Saturday 14 July 2012

July 14, 1789: The Storming of Bastille



Ok, I know I'm still on vacation and should be getting ready for bed (long traveling day tomorrow), but I couldn't resist posting a little something about the French Cancan storming of the Bastille.

  • In France, July 14 is a national holiday called La Fête Nationale (The National Celebration) or simply le quatorze juillet (the fourteenth of July). 
  • The day starts off with the ( Défilé militaire du 14 Juillet ) oldest and largest military parade in Europe. It descends the Champs-Élysées avenue from l’Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde where the President of the French Republic, his government and foreign ambassadors to France sit. 
  • The 14th of July commemorates the storming of the Bastille.
  • The Bastille was a fortress built in Paris in the late 1300s. It was used by the kings of France like a state prison. It has been cited by certain historians as being one of the most powerful fortifications of its time.

Bastille (source:  wikipedia.org)

  • Prior to the 14th of July 1789, France was traversing a period of social, economic and religious unrest. 
  • The economic crisis and increasing national debt was partially due to the cost of intervening in the American Revolution. 
  • Both the working class as well as the educated middle class was heavily taxed and bread and basic necessities difficult to obtain.
  • Desperate, the citizens of Paris plundered food and gun supplies.
  • Demonstrators of the Third Estate had previously stormed the Hotel des Invalides to gain arms. They retrieved 29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but lacked gunpowder or shot. The ammunition (over 13,000 kilograms of gunpowder) was being stored at the Bastille.
  • On the morning of July 14th 1789,  an angry mob headed to the Bastille (symbol of royal tyranny) demanding arms and gunpowder. 
  • Negotiations with the Governor of Bastille failed.
  • Ninety-eight attackers and one defender died in the actual fighting. 
  • Governor of the Bastille, Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay, was seized, dragged outside, beaten and stabbed repeatedly. His head was sawn off and fixed on a pike to be carried through the streets of Paris.
  • The Bastille was liberated at 17:30, July 14, 1789.
The storming of the Bastille is considered a keystone event in The French Revolution. It led to the collapse of the absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries in only three years.
Bastille (source:  wikipedia.org)

"C'est ainsi que l'on punit les traitres." (This is how we punish traitors)
(source:  wikipedia.org)


 (source: http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/articles/, wikipedia.com)

27 comments:

  1. I didn't realise it was that long ago. Blood thirsty lot aren't they, sawing people's heads off - no different to anybody else of that time though.

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    1. lol! The French do have a long history of cutting people's heads off. The French guillotine for example was last used in 1977.

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  2. hey, what about the guillotine... when was that used?

    the bread issue, of course, prompted marie to proclaim: let them eat cake - NOT a good thing to tell french peasantry in that mood :O lol

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    1. just remembered: i hear if you screw up cognac, in any way [like adding coke and/or ice to it], french law still proclaims you are subject to kissing the steel blade of the guillotine... true?

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    2. LOL! I haven't heard anything about the cognac law...but the last time the French guillotine was used was in 1977 (there is no longer a death penalty in France). So, I think you're safe now if you want to put peach syrup in your cognac... (;

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    3. no thanks, i'll take my remy martin louis XIII straight up, in a large snifter, just like always ;) lol

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    4. Now that is some expensive s*** right there!

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    5. oh, yeah... in excess of $1K/bottle, last i looked...

      the hand cut crystal decanter it came in, which one kept, of course, did NOT reduce the price ;) lol

      i could never afford any, but was given some: once at a buddy's wedding; years later, at his divorce!

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    6. Ouch! At least he got to keep the cognac! :P

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  3. That parade must be a sight to see!

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  4. I wondered what was the Bastille was all about. Thanks for that. France is very inspiring - they changed the world at that point in some ways. I love the labels you have there as well! Enjoy the holidays. Cheers

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    1. Thanks Clay and I agree. Some historians go so far as calling the French Revolution the "dawn of the modern era" that spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

      Anyway, holidays is almost over for me but we had a great time. Thanks (:

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  5. It must have felt really good to grab all those super rich snobs from their homes and cut off their heads. I know my statement is barbaric, but sometimes I get so sick of the way people on Wall Street behave, treating the rest of us like trash.

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    1. you mean we're NOT trash, mike? ;)

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    2. Silly king should have handed out iphones as a distraction instead. (;

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  6. I knew about the later official revolution and the guillotine, the King all those officials killed, etc. but I never really understood Bastille Day. I thought it was peasants storming the prison to free prisoners. Learn something new every day. :-)

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    1. Yeah, there were only 7 prisoners in Bastille the day it was stormed. It was all about the arms and gunpowder.

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  7. The first thing that springs to mind is the famous (or is it infamous? I still get confused...? LOL)... "let them eat cake" ... and that's the sum total of my knowledge on this topic!
    Thanks for the history lesson - there's quite a rich and grisly story behind it all...

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    1. "Let them eat cake" is a famous line attributed to Marie Antoinette who reigned as Queen from 1774 - 1792 (though there is no proof she actually said the words). Nevertheless, she was convicted of treason and executed by guillotine in 1793. Grisly story indeed...

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  8. Love this. I'm a history buff so I love posts lie this. Very cool!

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  9. I love history but know very little about France. I read Les Miserables years ago and while it was a beautiful love story, I didn't understand much of the circumstances surrounding the novel. This was a very interesting post- and hope your enjoying your travels!

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  10. History is not my strong subject. Thanks for this post. It was very interesting. :)

    Wishing you safe travel... ;)

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  11. I'm sorry to say a lot of what I know about french history came from reading novels about it. Thanks for this post. It's always nice to learn more.

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  12. Mina: Thanks, glad you enjoyed! I need to bone up on my history lessons...

    Honey: I never read Les Miserables but I did see the musical years ago. (:

    Melissa: History is not my strong subject either, even I learned from this post lol.

    S.P. Bowers: Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

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  13. Mark Twain had a hilarious account of his encounter with the can can in his INNOCENTS ABROAD. He was a scoundrel, but a good-hearted one. Thanks for filling in the blanks on the origins of Bastille Day and how it is celebrated today. I hope you are enjoying America! Thanks for visiting my blog today!

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    1. With pleasure Roland! And it seems Mark Twain had a wild streak I didn't know about... (;

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