Bastille Day, or the Fourteenth of July, is the symbol of the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the Republic. The national holiday is a time when all citizens celebrate their membership to a republican nation. It is because this national holiday is rooted in the history of the birth of the Republic that it has such great significance.
What is Bastille Day?
Bastille Day, the French national holiday, commemorates the storming of the Bastille, which took place on 14 July 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th's Ancient Regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the king's power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the Nation and be limited by a separation of powers.
Although the Bastille only held seven prisoners at the time of its capture, the storming of the prison was a symbol of liberty and the fight against oppression for all French citizens; like the Tricolore flag, it symbolized the Republic's three ideals: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all French citizens. It marked the end of absolute monarchy, the birth of the sovereign Nation, and, eventually, the creation of the (First) Republic, in 1792.
Bastille is an alternative spelling of bastide: fortification
Bastille Day was declared the French national holiday on 6 July 1880, on Benjamin Raspail's recommendation, when the new Republic was firmly entrenched. Bastille Day has such a strong signification for the French because the holiday symbolizes the birth of the Republic. As in the US, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence signaled the start of the American Revolution, in France the storming of the Bastille began the Great Revolution. In both countries, the national holiday thus symbolizes the beginning of a new form of government.
On the one-year anniversary of the fall of the Bastille, delegates from every region of France proclaimed their allegiance to a single national community during the Fête de la Fédération in Paris - the first time in history that people had claimed their right to self-determination
The French Revolution and the American Independence
The French Revolution and American Independence are different results of the same philosophical and societal evolution. Indeed, the American dream of the Founding Fathers has much in common with the ideals of the French Republic and the two democracies are offsprings of the age of enlightenment. The extraordinary French-American friendship and alliance that transcend the centuries finds its roots in a shared History of defense of their common values.
To everyone in France, Bastille Day today represents the solemn military parade up the Champs Elysées in the presence of the head of state. It is also a holiday on which each commune holds a local dance and fireworks.
But above all, Bastille Day, or the Fourteenth of July, is the symbol of the end of the monarchy and the beginning of the Republic. The national holiday is a time when all citizens celebrate their membership to a republican nation. It is because this national holiday is rooted in the history of the birth of the Republic that it has such great significance.
French Revolution of 1789 -- Its Legacy:
At the end of the 19th century the French considered the enduring gains of the Revolution to be the idea of the nation, one and indivisible, based on a voluntary union and incorporating the principles of human rights and national sovereignty, the rule of law and a republican form of government. As they are associated with France, these concepts are symbolized by the "Marseillaise," the anthem to national unity composed in 1792 by Rouget de Lisle. Except for the period between 1815 and 1830, the tricolor flag has represented France since the Revolution; it marries blue and red, the colors of the city of Paris, with the royal color of white.
The French Declaration of 1789 is not simply a copy of the American Declaration of Independence, it takes as a starting point the reflexions of the philosophy of the Enlightenment and in particular of authors like Locke, Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau. Admittedly, the US document had a great influence on the French. But the originality of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was conceived to recognize eternal and universal values. It thus had, after its publication, a great repercussion on the Western thought.
We wish all our French players a Happy Bastille Day! Bonne Fête !
References:
-Embassy of France in the United States
-Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition: History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814 by Francois Mignet
Where to celebrate Bastille Day in the United States:
-In New York , NY
-In Philedelphia
-In Los Angeles, CA
-In the San Francisco area
-In Santa Barbara, CA
