Vive Le France! Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!

As a student of St. Scholastica College, I recall how the irrepressible Sr. Caridad did her best to make history exciting. Despite her efforts, however, the class failed to fully appreciate the subject, perhaps because the traditional way of teaching history then was mainly through presenting a collection of facts for us to memorize. We studiously committed to memory the Carolingian Empire, Treaty of Verdun, the Hundred Years War and numerous kings named, Philip, Henry, Charles and Louis. For me, the facts were meaningless and easily forgotten.

Then, I went to Europe to pursue further studies in Italy, France and England. Rome, Paris, London and its ancient palaces, buildings and monuments are landmarks of great historical events. Suddenly, all the facts I memorized before had come alive.

I savored the rich history of France when I became the Philippine delegate to the UNESCO Executive Board. Between 1986 and 1987, I would attend the month-long sessions of spring and autumn in Place Fontenoy. Across UNESCO is the elegant Ecole Militaire filling up a whole square block. Napoleon Bonaparte instituted it for his French military officers. The Eiffel Tower is right behind it straddling Champs de Mars. Behind UNESCO is the awesome building complex with its beautiful golden dome, Des Invalides, where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried. Even the Métro (rail mass-transit system) stations have famous names: Charles de Gaulle, George V, Concorde, Pasteur, Emile Zola, Palais Royal, Louvre, etc.

Quatorze Juillet – La Fête Nationale

Yesterday, July 14, French Ambassador to the Philippines Theirry Borja de Mozota celebrated France’s National Day, commemorating the Fall of Bastille 221 years ago, with a reception at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

Bastille Day is the French national holiday (Fête Nationale), in official parlance, or more commonly “Quatorze Juillet” (14th of July). It commemorates the 1790 Fête de la Fédération, held on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. The storming of the Bastille was seen as a symbol of the uprising of the modern French “nation”, and of the reconciliation of all the French inside the constitutional monarchy which preceded the First Republic, during the French Revolution.

Many cities all over France hold fireworks during the night. But in Paris the highlight is the Eiffel tower, which flares up gloriously with fireworks. The Champs-Elysees is decorated with flags for the celebration. Many dancing parties are arranged (bals du 14 Juillet) and it is customary that firefighters organize them (bals des pompiers). These celebrations take place from 13 July at night to 14 July.

Défilés du 14 Juillet

Military parades, called Défilés du 14 Juillet, are held on the morning of 14 July, the largest of which takes place on the Champs-Élysées avenue in Paris in front of the President of the Republic of France. The parade opens with cadets from schools, including École Polytechnique, Saint-Cyr, and École Navale, followed by the infantry troops, then the motorized troops, while the aviation of the Patrouille de France flies above.

In recent times, it has become customary to invite units from France’s close allies into the parade. For instance, in 2004, during the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, the British troops (the band of the Royal Marines, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, Grenadier Guards and King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery) led the Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time, with the Red Arrows flying overhead.

The parade also involves the French Republican Guard, and occasionally non-military police units. It always ends with the much-cheered and popular Paris Fire Brigade, which, exceptionally, has military status in France.

The president then gives an interview to members of the press, discussing the situation of the country, recent events and projects for the future. He also holds a garden party at the Palais de l’Elysée.

Opera Bastille marks the site of the revolution

The confrontation between the commoners and the ancien régime ultimately led to the people of Paris storming the Bastille on July 14, 1789, following several days of disturbances. The fortress had become a symbol of royal tyranny, as the regime regularly imprisoned (embastiller) their political opponents behind its thick walls.

The Bastille prison or Bastille Saint-Antoine is located at Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine. It is known today because of the storming of the Bastille, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution.

Bastille is a French word meaning “castle” or “stronghold”. When used with a definite article (la Bastille in French, the Bastille in English), it refers to the prison. Most people believe that the reason for the storming of the Bastille by the peasants was to release the prisoners, but this was also where the French Army stored their weaponry.

The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris, where the Bastille prison stood until its subsequent physical destruction during the French Revolution. No vestige of it remains. The square straddles three arrondissements of Paris, namely the 4th, 11th and 12th.

The July Column (Colonne de Juillet) which commemorates the events of the July 1830 Revolution stands at the center of the square. It is home to the Opéra Bastille. The large ditch (fossé) behind the fort has been transformed into a marina for pleasure boats, the Bassin de l’Arsenal to the south, and a covered canal, the Canal Saint Martin, extending north from the marina beneath the vehicular roundabout that borders the location of the fort.

Some undemolished remains of one tower of the Bastille fort were discovered during excavation for the Métro in 1899. These were moved to a park a few hundred meters away, where they are displayed today. The original outline of the fort is also marked on the pavement of streets and sidewalks that pass over its former location, in the form of special paving stones. A café and some other businesses largely occupy the location of the fort, and the rue Saint Antoine passes directly over it as it opens onto the roundabout of the Bastille.

The Age of Enlightenment

The seeds of the French Revolution germinated within the elite circles of the French culture. The most prominent intellectual, Francois-Marie Arouet (better known by the pen name, Voltaire) provided the basis for the “Age of Enlightenment” with his epic poems, tragedies, historical essays, fables and philosophy.

Voltaire used his ironic humor to attack injustice and develop man’s awareness of his own uniqueness and importance. The “enlightened man” knew he had rights, which the nation’s leaders were obliged to protect. The concept of a representative government spread throughout the Americas and Asia.

Ten years after the 1789 Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, a Corsican-born general, seized power through a coup d’etat that met little opposition. The ambitious military genius declared himself during his coronation rites. This event weakened the allegiance that kings and rulers used to pledge to Almighty God.

Bonaparte instituted major changes such as the centralization of power, the common law (based on the Napoleonic Code), the civil service, the university complex, and the banking system (Banque de France). His reign held sway in Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. The “little corporal” met his major defeat in Russia during a winter military campaign. General Wellington of England caused his final defeat on the plains of Waterloo in Belgium.

Human liberties are God-given attributes

The French Constitution declares its nation as a Republic, indivisible, secular, democratic and social. It shall ensure the quality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. The motto of the French Republic is Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Brotherhood). Equality means that the law is the same for all, either for protection or for punishment. Its principle is government of the people, by the people and for the people.

In the course of an extended discussion on liberty and the rights of men, contained in a letter to the French savant, Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, Thomas Jefferson wrote: “I believe with you that morality, compassion and generosity are innate elements of the human constitution…Human liberties are God-given attributes, and frustration of their fullest expression would be tantamount to opposing the will of God.”