Bastille Day Facts


On July 14, 1789, Parisian revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fort, wherein Louis XVI had imprisoned a lot of his enemies—or the ones whom he appeared to be enemies of the country. For many, the area had come to symbolize not anything brief of royal tyranny. Its surprising fall foretold the French revolution—along side a vacation that’s now celebrated at some stage in France and the sector at huge with cries of “Vive le 14 Juillet!”

bastille day facts

bastille day facts

1: In France, Nobody Calls It “Bastille Day.”

The day is known as l.  a. Fête Nationale, or “the National Holiday.” In greater casual settings, French humans additionally name it le Quatorze Juillet (“14 July”). “14 July” is an English time period that’s seldom used inside French borders—as a minimum through non-tourists.

2: Originally, The Bastille Wasn’t Designed To Be A Prison.

The name “Bastille” comes from the phrase bastide, which means “fortification,” a customary time period for a positive sort of tower in southern France till it became subsequently confined to 1 precise Bastille. When creation commenced at the constructing in 1357, its fundamental cause became now no longer to preserve prisoners in, however to preserve invading armies out: At the time, France and England had been engaged withinside the Hundred Years’ War. The Bastille, recognized officially because the Bastille Saint-Antoine, became conceived as a fort whose strategic vicinity should assist stall an assault on Paris from the east.

Over the path of the Hundred Years’ War, the shape of the constructing modified pretty a bit. The Bastille began out out as a large gate inclusive of a thick wall and 75-foot towers. By the quit of 1383, it had developed right into a square fort entire with 8 towers and a moat.

Such attributes might later flip the Bastille into an powerful country jail—however it wasn’t certainly used as one till the seventeenth century. Under King Louis XIII, the effective Cardinal de Richelieu commenced the exercise of jailing his monarch’s enemies (with out a trial) interior; at any given time, the cardinal might keep as much as fifty five captives there.

3: The Bastille Was Loaded With Gunpowder.

In July 1789, France became primed for a revolt. The bad climate had pushed meals charges thru the roof, and the general public resented King Louis XVI’s extravagant lifestyle. To enforce monetary reforms and quell rebellion, Louis became pressured to name an assembly of the Estates-General, a countrywide meeting representing the 3 estates of France. The First Estate became the clergy, the Second Estate held the Aristocracy, and all different royal topics comprised the Third Estate. Each property had an unmarried vote, which means estates should defeat the alternative property each time.

The Estates-General met in Versailles on May 5, 1789. Arguments among the Third Estate and the alternative boiled over on June 20. King Louis answered through bodily locking the not unusual place humans’s representatives out of the room. The 0.33 property, now calling themselves the National Assembly, reconvened on an indoor tennis courtroom docket and pledged to stay lively till a French charter became established.

The King sanctioned the National Assembly on June 27, however then despatched troops into Paris to address developing unrest. He made his issues worse through brushing off finance authentic Jacques Necker, who supported the Third Estate. The National Assembly and normal residents commenced taking in arms. On July 14, 1789, revolutionaries burst right into a soldiers’ clinic in Paris and seized 3000 weapons and 5 cannons. Then, they broke into the Bastille wherein a stockpile of gunpowder lay.

4: The July 14 “Storming” Freed Only A Handful Of Prisoners …

The French revolutionaries who broke into the Bastille predicted to discover severa inmates. In reality, the jail became nearly empty besides for seven captives who regarded to be in especially true health. We may also in no way be positive in their identities. Some debts declare that 4 of the prisoners had dedicated forgery,  had been appeared as lunatics, and one became a disgraced nobleman. Other reassets are much less specific. A document penned on July 24 consents that 4 had been forgers and any other got here from an aristocratic family—however that the alternative  vanished earlier than each person should definitively pick out them.

5: … And The Marquis De Sade Was Almost Among Them.

You in all likelihood understand him as the person whose behavior and erotic writings gave upward thrust to the phrase sadism. In 1784, the aristocrat became transferred from any other jail to the Bastille, wherein he languished for the following 5 years. Within the ones walls, de Sade penned numerous books—consisting of his infamous novel One Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom.

He simply might were freed while the Bastille became stormed. But on June 2, de Sade began out yelling on the passersby below his window, claiming that humans had been being maimed and killed interior and begging the humans to keep him. The episode were given de Sade transferred as soon as again—this time to an insane asylum out of doors Paris. His elimination from the Bastille came about on July 4, 1789. Ten days later, rebels stormed interior.

6: Thomas Jefferson Donated Money To The Families Of The Revolutionaries.

