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Monday, July 13, 2015

Bastille Day(French National Day) - July 14

Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the(French National Day which is celebrated on  July 14 each year

The French National Day commemorates the beginning of the French Revolution with the Storming of the Bastille on July 14,1789 as well as the Fete de la Federation which celebrated the unity of the French people on July 14,1790

Fireworks illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris during Bastille Day celebrations late Tuesday, July 14, 2015. Bastille Day marks the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille prison by angry Paris crowds that helped spark the French Revolution



Storming of the Bastille July 14,1789

On 19 May 1789,Louis XVI convened the Estates-General (a general assembly representing the French estate of the realm - the clergy (First Estate), the nobles (Second Estate), and the common people (Third Estate)) to hear their grievances.

The deputies of the Third Estate, representing the common people (the two others were the Catholic Church  and nobility), decided to break away and form a National Assembly [the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath, swearing not to separate until a constitution had been established].

 They were gradually joined by delegates of the other estates;Louis XVI started to recognize their validity on June 27. The assembly renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on July 9, and began to function as a legislature and to draft a constitution.

In the wake of the July 11dismissal of Jacques Necker  (the finance minister, who was sympathetic to the Third Estate), the people of  Paris, fearful that they and their representatives would be attacked by the royal army, and seeking to gain ammunition and gunpowder for the general populace, stormed the Bastille,a fortress-prison in Paris which had often held people jailed on the basis of lettres de cachet  arbitrary royal indictments that could not be appealed.

Besides holding a large cache of ammunition and gunpowder, the Bastille had been known for holding political prisoners whose writings had displeased the royal government, and was thus a symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy.

As it happened, at the time of the attack in July 1789 there were only seven inmates, none of great political significance

When the crowd—eventually reinforced by mutinous gardes francaises - proved a fair match for the fort's defenders,Governor de Launay, the commander of the Bastille, capitulated and opened the gates to avoid a mutual massacre.

However, possibly because of a misunderstanding, fighting resumed. Ninety-eight attackers and just one defender died in the actual fighting, but in the aftermath,Governor de Launay and seven other defenders were killed, as was the 'prévôt des marchands' (roughly, mayor)Jacques de Flesselles 
Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on 4 August, Feudalism was abolished.

On August 26, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed

Fête de la Fédération July 14,1790


The Fête de la Fédération on the July 14,1790 was a celebration of the unity of the French Nation during the French Revolution
The aim of this Celebration was to symbolize Peace one year after the Storming of the Bastille

The event took place on the Champ de Mars, which was at the time far outside Paris. The place had been transformed on a voluntary basis by the population of Paris itself, in what was recalled as the Journée des brouettes ("Wheelbarrow Day").

A mass was celebrated by Talleyrand,bishop of Autun

The popular General Lafayette, as captain of the National Guard of Paris and confidant of the king, took his oath to the constitution, followed by King Louis XVI

 After the end of the official celebration, the day ended in a huge four-day popular feast and people celebrated with fireworks, as well as fine wine and running nudi-rudi through the streets in order to display their great freedom.

 

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