Bastille day 2010 – The Storming of Bastille

14th of July is Bastille Day, the French national day called Fête Nationale. On this day the French people are commemorating the 1790 Fête de la Fédération after the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. This is a symbol of the modern French nation and the reconciliation of the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic.

What happened in the storming of the Bastille?

In 1789, on May 5th Louis XVI asked the Estates-General of their grievances and so the Third Estate, the part that represented the people, thought it is best to break away from everything and form a National Assembly. The Third Estate deputies took the Tennis Court Oath and they swore they would not separate until a Constitution was to be established. And the people showed their support for the Third Estate deputies by storming the Bastille, a prison full of people imprisoned by the King’s order. Many were political prisoners, political partisans who managed to make the king angry with their writings about the royal government.

After the storming of the Bastille, the former prison became the symbol of the absolutism of the monarchy. Fortunately, the event had some echoes: on August 26 the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Declaration of the Citizen was proclaimed.

The National Day was chose  14 July in 1880, on 21 May after Benjamin Raspail proposed a law regarding the French National Day. Although there were voices that 4 August would be a better day as a National Day, as the French people are honouring the end of the feudal system, The Senate approved the law of July 14 being the National Holiday on 6 July 1880.

Today 14 July is the Fête nationale (which celebrates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération), a day when you can hear French music all over the country, when many cities organize huge parties and fireworks spectacles during the night and dancing balls.