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It must be Bastille Day – the dive fighter, Carrie Warriors, almost every French town of Eiffel Tower and fireworks drone light show.
France celebrated its biggest holiday on Monday, with 7,000 people marching horses and armored vehicles along the cobblestones of the Champion Release, Paris’s most iconic avenue. And there are parties and pageantry plans all over the country.
Why Bastille Day is a big deal
Parisians raided the fortress and prisons of Bastille on July 14, 1789. This is the spark of the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy. In the next two centuries, France saw more uprisings and two world wars before settling in today’s Fifth Republic, founded in 1958.
Bastille Day will become a central moment for modern France, celebrating the melange of democratic freedom and national pride, revolutionary spirit and military power.
The Paris parade under Ark de Triomphe was impressed by his visit to President Donald Trump in 2017, urging him to stage his own parade this year.
What stood out
The spectacle began on the ground, when French President Emmanuel Macron reviewed the troops and re-illuminated the eternal flames under the Ark de Triomphe.
Two riders fell off a horse near the edge of the parade, but it was unclear whether anyone had been injured. Such incidents sometimes occur at annual events.
Each parade uniform has a touch of symbolism. Conditions from French foreign legions are eye-catching, with the whiskered army carrying the shaft wearing leather aprons is a reference to its original role as route clearers to advance the army.
The Paris event included fighter overpasses, with red, white and blue smoke erupting. Then, in the evening, a drone light show and fireworks are seen at the Eiffel Tower, which is more elaborate every year.
This year’s special thing
Every year, France holds special guests for Bastille Day, Indonesia this year, and President Prabowo Sabuant represents the world’s largest Muslim country.
Indonesian troops, including 200 traditional drummers, marched in Monday’s parade, with Indonesia expected to confirm new purchases of Lafale fighter jets and other French equipment during their visit. Prabowo, accused of rights abuse under the previous dictatorship of Indonesia, is treated to a special holiday dinner at Elise Palace.
“As Indonesians, this is a very important and historic military and diplomatic cooperation,” General Ferry Irawan, commander of the Indonesian military delegation, told The Associated Press.
Finnish troops serving Lebanon’s UN forces, as well as Belgian and Luxembourgian troops serving Romanian NATO forces, also parading through Paris, reflecting the increasingly international nature of the event.
Some senior officials invited to watch rescued two babies from a burning apartment earlier this month and received a last-minute invitation with a call from Macron himself.
“I wasn’t expecting that call,” he told online media Brut. “I feel proud.”
What is the geopolitical background?
Beyond the military sights of Paris, concerns are growing about an uncertain world. On the eve of Bastille Day, Macron announced French military spending of 6.5 billion euros ($7.6 billion) over the next two years due to new threats ranging from Russia to terrorism and online attacks. The French leaders called for fierce efforts to protect Europe and promote support for Ukraine.
“Since 1945, our freedom has never been so threatened, and never seriously threatened,” Macron said. ”We are returning to the facts of nuclear threats and the spread of massive conflicts. ”
Security has become very close around Paris before and after Paris.
What else will happen on Bastille Day?
It is an era in which France will award special awards to famous people, including the most honorable legions of honor. This year’s winners include Gisèle Pelicot, who became a global hero for victims of sexual violence in a four-month trial when her husband and dozens of men were convicted of sexual assault while unconsciously being taken medicine.
Others who won the honor are Holocaust survivor and French resistance fighter Yvette Levy and Louis Vuitton designer musician Pharrell Williams.
Bastille Day is also a time for family gatherings around France, firefighters’ balls and country festivals.
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