As America’s minister to France (and a massive fan of revolution), Jefferson took a active hobby withinside the Bastille incident—which broke out at the same time as he became residing overseas in Paris. Although Long Tom didn’t witness the occasion firsthand, he eloquently summarized the whole lot he’d discovered approximately the siege in an in depth letter to John Jay. On August 1, 1789, Jefferson wrote in his diary, “Gave for widows of these killed in taking Bastille, 60 francs.”

7: A Huge Festival Was Held Exactly One Year After The Bastille Was Stormed.

By July 14, 1790, the Bastille were destroyed, its portions scattered throughout the globe through memento collectors. France now operated below a constitutional monarchy, an association that divided energy among King Louis XVI and the National Assembly. Meanwhile, hereditary the Aristocracy became outlawed.

To honor those advances, the authorities prepared a big occasion known as the “Festival of the Federation,” which became to take area on the primary anniversary of the Bastille showdown. As July 14 approached, French residents from all walks of existence got here collectively and installation a few 40,000 seats in preparation. When the massive day subsequently arrived, King Louis arrived with two hundred clergymen and swore to preserve the charter. The Marquis de Lafayette—who’d famously helped orchestrate America’s revolution—stood through the monarch’s side. Later on, Queen Marie Antoinette were given a big cheer while she proudly confirmed off the inheritor apparent. Among the spectators became dramatist Louis-Sébastien Mercier, who later said, “I noticed 50,000 residents of all classes, of all ages, of all sexes, forming the maximum amazing portrait of harmony.”

8: Several Different Dates Were Considered For The French National Holiday.

Here’s a trick question: What historic occasion does 14 July commemorate? If you answered “the storming of the Bastille jail,” you’re each proper and wrong. In 1880, France’s senate determined that their place of origin wished a countrywide holiday. What the French statesmen had in thoughts became an annual, patriotic birthday party devoted to the u . s . and her residents. But the problem of selecting a date changed into a really partisan ordeal: Every to be had choice irked any person withinside the senate on ideological grounds. For instance, conservatives had been dead-set in opposition to July 14 (as a minimum at first) due to the fact they felt that the 1789 Bastille incident became too bloody to advantage birthday party.

Alternatives had been severa. To a few, September 21 regarded attractive, for the reason that unique French Republic became created on that day in 1792. Others desired February 24, which marked the delivery of France’s 2d republic. Another choice became August 4, the anniversary of the feudal system’s abolishment.

Ultimately, though, July 14 controlled to win out. After all, the date marks now no longer one however  very vital anniversaries: 1789’s assault at the Bastille and 1790’s peaceful, unifying Festival of the Federation. So through selecting July 14, the senate invited all residents to determine for themselves which of those occasions they’d as a substitute celebrate. As Senator Henri Martell argued, each person who had reservations approximately the primary July 14 should nevertheless embody the 2d. Personally, he respected the latter. In his personal words, July 14, 1790 became “the maximum stunning day withinside the records of France, likely withinside the records of mankind. It became on that day that countrywide harmony became subsequently accomplished.”

9: Bastille Day Features The Oldest And Largest Regular Military Parade In Western Europe.

This loved Paris subculture dates all of the manners again to 1880. In its first 38 years, the parade’s course numerous wildly, however, given that 1918, the procession has extra or much less continuously marched down the Champs-Elysées, the maximum well-known street in Paris. Those who watch the occasion in character are constantly in for an actual spectacle—2015’s parade boasted a few 31 helicopters, fifty-five planes, 208 navy vehicles, and 3501 squaddies. It’s additionally pretty not an unusual place to peer troops from different international locations marching along with their French counterparts. Two years ago, for example, one hundred fifty Mexican squaddies got here to Paris and participated.

10: In France, Firemen Throw Public Dances.

On the night time of July thirteen or 14, humans for the duration of France stay it up at their nearby hearthplace departments. Most stations will throw big dance events which can be open to the complete neighborhood (children are every now and then welcome). Please note, however, that a few hearthplace departments price an admission fee. Should you discover one which doesn’t, make sure to depart a donation in the back of instead. It’s simply not an unusual place courtesy.

11: The Louvre Celebrates By Offering Free Admission.

If you’re in Paris on 14 July and don’t thoughts big crowds, cross say bonjour to the Mona Lisa. Her measurements would possibly wonder you: The international’s maximum well-known portray is most effective 30 inches tall via way of means of 21 inches wide.

12: Bastille Day Has Become A Truly International Holiday.

Can’t get to France on 14 july? Not a problem. People everywhere in the international honor and include the holiday. In japanese India, the scenic Puducherry district turned into beneathneath French rule as lately as 1954. Every July 14, fireworks burst off in birthday party and a nearby band generally performs each the French and Indian countrywide anthems. Thousands of miles away, Franschhoek, South Africa, throws an annual, two-day Bastille birthday party—whole with a parade and all of the gourmand French delicacies you can ask for.

