Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Paris Thursday (July 13) on a two-day visit, during which he will hold wide-ranging talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and attend the French National Day celebrations as the Guest of Honour. The national day of France is celebrated on July 14, also known as Bastille Day or Fête nationale française, and is marked by a long military parade, along with dancing and other merriment.
While July 14 is more popularly associated with the storming of the Bastille in 1789, it is also the anniversary of Fête de la Fédération, an event held in 1790 to celebrate the unity of the French people. Also, while Bastille Day is often seen as the symbol of the end of monarchy, kings and queens continued in France till long after that. So what exactly is the French national day the anniversary of, and why was the storming of the Bastille so significant?
What led to Bastille Day?
Bastille Day can be said to have set in motion the decade-long French Revolution, which fundamentally altered French political and social life and influenced the foundational ideas of democracy across the world, popularising slogans such as “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity). This was the day on which ordinary people stormed Bastille, a 14th century fortress-prison in Paris that was used to incarcerate political prisoners (the famous writer philosopher Voltaire and the infamous Marquis de Sade had both been kept at the Bastille at various times).
