The Bastille Day military parade, also known as the 14 July military parade, translation of the French name of , is a French military parade that has been held on the morning of Bastille Day, 14 July, each year in Paris since 1880, almost without exception. The parade passes down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées from Place Charles de Gaulle, centred around the Arc de Triomphe, to the Place de la Concorde, where the President stands, along with members of the Government, figures from the legislative branch, the Mayor of Paris, as well as foreign ambassadors to France.
It is a popular event in France, broadcast live on television; it is also one of the oldest regular military parades in the world.French diplomatic mission in San Francisco www.consulfrance-sanfrancisco.org. The Trooping of the Colour or Queen's Birthday Parade in London has been held regularly since 1820: In some years, invited detachments of foreign troops take part in the parade and foreign statesmen attend as guests. Smaller military parades are held in French garrison cities, most notably Marseille, Toulon, Brest, Rochefort, Belfort, and Nice.
Organisation and parade summary
As the President of France arrives via a convoy of the Republican Guard to the Arc de Triomphe, he is greeted by the parade commander, who informs him that the parade is now ready for inspection. He then rides the Chief of Defense Staff's vehicle to inspect the troops on the Champs-Elysées escorted by troopers and officers of the Republican Guard's cavalry regiment and its mounted band, waving on the crowds lining up on the boulevard. After he disembarks from the vehicle he finishes the inspection through one done for the Republican Guard Infantry units, then walks to the stage on the Place de la Concorde to meet the dignitaries present.
In recent years the parade has started with military bands from the French Armed Forces taking the stage with band exhibitions and drill shows, sometimes including displays from foreign service troops and mounted units; plus military and civil choirs singing classic French patriotic songs. This opening ends with the playing of La Marseillaise, the National Anthem of France.
The parade opens with cadets from the military schools in order of seniority: the École Polytechnique, the Saint-Cyr and the École Navale, followed by newer academies. Competition between those schools often led to some practical pranks: Polytechnique is a highly selective engineer school, considered as the most difficult in France, whose students reverse most of the time to civilian occupation while Saint Cyr is a professional officer school. As a consequence, students from the first have occasionally "mined" the path for their colleagues using sticky or slippery products.
The Patrouille de France leads the fly-past of the French Air Force and Naval Aviation.
Recently, it has become customary to invite units from France's close allies to participate in the parade. For instance, in 2004, to mark the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, British troops (the band of the Royal Marines, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, Grenadier Guards and King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery) led the Bastille Day parade in Paris, with the Red Arrows flying overhead. While British troops had participated in the Bastille Day parades of 14 July 1919 and 1939 (see below), this was the first occasion that invited foreign troops had actually led the parade.http://www.entente-cordiale.org In 2007, the parade opened with detachments from all member states of the European Union, flying the European flag. The European anthem was played.
The parade follows with foot soldiers: army infantry; troupes de Marine; Air; Gendarmerie Nationale, including the Republican Guard; and occasionally non-military police and fire units. The French Foreign Legion always brings up the rear of this part of the parade, because their ceremonial marching pace is slower than that of other French infantry units. It is the only participant that does not split up when passing by the officials and the army headquarters' tribune.
Motorised and armoured troops come next, and the parade traditionally ends with the popular Paris Fire Brigade, which is a military unit in the French Army. At the same time, above the Champs-Elysées, the flypast continues with French Air Force and Naval Air Force planes and helicopters, and aircraft from the National Gendarmerie, the Interior Ministry's Civil Security Air Service and the various fire-fighting units nationwide. The parade ends with a parachute display by selected parachutists from the French Armed Forces. 2011's finale saw a gymnastic exhibition and fire truck demonstration by Paris Fire Brigade personnel.
History Early years Originally a popular feast, Bastille Day became militarised during the Directory. Under Napoleon, the celebration lost much of its importance, though it came back into fashion during the Third Republic. The Fourteenth of July became the official national celebration on 28 June 1880, and a decree of 6 July the same year linked a military parade to it. Between 1880 and 1914 the celebrations were held at the Longchamp Racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris.
Since World War I the parade has been held on the Champs-Élysées, the first occasion being the défilé de la Victoire ("Victory parade") led by Marshals Joseph Joffre, Ferdinand Foch and Philippe Pétain on 14 July 1919. This was not however a French National Holiday parade, although held upon the same date, but one agreed upon by the Allied delegations to the Versailles Peace Conference. A separate victory parade of Allied troops was held in London four days later.
After World War I
On the occasion of 14 July 1919 parade in Paris, detachments from all of France's World War I allies took part in the parade, together with colonial and North African units from France's overseas empire.pages 50–51 "To Lose a Battle – France 1940, The latter, most notably squadrons of Algerian Spahis mounted on Arab horses and in traditional full dress uniform, continued to participate in the annual parade until the end of the Algerian War in 1962.
