History
Originally a popular feast, Bastille day became militarized during the Directory. Under Napoléon, the celebration lost much of its importance, though it came back into fashion during the Third Republic. The Fête de la Fédération became the official national celebration on the 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 hippodrome of Longchamps, 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.
On the occasion of the 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. 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.
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
- 1975: Cours de Vincennes
- 1976: Champs-Élysées
- 1977: École militaire
- 1978: Champs-Élysées
- 1979: République-Bastille
- 1980: Champs-Elysées.
Under Presidents, François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac the parade route returned to the Champs-Elysées where it continues to be held.
In 1994, troop 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 Morocco 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 NYFD firefighters paraded.
In 2004, British troops 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.
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 division of their armed services.
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 Saare Jahan Se Achcha, Haste Lushai and Kadam Kadam Badaye Ja.
To celebrate the 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.
In 2011 former judge and Green politician Eva Joly called for an end to the 14 July parade, saying that it should be replaced with a "citizens' parade".
The 2012 parade was led by the Armed Forces units in Afganistan (the Foreign Legion included), several NATO countrie's 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, in front of everyone in attendance.
Read more about this topic: Bastille Day Military Parade
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