The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, built in the Middle Ages. It had eight towers and was surrounded by a water-filled moat. In the 1600s it was made into a prison. For many in France, it became a symbol of how kings oppressed the people.
On 14 July 1789, a mob advanced on the Bastille, intending to seize gunpowder that was stored within. After a fierce fight, the revolutionaries captured the prison. They found only seven prisoners. But the power of the people had been made known, encouraging the fighters for liberty and equality.
Bastille Day was first celebrated on July 14 the very next year, while the French Revolution was still in progress. Bastille Day did not become a French national holiday until 1880, long after the Bastille itself had been demolished by a revolutionary government.
Bastille was a fortress prison in France. It was a symbol of the despotic powers of King Louis XVI. Hence it was hated all in France. The fortress was demolished and its stone fragments were sold in the markets.
The taking of the Bastille signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, and it thus became a symbol of the end of the ancien régime. What does Bastille Day celebrate? July 14, often called la fête nationale in France, became an official holiday in 1880.
“Bastille Day is a holiday celebrating the storming of the Bastille—a military fortress and prison—on July 14, 1789, in a violent uprising that helped usher in the French Revolution.
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The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, built in the Middle Ages. It had eight towers and was surrounded by a water-filled moat. In the 1600s it was made into a prison. For many in France, it became a symbol of how kings oppressed the people.