Then there’s the United States, wherein dozens of towns prepare massive fairs in this maximum French of holidays. New Orleans hosts a doggie dress contest wherein puppy proprietors are recommended to get dressed up their pooches in good-looking French garb. Or perhaps you’d want to go to Philadelphia, wherein, on the Eastern State Penitentiary museum and anciental site, Philly residents re-enact the storming of the Bastille at the same time as guards preserve the rebels at bay via way of means of hurling Tastykakes at them.

13: A Huge Solar Flare Once Took Place On Bastille Day.

NASA won’t be forgetting July 14, 2000 each time soon. On that precise day, one in every of the most important sun storms in latest reminiscence stuck scientists off guard. An explosion as a result of twisted magnetic fields despatched a flurry of debris racing towards Earth. These created a few splendid aurora mild suggests that have been seen as a long way south as El Paso, Texas. Unfortunately, the debris additionally prompted some radio blackouts and short-circuited a few satellites. Astronomers now talk to this incident as “The 14 July Event.”

14: You Can Find A Key To The Bastille At Mount Vernon.

The Marquis de Lafayette, 19, arrived withinside the new global to enroll in America’s progressive motive in 1777. Right off the bat, he made an effective friend: George Washington immediately took a liking to the Frenchman, and inside a month, Lafayette had successfully come to be the general’s followed son. Their affection becomes mutual; while the more youthful guy had a son of his very own in 1779, he named him Georges Washington de Lafayette.

The day after the storming of the Bastille, the Marquis de Lafayette has become the commander of the Paris National Guard. In the aftermath of the Bastille siege, he becomes given the important thing to the building. As a thank-you—and to represent the brand new revolution—Lafayette despatched it to Washington’s Mount Vernon home, in which the relic nonetheless is living today

Other Interesting Bastille Day Facts

14 July, or the French National Day, is widely known on July 14th every 12 months in France. It is an afternoon to have fun and don’t forget the start of the French Revolution, following the storming of the Bastille in Paris, which turned into a castle and jail representing French Royalty in 1789. Following the Storming of the Bastille, Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI fled, leaving the Bastille to be pillaged and burned. The Bastille itself turned into constructed in about the year 1370 to assist protect Paris withinside the 100 Years War.

  • Bastille originates from the French phrase for stronghold – bastide.
  • Beginning in 1417 the Bastille turned into a jail for individuals who antagonistic France’s kings.
  • From the length among 1420 and 1436, the English had manipulated of the Bastille.
  • King Louis XVI asked, “Is it a revolt?” while he discovered of the assault at the Bastille. He turned into told “No Sire, it’s far a revolution.”
  • The mob that stormed the Bastille additionally stole all of the guns they may locate to apply of their revolution in opposition to the monarchy.
  • After the Storming of the Bastille and previous to the formation of the French Republic in 1792 many aristocrats had been carried out in France in what’s stated as ‘The Reign of Terror’.
  • Although the Bastille had sufficient area to preserve 50 prisoners, while it turned into stormed there had been most effective seven prisoners, along with one deviant aristocrat, lunatics and 4 forgers.
  • 14 July have become a countrywide vacation in France in 1880, much less than a hundred years after the Storming of the Bastille.
  • The French have fun 14 July as a manner to apprehend the importance of the Storming of the Bastille because the stop of the royal monarchy and the start of its cutting-edge republic.
  • 14 July is widely known in Paris with a parade at the Champs Elysees referred to as the 14 July Military Parade. The Champs-Elysees is embellished with flags for the once-a-year parade.
  • The French President normally offers a speech following the 14 July Military Parade. This parade is the oldest European navy parade.
  • The 14 July Military Parade ends on the Arc de Triomphe, a huge monument that honors individuals who died whilst combating for France in the course of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
  • Most municipalities in France have fun 14 July starting with a Mayoral speech. This is regularly accompanied through a conflict memorial wreath-laying.
  • France isn’t the most effective united states of America to have fun 14 July. In a few components of the United States, including Milwaukee, Wisconsin, there may be a 14 July birthday party as well. In Milwaukee the birthday party lasts 4 days and that they actually have a reproduction of the Eiffel Tower this is forty-three toes in height.
  • 14 July is widely known in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and withinside the United States.
  • The well-known creator and truth seeker Voltaire turned into as soon as a prisoner of the Bastille.
  • In addition to the 14 July Military Parade in Paris, there are fireworks, dances, music, meals and avenue celebrations in Paris and throughout the relaxation of the United States of America.


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