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...- 14th of July, was 'Bastille Day'.
- French 'Fete nationale' which originally commemorated the 'Storming of the Bastille' marking the beginning of the French Revolution and the subsequent fall and demise of Louis XVI and the French Monarchy.
- Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th's Ancient Regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the king's power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the Nation and be limited by a separation of powers.
- storming of the prison was a symbol of liberty and the fight against oppression for all French citizens.
- symbolised the Republic's three ideals: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for all French citizens.
- As in the US, where the signing of the Declaration of Independence signalled the start of the American Revolution, in France the storming of the Bastille began the Great Revolution. In both countries, the national holiday thus symbolises the beginning of a new form of government.
- there is universal agreement that the political and administrative face of France was wholly altered: a republic based around elected - mainly bourgeois - deputies replaced a monarchy supported by nobles while the many and varied feudal systems were replaced by new, usually elected institutions which were applied universally across France.
- Culture was also affected, at least in the short term, with the revolution permeating every creative endeavour
- The revolutionaries of 1792 began a war, which extended through the Imperial period and forced nations to marshal their resources to a greater extent than ever before. Some areas, like Belgium and Switzerland, became client states of France with reforms similar to those of the revolution.
French Revolution Celebrated
- "Two hundred and eighteen years ago, a hungry...
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