France : Bastille Day in pictures: 100 years of France's national celebration

 Bastille Day or Fête Nationale is celebrated across France on 14 July. It commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789 by a mob of Parisians during the opening stages of the French Revolution.

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Bastille Day in pictures: 100 years of France's national celebration | Euronews

France: Macron hails common European defence on Bastille day

Bastille Day: Macron hails common European defence in July 14 message 

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https://www.euronews.com/2019/07/14/bastille-day-macron-hails-european-defence-in-july-14-address

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France: Bastille day showcases EU military cooperation

France: Bastille Day parade showcases European military cooperation

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France: Bastille Day: France gives big nod to US at annual parade - by Philippe Sotto

France’s annual Bastille Day parade turned into an event high on American patriotism this year, marked by a warm embrace between President Donald Trump and his French counterpart on Friday.

French President Emmanuel Macron invited Trump as the guest of honor for the celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I. The two men sat side by side with their wives, speaking animatedly as American and French warplanes roared above the Champs-Elysees.

The parade coupled traditional displays of military might with a look at wars past and present — and a nod to the U.S. role in both.

Macron, in a speech near the end of the event, thanked the U.S. for intervening in World War I and said the fact that Trump was at his side “is the sign of a friendship across the ages.

“And that is why I wish to thank them, thank the United States for the choice it made 100 years ago,” he said.

Macron also said that the U.S. and France are firm friends and “this is why nothing will ever separate us.”

Five of the 145 U.S. troops marching in Friday’s parade wore period World War I uniforms. Trump saluted the detachment as it passed. The U.S. president didn’t make any remarks.

Read more: Bastille Day: France gives big nod to US at annual parade - The Washington Post

France-US Relations: US friendship with France 'unbreakable', Trump says on Paris visit

French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump gave a joint press conference on Thursday as the US leader arrived to take part in Bastille Day celebrations.

"The friendship between our two nations and ourselves is unbreakable," Trump said after bilateral talks focused on joint US-French efforts to fight terrorism in the Middle East and Africa.

Macron said he and Trump were able to discuss how best to combat "a global threat with enemies who are trying to destabilise us".

The French president also acknowledged that sharp differences remain with Trump when it comes to the Paris climate agreement but noted that the US withdrawal from the Paris accord was one of Trump’s campaign promises.

"I respect the decision of President Trump," Macron told a joint news conference in Paris. "As a result he will lead the necessary thought and work that correspond to his campaign promises. For my part, I remain committed to the Paris accord."

Read more: US friendship with France 'unbreakable', Trump says on Paris visit - France 24

Britain: Downing Street braces for ‘sneak’ Trump visit – by Christian Krug

U.S. President Donald Trump may be planning to visit U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on short notice, the Guardian reported Monday.

Trump could use his next European trip to stop by his Scottish golf resort in Turnberry and would be expected to meet May for informal talks in London if so. Downing Street is preparing for a potential visit from the president between the G20 in Hamburg this weekend and his appearance at the Bastille Day parade in Paris on July 14 alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.

No. 10 would likely be informed only 24 hours ahead of time in order to minimize the risk of disruption, according to the Guardian.

The formal state visit — announced during May’s trip to Washington in January — was expected to take place this summer but postponed over concerns of mass protests.

Read more: Downing Street braces for ‘sneak’ Trump visit – POLITICO

France - Bastille Day: How peace and revolution got mixed up - by Hugh Schofield

Bastille Day

Without realizing it, what the French may technically be celebrating is not the storming of the Bastille but an event that took exactly one year later, on 14 July 1790: the Fete de la Federation.

It is easy to forget that for the first century after 1789, France lived mainly under the kind of monarchical regimes the revolution was supposed to have done away with.

There was Napoleon; then the restored Bourbons after Waterloo; then King Louis-Philippe; a brief republican interlude starting in 1848; and then the second empire under Napoleon III.

Not until 1870, after defeat in the Franco-Prussian war, did France establish a lasting republican system.

A year after the fall of the Bastille, Paris had been a city of hope. King Louis XVI was still on his throne, but his powers were being circumscribed by a constituent assembly. The privileges of the aristocracy had been abolished.

It was what historians have dubbed the "optimistic phase" of the revolution.
And to mark it, the authorities organized an extraordinary outdoor event on the Champs de Mars - where the Eiffel Tower now stands.

For the Senator Henri Martin - who drew up the National Day law - "14 July 1790 is the most beautiful day in the history of France, possibly in the history of mankind. It was on that day that national unity was finally accomplished."

Passed in 1880, the law was deliberately ambiguous. It did not say which 14 July was being celebrated.
And today, of course, everyone thinks of it as Bastille Day.
But spare a thought for that other Quatorze Juillet - when France seemed on the verge of more peaceful, gradual change. It is part of the story too.

Read more: BBC News - Bastille Day: How peace and revolution got mixed up

TheStar.com : France marks Bastille Day with traditional pomp - by Deborah Seward

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France marks Bastille Day with traditional pomp - by Deborah Seward

President Nicolas Sarkozy opened the traditional Bastille Day military parade to Indian and German troops today, as France looks to expand its global military influence and strengthen strategic partnerships. French forces marched with precision down the Champs Elysees along with Indian troops in colorful uniforms and German soldiers in sober dress.Attack jets in tight formation roared across blue skies overhead to the delight of thousands of cheering onlookers.

Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, greeted children who were treated in France for wounds received in wars and conflicts overseas, and also paid tribute to French troops serving with other NATO troops in Afghanistan. "I told President Obama that we would help because this country (Afghanistan) must regain the conditions of its freedom. We are not going to let the Taliban cut off the hands of little girls because they put on nail polish," Sarkozy said.

The German troops marching in today's parade, under the review of German President Horst Koehler, were part of a joint brigade deployed in the eastern French city of Strasbourg. As part of France's return to the NATO command structure this year after a 43-year absence, France welcomed the German troops into the Strasbourg brigade

Earth Times: India is guest of honour at France's Bastille Day parade

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India is guest of honor at France's Bastille Day parade

The annual Bastille Day military parade, celebrating France's national holiday, began Tuesday on the Champs Elysees in Paris with India as the guest of honor. With Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sitting in the reviewing stand next to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, 400 Indian soldiers in ceremonial uniform marched at the head of the parade. According to the daily Le Figaro, Singh is the first foreign head of government to have been granted the status of "guest of honor" at France's Bastille Day celebrations, which commemorate the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789.