Today is July 14th National Day France it’s definitely the perfect day for some of us to listen again. bad reputation, First in the original voice of its composer, Georges Brassens, and then, to bring together the best of our two countries, the Spanish version by Paco Ibáñez: “Cuando la fiesta nacional, yo me quedo en la cama igual…”.
The French national holiday has been celebrated as it is today since it was proclaimed by the two legislative chambers of the Third Republic in 1880, without specifying the date of July 14. In fact, the vote in the Senate mentions July 14, 1790, not 1789. Why? Because many moderates thought it wrong to associate the celebration of the national holiday with the armed and tumultuous seizure of the Bastille. So it was chosen to celebrate the Day of the Grand Union, which was in fact the first official anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.
After the storming of the Bastille, the regime’s people try to commemorate the memory at the same time as they try to forget.
Did I get it wrong? Well, let’s try to untangle this exchange. The storming of the Bastille became, thanks to Michelet and other historians, the symbol of the end of the old regime and the official beginning (I don’t mind telling you that it was the starting point) of the French Revolution. The medieval fortress, which had been used since Richelieu as a state prison, was an anachronism. True, French kings had imprisoned more than one king there without trial, but when it was stormed there were only seven prisoners: four forgers, an Irishman, a nobleman accused of incest, and two feeble-minded people; these were an Irish nobleman and Auguste Tavernier, who was considered an accomplice in an attempt against Louis XV. Small human spoils for the arrogant who had seized the castle.
As is almost always the case, there was much more coincidence than causation in the fall of the prison. It was semi-serviceable, as we have seen, and in fact was planned for demolition. But Necker was dismissed (Louis XVI’s finance minister; don’t make me explain), and a mob and militia demanded guns and gunpowder from the Invalides (and got them), but at the Bastille they met Launay, the warden. Charged with 32 Swiss soldiers and 82 war maimed men, who took so much pleasure in handing over guns and gunpowder that in the end the affair failed and 98 invaders and one defender died (more plausible figures). Launay surrendered the Bastille and surrendered, and his head ended up on a pike and was paraded around Paris with Jacques de Flesselle, the last provost of the Paris merchants (the mayor, all right), who was also murdered.
A year after the heroic and revolutionary act, the people of the regime try to commemorate the anniversary while they forget. Once again, the ironies of history. On the initiative of Brittany and Bordeaux, the unity of France and the Grand Union are celebrated. On the Champs de Mars, with the formation of the National Guard in front of Louis XVI, who swears allegiance to the nation and the new laws, and everything was largely orchestrated by Lafayette, who took it upon himself to diminish the role of those who made the decision. Bastille Day.
Have you already drawn your conclusions? Well, one last note of ancient history. The rooster is the emblem of France because Gallus, In Latin, it also referred to the Gauls, the ancient inhabitants. But the French themselves claim that the reason is also that the rooster is the only animal that crows loudly even when it is about to step on its own excrement. Long live France!
Read also
“Freelance social media evangelist. Organizer. Certified student. Music maven.”
