France’s national day – better known as Bastille Day is celebrated every year on July 14 with military parades and fireworks. The national holiday marks the fall of the Bastille on July 14, 1789.
Also called Le Quatorze Juillet or La Fête Nationale, Bastille Day celebrations are a big deal in Paris and throughout France. The annual military parade on Champs-Elysées starts at the Arc de Triomphe and ends at Place de la Concorde.
This day witnesses the traditional military parade on the Champs-Elysées, which is a “meticulously planned spectacle, and dancing and fireworks displays or special illuminations are organized all over the country.”
Civilians celebrate by witnessing military parades and taking part in easygoing dancing and fireworks.
The history behind Bastille Day
During the French Revolution Paris was churning as the Estates-General did not dissolve. Instead, it transformed itself instead into a constituent National Assembly. In July 1789, King Louis XVI sent for fresh troops and removed his popular and well-loved minister Jacques Necker.
According to the Hindustan Times, later that morning on July 14, Parisians seized weapons from the armory at the Invalides and marched in the direction of an ancient Royal fortress – Bastille. After several rounds of firing, the crowd broke into the Bastille and released some prisoners.
The storming of Bastille was the first victory of the country against a symbol of the “Ancien Régime” (Old Regime). On July 14, 1790, the day was first celebrated with grandeur.
In July 1880, Benjamin Raspail, a Seine department deputy, declared the day as a national holiday.
The celebration route
The Bastille Day is celebrated with great grandeur every year. However, according to the ministry of Europe and foreign affairs – France diplomacy, the successive Presidents of the Fifth Republic have modified the day’s events. Stating an example, it said that in order to restore the tradition of revolutionary Paris, President Giscard d’Estaing re-routed the military parade, marching the troops from the Place de la Bastille to the Place de la République. Starting in 1980, however, the parade returned to the Champs-Elysées, according to the Hindustan Times.
