On July 14, 1880, the day of the French national holiday was officially declared, in French “La Fête Nationale”, at the request of the deputy Benjamin Raspail, celebrated on July 14, commemorating the anniversary of two events: first the storming of the Bastille in 1789, an event considered the starting point of the French Revolution, and secondly the day of national unity on the Champ de Mars in 1790, the year in which La Fayette, commander of the Paris National Guard, proposed organizing, to commemorate the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille, a national holiday of this “federated nation” Federation.
The storming of the Bastille took place in Paris on Tuesday, July 14, 1789. Although the medieval fortress known as the Bastille only guarded seven prisoners, its fall into the hands of the Parisian revolutionaries symbolically marked the end of the absolutist Old Regime. of the French monarchy and the starting point of the French Revolution. The surrender of the prison, a symbol of strength but also of the despotism of the French monarchy and its arbitrariness in matters of justice, had been for years the prison, where those designated by the King with a simple lettre de cachet were imprisoned without trial , which was a letter that served to transmit an order from the king. The events that occurred in this event caused a real social earthquake both in France and in the rest of Europe, and the French Revolution began to expand.
On July 14, the largest military parade in Europe takes place on the Champs-Elysées: the pride of France marches along the main street of the capital, while military planes fly through the air leaving blue, white and red lines to imitate the colors of the French national flag. Fireworks and afterparties are naturally included in this festive program.
Image rights image: Eugène Delacroix [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
