July 14 is celebrated as Bastille Day in France. The Bastille was a prison in Paris, which the people stormed and seized in 1789, starting the French Revolution that toppled King Louis XVI and the aristocracy. It is called Fête Nationale (National Holiday) in France. France at that time was ruled by King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. It was an absolute monarchy, meaning that whatever the king and queen wanted, they got. It didn't matter whether the people were starving in the streets, so long as the royal banquet tables were full.

On May 5, 1789, Louis XVI convened the General Estates to hear their grievances. The deputies of the Third Estate representing the common people (the two others were clergy and nobility) decided to break away and form a National Constituent Assembly.

On June 20 the deputies of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath (named after the place where they had gathered which was a place where an ancestor of tennis, the "jeu de paume" was played), swearing not to separate until a Constitution had been established. To show their support, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, a prison where people where jailed by decison of the King. Thus the Bastille was a symbol the absolutism of the monarchy.

Some find significance in the fact that there were only 7 inmates housed at the time of the siege. Among those inmates, Marquis de Sade is believed to have triggered the assault by crying that people were being executed inside. Many historians believe that the storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than any practical act of defiance. No less important in the history of France, it was not the image typically conjured up of courageous French patriots storming the Bastille and freeing hundreds of oppressed peasants.

Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on August 26, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed.

For the peasant class, the Bastille stood as a symbol of the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocratic government - controlled mostly by nobility and clergy. This important event marked the entry of the popular class into the French Revolution. The French recognize Bastille Day as the end of the monarchy and beginning of the modern republic. The lasting significance of the event was in its recognition that power could be held by ordinary citizens, not in the King or in God. Today, Parisians celebrate this national holiday with a grand military parade up the Champs Elysées, colorful arts festivals, and raucous parties marking the holiday.

Bastille Day was proclaimed a national holiday in 1880 and in 1848 the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was reinstated. In France, most folks take Bastille Eve off and celebrate with festive balls and brilliant displays of fireworks. The day that follows is filled with parades, bands, dancing and general good times.

The Constitution of the Fifth Republic stipulates, in Article 2, that the national emblem shall be the tricolor flag: blue, white and red. This tricolor flag, displayed on public buildings on commemorative occasions and at sporting events, is the result of a long process of evolution. It synthesizes the image of the Nation and is part of this image.

July 14 is celebrated as Bastille Day in France. The Bastille was a prison in Paris, which the people stormed and seized in 1789, starting the French Revolution that toppled King Louis XVI and the aristocracy. It is called Fête Nationale (National Holiday) in France.

France at that time was ruled by King Louis XVI and his queen, Marie Antoinette. It was an absolute monarchy, meaning that whatever the king and queen wanted, they got. It didn't matter whether the people were starving in the streets, so long as the royal banquet tables were full.


On May 5, 1789, Louis XVI convened the General Estates to hear their grievances. The deputies of the Third Estate representing the common people (the two others were clergy and nobility) decided to break away and form a National Constituent Assembly.

On June 20 the deputies of the Third Estate took the Tennis Court Oath (named after the place where they had gathered which was a place where an ancestor of tennis, the "jeu de paume" was played), swearing not to separate until a Constitution had been established. To show their support, the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, a prison where people where jailed by decison of the King. Thus the Bastille was a symbol the absolutism of the monarchy.

Some find significance in the fact that there were only 7 inmates housed at the time of the siege. Among those inmates, Marquis de Sade is believed to have triggered the assault by crying that people were being executed inside. Many historians believe that the storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than any practical act of defiance. No less important in the history of France, it was not the image typically conjured up of courageous French patriots storming the Bastille and freeing hundreds of oppressed peasants.

Shortly after the storming of the Bastille, on August 26, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was proclaimed.


For the peasant class, the Bastille stood as a symbol of the hypocrisy and corruption of the aristocratic government - controlled mostly by nobility and clergy. This important event marked the entry of the popular class into the French Revolution. The French recognize Bastille Day as the end of the monarchy and beginning of the modern republic. The lasting significance of the event was in its recognition that power could be held by ordinary citizens, not in the King or in God. Today, Parisians celebrate this national holiday with a grand military parade up the Champs Elysées, colorful arts festivals, and raucous parties marking the holiday.

Bastille Day was proclaimed a national holiday in 1880 and in 1848 the motto "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" was reinstated. In France, most folks take Bastille Eve off and celebrate with festive balls and brilliant displays of fireworks. The day that follows is filled with parades, bands, dancing and general good times.

The Constitution of the Fifth Republic stipulates, in Article 2, that the national emblem shall be the tricolor flag: blue, white and red. This tricolored flag, displayed on public buildings on commemorative occasions and at sporting events, is the result of a long process of evolution. It synthesizes the image of the Nation and is part of this image.

It was the French Revolution that inaugurated the tricolor flag.

At the Federation celebrations, on 14 July 1790, the Champ de Mars was decked with the tricolor flags.

The tricolor and the cockade became the symbols of the living nation.

A decree of 27 Pluviôse, Year 2 of the Revolution (1794) stipulates that the national flag shall be made up of the three national colors disposed in three equal bands such that the blue strip is attached to the pole with the white in the middle and the red waving free.

The Restoration of 1815 attempted to bring back the white flag, symbol of continuity with the monarchy, and the 1848 uprising tried to impose the red flag as the standard of the Republic.

Since then, the Tricolor has gone uncontested: gradually, all political families and all opinions comprising the French nation have come to recognize themselves in it.


Allons, enfants de la Patrie!
Happy Birthday, France!