July 14

Bastille Day/Fête Nationale
 

West Point cadets on the Champs-Élysées during the Bastille Day 2002 parade

Bastille Day, called la Fête Nationale  or  "le quatorze juillet" ("14th of July"). in France ("National Holiday"), in official parlance, or more commonly "le quatorze juillet" ("14th of July") commemorates  the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.  The anniversary of the storming of the Bastille is seen as a symbol of the beginning of the modern French nation.

Military parades, called Défilés du 14 juillet, are held on the morning of  July 14, the largest on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris The parade opens with cadets, then other infantry troops, then motorized troops; and the planes of the Patrouille de France fly above. In recent times, it has become customary to invite units from France's allies to the parade including the UK and the US.

n the United States, Bastille Day is also celebrated in many cities with almost as much enthusiasm as it is celebrated in France. including New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Seattle, leading to the comparison between Bastille Day and Independence Day. However flawed this comparison may be, there is a historical association, One of the major factors contributing to the French Revolution was the government's bankruptcy which was in great part due to France's major financial support of the American Revolution by borrowing millions of francs when the government was already on the verge of complete bankruptcy. Without that financial support, there may not have been a such a violent revolution.

Most of the romantic legends of the Revolution portray the Paris mob storming the Bastille to free hundreds of political prisoners. However, before July 14th there were only eight prisoners in the Bastille, several of which were judged criminally insane, including the Marquis de Sade (December 02)). Ironically, the Marquis was transferred to a lunatic asylum on July 13th because he was attempting to incite the gathering crowds to release the prisoners because of their ill-treatment. Sade shouted out his pleas through a megaphone that he constructed from the paper on which he was writing his infamous 120 Days of Sodom.  Ironically,  prisoners lived better than the crowds who attacked the Bastille. The fortress was set up as private apartments, and prisoners were allowed to move in their furniture and even their servants who had to agree to remain in the Bastille until their master was released. The jailers went out shopping everyday to buy the prisons expensive foods and wines for  the prisoners.

Regardless of Sade's attempts to have the growing mobs storm the Bastille to free the prisoners, the Bastille was stormed to obtain a large cache of gun­powder that had recently been transferred there for protection. A major raid had been made earlier on the morning of July 14th on the Hotel des Invalides from which the crowds obtained 12,000 muskets. With their large supply of muskets, the crowds were desparate1y trying to obtain gunpowder for them.  There were only 110 soldiers defending the garrison, and by the time of the surrender, only seven were killed. The mob casualties were about 150 killed and wounded.. The Governor of the Bastille, de Launay, was promised a safe-conduct after the surrender, but was assassinated on his way to the Hotel de Ville by decapitation with a butcher knife.

There are an infinite number of French specialties appropriate to celebrate Bastille Day including Strawberries Liberte which are giant strawberries, stuffed with caviar, set on a lime slice, and sprinkled with vodka. However, my personal favorite is Brie en Bastille (a whole brie cheese, covered with toasted almonds, baked in puff pastry). This dish can be served in small slices as appetizers and cut into larger sections as a main course, complemented only with a tossed salad and a good bottle of French wine.