Bastille Day guest of honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in France, and security has been stepped up, as India and France gear up to celebrate 25 years of strategic partnership, here's a look at what Bastille Day is.
This year, Bastille Day celebrations will include the participation of the Indian armed forces. The Indian contingent will consist of 77 marching personnel from the Army and 38 from the band. Captain Aman Jagtap will lead the Army contingent, the Navy contingent by Commander Vrat Baghel and Squadron Leader Sindhu Reddy will lead the Air Force contingent. Three Rafale fighter jets of the Air Force will also be taking part in the flypast over Avenue Champs Elysees with French jets.
The Indian army's association with its French counterpart dates back to World War I, when approximately 13,000,00 Indian soldiers served, of which 74,000 died. Ahead of the Bastille Day celebrations this year, the Indian contingent marched to the song, 'saare jahan se accha'.
The storming of the Bastille has been commemorated in France for more than a century. One of the revolutionary days in the nation's history, it is celebrated with solemn marching, dancing and fireworks. Known as La Fete Nationale, it marks the fall of Bastille, the military fortress, a political prison, which was at the time-- 1789-- considered the symbol of monarchy and armoury.
This day marks the beginning of the French Revolution against the harsh rule of the monarchy. After storming the Bastille, people picked up ammunition to fight the royal troops. They then released the handful of prisoners held there. This signified the first victory of the people against the Old Regime, an edifice, which was eventually razed to the ground in the following months.
Benjamin Raspail, a Deputy for the Seine Department, moved that July 14 be named the national holiday of the Republic, and Parliament passed an act to that effect on July 6, 1880. The emphasis was the holiday was to be patriotic and military in nature, especially in the wake of France's recovery from the defeat of the 1870 Franco-Prussian war.
Each locality had its own way of celebrating, usually a torchlight parade on the evening of the 13th. The next morning, church bells or gun salutes announced the military parade, followed by a luncheon, spectacles and games, with dancing and fireworks ending the day.
Today, in the capital city of Paris, a meticulously planned traditional military parade on the Champs-Elysées takes place. Then, dancing and fireworks displays or special illuminations are organized all over the country.
In 1974, when Giscard d’Estaing became president, he re-routed the military parade, marching the troops from the Place de la Bastille to the Place de la République. In 1980, the parade returned to the Champs-Elysées. In 1989, for the bicentenary of the French Revolution, the "La Marseillaise" night-time parade organized by graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude under president François Mitterrand was attended by various foreign heads of state.
In 1994, German soldiers serving in the Eurocorps participated in the parade to symbolise reconciliation between the two nations.
In 2007, for the first time, soldiers from 27 European countries participated in the parade. In 2009, Indian soldiers took part in the military parade and in 2010, fourteen African countries participated in the parade.
About 9,500 soldiers take part in the parade-- about 7,800 on foot; then there are 380 vehicles, 240 horses and over 80 planes and helicopters. Only twice there was a break in Bastille Day celebrations-- during the German occupation from 1940-1944, then in 2020, when the parade was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.