We interrupt Shark Week to bring you...the French. Aaaah, the French, always celebrated for their contributions to the ideals of modern liberal democracy.
The National Day of France, also called Bastille Day in English, celebrates the storming of the eponymous political prison on the 14th of July 1789. Though holding only 7 prisoners at the time, it was seen as symbol of royal authority and oppression. Its fall galvanized the French Revolution and the subsequent transition of France from a monarchy to a republic.
The pictured painting is, fittingly enough, called "Storming of the Bastille" by Jean-Pierre Houël. (May have to summon @purplepumpkin for more details.)
This holiday is usually celebrated with parades, air shows, and fireworks. (Not sure if they re-enact the Bastille battle as well.)
Hey!
What can I say that you haven't, the guy in the center is the marquis of Launay, director of the Bastille, who would imprison people just because the king said so -no trial necessary. The storming is obviously a symbol of the people controlling the power in place and reclaiming their freedom and the abolition of unjust privileges. So 3 days after the event, the revolutionaries adopted an emblem where the colors of the Parisian people, blue and red, were surrounding the white that represented the king; it's still our flag today.
The revolution took a little while, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were only killed in 1793. In the meantime, we'd had the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen -declaration of the rights of the man and the citizen- and soon after the Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne -same but with women, ofc not applied, author was killed-. The former stated that "all men are born, live and remain free and equal in rights".
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The National Day of France, also called Bastille Day in English, celebrates the storming of the eponymous political prison on the 14th of July 1789. Though holding only 7 prisoners at the time, it was seen as symbol of royal authority and oppression. Its fall galvanized the French Revolution and the subsequent transition of France from a monarchy to a republic.
The pictured painting is, fittingly enough, called "Storming of the Bastille" by Jean-Pierre Houël. (May have to summon @purplepumpkin for more details.)
This holiday is usually celebrated with parades, air shows, and fireworks. (Not sure if they re-enact the Bastille battle as well.)
What can I say that you haven't, the guy in the center is the marquis of Launay, director of the Bastille, who would imprison people just because the king said so -no trial necessary. The storming is obviously a symbol of the people controlling the power in place and reclaiming their freedom and the abolition of unjust privileges. So 3 days after the event, the revolutionaries adopted an emblem where the colors of the Parisian people, blue and red, were surrounding the white that represented the king; it's still our flag today.
The revolution took a little while, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette were only killed in 1793. In the meantime, we'd had the Déclaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen -declaration of the rights of the man and the citizen- and soon after the Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne -same but with women, ofc not applied, author was killed-. The former stated that "all men are born, live and remain free and equal in rights".