux, mathematician (born 1842)
• 26 February – Joseph Jules Dejerine, neurologist (born 1849)
• 16 March — Friedrich Manschott, German World War I flying ace (born 1893 in Germany)
• 6 April — Friedrich Karl of Prussia, Prince of Prussia (born 1893)
• 10 April – Louis Édouard Fournier, painter (born 1857)
• 7 May – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (born 1896 in England)^[1]
• 10 May – Louis Théophile Joseph Landouzy, neurologist (born 1845)
• 25 May – René Dorme, World War I fighter ace (born 1894; killed in action)^[2]
• 30 June – Antonio de La Gandara, painter and draughtsman (born 1861)

July to December edit

• 3 August – Stéphane Javelle, astronomer (born 1864)
• 8 September – Charles-Edouard Lefebvre, composer (born 1843)
• 20 September – Émile Boirac, philosopher (born 1851)
• 27 September – Edgar Degas, artist (born 1834)
• 3 November – Léon Bloy, novelist, essayist, pamphleteer and poet (born 1846)
• 5 November – Henri Amédée de Broglie, nobleman (born 1849)
• 15 November – Émile Durkheim, sociologist (born 1858)
• 17 November – Auguste Rodin, sculptor (born 1840)
• 20 December – Lucien Petit-Breton, cyclist, winner of 1907 and 1908 Tour de France (born 1882)

Full date unknown edit

• François-Victor Équilbecq, author (born 1872)
• Adolphe Chenevière, novelist (born 1855)

• List of French films of 1917