The national day of France, commonly known as Bastille Day, is celebrated annually on 14 July in the country and its overseas départements and territories. The holiday marks the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution. What may be known to a lesser extent is, however, that the celebration of the unity of the French people (Fête de la Fédération) took place on the same day in 1790 and is equally commemorated during the national day.
In 1789, the French monarchy under Louis XVI was struggling to get an economic crisis under control as tensions started to rise between reformist and conservative powers. The Storming of the Bastille is widely considered the starting point of the French Revolution. Following the dismissal of the king’s Finance Minister, who supported the people demanding a constitution for the kingdom, crowds gathered in Paris with the objective to arm the population and prepare for a fight against the royal army. After a crowd of Parisians had already besieged the Hôtel des Invalides, another crowd formed and stormed the Bastille. The state prison Bastille had become a symbol for the arbitrary rule of the French monarch since political prisoners where often held there without indication of the reason for their imprisonment. A mob of citizens who demanded the arms and ammunition stored in the Bastille successfully took the building. Subsequently, the Storming of the Bastille not only signalled the beginning of the French Revolution, but also the end of the ancien régime.
Today, Bastille Day is celebrated with one of the oldest and largest military parades in Europe, taking Place on the Champs-Elysees in Paris with the President of the Republic and an often impressive array of other French officials as well as foreign guests. Moreover, the national day is celebrated with fireworks, concerts and balls throughout the country.
Did you know? (History edition - French Revolution)
- At the time of the storming, the Bastille only held seven prisoners.
- The colours of the French flag (la tricolore) go back to the cockades the revolutionaries wore during the Storming of the Bastille.
- The political labels ‘left’ and ‘right’ appeared for the first time during the French Revolution – they originated from where the delegates of the first French National Assembly were placed in reference to the presiding officer.
- The French national anthem (la Marseillaise) also originated during the Revolution: volunteers from Marseille who marched on the capital in 1795 to prevent the other European powers from restoring a monarchy in France sung it.
On the occasion of Bastille Day, why not chose to practice your interpreting skills with one (or more) of the many speeches in French on the Speech Repository? We offer you as many speeches as the year has days (yes, 365 – so you have one for every day) in French on various topics. Alors, qu’est-ce que vous attendez encore ? On commence à s’entrainer !
Happy practice
Your Speech Repository Team