On 14
July 1789
the Parisians attacked the Bastille,
a fortress that
was used
as a prison, looking for ammunition and freeing the seven prisoners
detained:
that day the French
Revolution
began
and, later,
July 14 became a
national holiday.
To
understand that
specific moment
it
is necessary to
go back to
at
least until May 1789 when, in Versailles, the States-General
had
met to discuss issues related to taxation and budget deficit. The
representatives of the Third
State,
the bourgeoisie, outnumbered both the aristocracy and the clergy and
the participants immediately split
up
on one issue: the bourgeoisie wanted
one vote per person,
while the
aristocracy
and the
clergy wanted to vote on
a
class
basis.
After being excluded from the discussions, the Third Estate
rebelled and self-proclaimed National
Assembly,
continuing to work on its own. When the National Assembly changed its
name to Constituent
Assembly
on July 9, King Louis XVI began gathering troops to dissolve
it.
Tension grew rapidly and the gathering
of the army around
Paris pushed the population – who
was suffering hunger
and was
convinced
of the existence of a plot against the Third Estate
- to revolt
and assault the Bastille, which had become a symbol of the Ancien Régime.
The
King was forced to abandon his plan and the Revolution took its
course; in August 1789
the Declaration
of the
Rights of Man and of the Citizen
was
proclaimed and, two years later, the Constitution,
which put
an end to the absolute monarchy,
was approved.
The French Revolution ended, in fact, 10
years later, when Napoleon
Bonaparte,
in a
coup d'état,
seized
power.
However, the events of 1789 and of
the
following years, as well as the ideas that accompanied them, are at
the
basis of Republican France, have
inspired other democracies
and are
indelible mark in
history. Proof of this is the fact that the date of 14 July was
declared a National Holiday some 100 years after the events of
the Bastille, in 1880, when various forms of government had already
alternated
in the country and the Third
French Republic
had already been established.
Sources
Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Bastille Day,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bastille-Day
Encyclopaedia
Britannica, French Revolution,
https://www.britannica.com/event/French-Revolution/The-Directory-and-revolutionary-expansion
Enciclopedia
Treccani, Bastiglia,
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/bastiglia/
Enciclopedia
Treccani, Rivoluzione Francese,
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/rivoluzione-francese/
Mosca, G., “Perché i francesi festeggiano il 14 luglio”, Wired, 14 July 2018, https://www.wired.it/attualita/politica/2018/07/14/festa-francesi-14-luglio-bastiglia/
Chiara Vona
Si è laureata in Relazioni Internazionali, con una tesi sulle trasmissioni radiofoniche americane verso i Paesi del blocco orientale durante la Guerra fredda e, attualmente, lavora nell'ambito della comunicazione.
In Mondo Internazionale è Segretario di Mondo Internazionale Academy e redattrice per "AccadeOggi" ed "EuropEasy".
She graduated in International Relations with a dissertation about American International broadcasting towards the communist bloc during the Cold War and, currently, she works in communications.
Within Mondo Internazionale, she is Secretary of the Mondo Internazionale Academy and she writes for "It Happens Today" and "EuropEasy".