In the Second World War, the German troops occupying Paris and Northern France paraded along the same route. A victory parade under General de Gaulle was held upon the restoration in 1945 of Paris to French rule while within the period of occupation by the Germans a company of the commando Kieffer of the Forces Navales Françaises Libres had continued the French National Holiday parade in the streets of London.
Recent developments In 1971, female personnel were included for the first time amongst the troops parading.
Under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing the parade route was changed each year with troops marching down from the Place de la Bastille to the Place de la République to commemorate popular outbreaks of the French Revolution: 1974: Bastille-République (No mobile column and flypast that year, only the mounted and ground columns.) 1975: Cours de Vincennes 1976: Champs-Élysées 1977: École militaire 1978: Champs-Élysées 1979: République-Bastille 1980: Champs-Élysées
Under Presidents François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac the parade route returned to the Champs-Elysées where it continues to be held. 1989's parade was one of the biggest, which would mark the bicentennial year since the outbreaks of the Revolution in Paris. In 1994, troops of the Eurocorps, including German soldiers, paraded on the invitation of François Mitterrand. The event was seen as symbolic of both European integration, and German-French reconciliation. In 1999, for the "Year of Morocco" in France, the Moroccan Royal Guard opened the parade, in the presence of King Hassan II of Morocco.
In 2002, the cadets of the United States Military Academy and surviving FDNY firefighters paraded. In 2004, British troops from the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, paraded to celebrate the centenary of the Entente cordiale. On an earlier occasion detachments of the British Brigade of Guards and Royal Marines had participated in the Bastille Day Parade of 14 July 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II.page181 "The Illustrated London News – Marching to War 1933–39",
In 2005, "year of Brazil" in France, two Brazilian units opened the parade and the smoke squadron (a Brazilian air demonstration squadron) ended the fly-past in the presence of President Lula. In 2007, president Nicolas Sarkozy invited all the 26 other EU member states to join the parade with a detachment of their armed services.Join the parade, Sarkozy tells EU armies , The Daily Telegraph, 8 June 2007
2008's Bastille Day Parade saw a United Nations Security Council/Secretariat-DPKO battalion leading the parade march past from UNDOF, UNFICYP and UNIFIL. In 2009, the parade opened with a contingent of Indian troops drawn from the three services (Indian Army, Indian Navy & Indian Air Force. President Nicolas Sarkozy invited Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to attend the event as the guest of honour. Soldiers including Jawans of Maratha Light Infantry Regiment Centre (MLIRC) marched down the Champs Elysees to the sound of an Indian military band playing Indian martial tunes including Sare Jahan Se Accha, Haste Lushai and Qadam Qadam Badhaye Ja.
To celebrate 50 years of independence of the French African colonies, the 2010 parade saw troops from several former French African colonies' armed forces lead the parade.
The 2011 parade celebrated the French overseas possessions and the 200 years of the French firefighting service. That same year, former judge and Green politician Eva Joly called for an end to 14 July parade practice, saying that it should be replaced with a "citizens' parade".
The 2012 parade was led by the Armed Forces units in Afghanistan (the Foreign Legion included), several NATO countries' armed forces, and France's UN peacekeeping units. A parachutist who took part in the parade's finale parachute display was injured and taken care of at once by the medical personnel, in front of everyone in attendance.
2013's parade saw troops from Mali (including members of the French-led multinational intervention force) and Croatia, the newest EU member, march past. The Hector Berlioz arrangement of the national anthem was played on this parade by the band of the Troupes de Marine (forming the medal of the National Order of Merit on the grounds of the Place de la Concorde together with civilian participants forming the ribbon) and the French Army Chorus with soloist Florian Laconi, honouring the golden jubilee of the foundation of the National Order of Merit.
To mark the centennial of the outbreak of the First World War, the 2014 parade started with a detachment of soldiers wearing the 1916 blue-grey French uniform which was followed by colour guards from the 69 other countries involved in the Great War aside from France itself. Among the countries represented included nations from the former Soviet Union (ex. Russia, Moldova,Cine poartă drapelul Ţării! army.md Belarus, Tajikistan) nations from the British Commonwealth (ex. New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom) and other allied nations such as the United States and former French colonies. The motorised parade ended with a limber team carrying a 75mm field gun, immediately behind the mounted French Republican Guard Cavalry Regiment. The 2014 parade ended with a choreographic performance by José Montalvo.14 juillet: défilé du Centenaire sur les Champs Elysées, Libération, 14 July 2014