14/07/2025
Happy Bastille Day, ou Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!
What is Bastille Day all about? Well, first of all, in France this most important national holiday is not called Bastille Day at all. Much like Independence Day is more often called the 4th of July in the U.S., the French call Bastille Day Le Quatorze Juillet, the 14th July. Or it’s called Fete Nationale (National Holiday).
No one can really pinpoint what actually kicked off everything on the 14th July 1789 that precipitated the revolution, more than a decade after the American Revolution. King Louis XVI had recently sacked his finance minister who was quite popular, since he had suggested that the royal family try to budget to save money, and there were rumors that a new parliamentary body that was believed to be more on the side of the ordinary man would be stopped.
Life for the common people was difficult - lack of money and a rising cost of living, lack of food caused by poor harvests that led to flour shortages, and lack of much comfort on a daily basis. People were miserable. (Remember Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables”?) But the royal family, and the ruling rich nobles and church leaders continued to live their indulged and gilded existence. It seemed that they were oblivious to the suffering of the ordinary people. The day the Bastille prison was stormed, the king wrote in his diary for that day “nothing.” He was referring to his day’s hunting, the most important thing to him. Not a word about what went on in Paris.
What is known is that on that day, a crowd gathered. Some had guns. And the growing, angry mob marched to the Bastille to obtain powder for the guns. The Bastille was then a medieval fortress which served as a prison and a warehouse for munitions and gun powder, and also for bread grain.
Negotiations between the governor of the Bastille and the spokesmen of the mob quickly escalated into an angry shouting match and the Bastille guards opened fire, killing hundreds of people. A rescue team was called to support the guards and hold the Bastille, but they unexpectedly decided to side with the crowd. The Bastille was surrendered after a fight and the building was destroyed. There had been only seven prisoners held inside, all of whom were released. This day started a chain of action that would lead to years of turmoil and horror from which would emerge a new rule.
When the King was informed of the happenings at the Bastille he asked “is this a revolt?” and he was told “No Majesty, this is a revolution.”
For the rest of that year the revolution simmered, and on October 5 and 6, a mob marched on the palace of Versailles. It started in the market places of Paris, where the women were complaining about the lack of bread again and the prices. They had had enough of a king who wasn’t doing anything to make things better for them. About 7,000 people marched the six-hour route through rain and cold, and delivered the death blow for the French monarchy. That day, the royal family were sent to a gilded prison at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Versailles was boarded up to keep looters out.
A few days after that, a certain Doctor Guillotin introduced his fun, new, scientific device, and heads began to roll - more than 17,000 during the Reign of Terror!
Today, the Place de la Bastille sits on the former site of the prison at the end of Rue Rivoli on the Rive Droit (Right Bank) at the conjunction of three arrondissements - the 4th, 11th, and 12th - just east of Notre Dame cathedral. Although nothing remains of the prison, the July Column stands at the center of the square to commemorate the events of 14 July 1789.
The 14th July celebration in Vayrac actually began Saturday night, 12 July. For some, this is the best part because, all over France, there are Bals de Pompiers, firemen’s balls. They’re hosted at fire stations and anyone can join in the dancing and party. It’s a long-standing tradition in France that officially began in 1937, when a group of people followed firefighters back from a fête nationale parade!
Bastille Day is being observed more formally today with a ceremony at the Monument aux Morts, the monument to the fallen heroes of WWI, overlooking the Dordogne River valley where the Gauls made their last stand against Julius Caesar in 51 BC.
