Bastille Day Military Parade

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Mounted Republican Guards escort the command vehicle of the President.

Bastille Day Military Parade (or 14 July Military Parade, translation of the French name of Défilé militaire du 14 juillet) is a French military parade held each year in Paris, in the morning of the 14 July, since 1880.

The parade passes down the Champs-Elysées from l’Arc de Triomphe to Place de la Concorde where the Président de la République, his government and foreign ambassadors in France stand. This is a popular event in France, broadcasted on French TV, and is the oldest and largest regular military parade in the world. Some years, guest foreign troops take part in the parade, or foreign statesmen attend it.

Smaller military parades are held in other large French cities with local troops.

1 Organisation
2 History
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Organisation

The président opens the parade by reviewing the troops

The Patrouille de France flies by.

The Paris Fire Brigade closing the parade

The parade opens with cadets from military schools, in order of decreasing prestige : École Polytechnique, Saint-Cyr, École Navale, and so forth. The Patrouille de France flies by.

Recently, it has become customary to invite units from France’s close allies into the parade. For instance, in 2004, for 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 for the first time, with the Red Arrows flying by. In this case, guest foreign troops open the parade. [1]. In 2007, the parade opened with delegations of 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, including the French Republican Guard; and occasionally non-military police units. The Légion Étrangère always ends up the foot troops parade.

Motorised and armoured troops come next, and the parade traditionally ends with the much-cheered and popular Paris Fire Brigade (which is a military unit).

At the same time, above the Champs-Elysées, the flypast keep going with French Air Force and Naval Air Force planes and helicopters.

[edit] History

In 2002, the cadets of the United States Military Academy at West Point open the parade as guest troops.

Originally a popular feast, Bastille day was militarised during the Directory. Under Napoléon, the celebration lost much of its importance, and it came back to fashion during the Third Republic. The Fête de la Fédération became the official national celebration on the 28 June 1880, and a decree of the 6 July associated a military parade to it. Between 1880 and 1914, the celebrations were held in Longchamp.

Since after the First World War, the parade was held in the Champs-Élysées, the first edition being the défilé de la Victoire (“Victory parade”), led by Marshals Joffre, Foch and Pétain.

The event was not held in Paris between 1940 and 1944, under German occupation, though a company of the commando Kieffer, of the Forces Navales Françaises Libres, did parade in the streets of London.

1971 saw the first women parading among the troops.

Under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the place of the parade was changed from year to year, troops marching down from place de la Bastille to place de la République to commemorate popular outbreaks of the French Revolution [2] :

1974 : Bastille-République
1975 : Cours de Vincennes
1976 : Champs-Élysées
1977 : École militaire
1978 : Champs-Élysées
1979 : République-Bastille
1980: Champs-Elysées.

Later presidents , François Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac, held the parade on the Champs-Elysées ever since.

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 [3].

In 1999, for the “year of Morocco” in France, the Morocco Royal Guard opened the parade, in the presence of King Hassan II. This was the first occurrence of a fully autonomous foreign corps to parade on a 14 July.

In 2002, the cadets of the United States Military Academy paraded.

In 2004, British troops paraded to celebrate the 100 years of the Entente cordiale.

In 2005, “year of Brazil” in France, two Brazilian units opened the parade and the Smoke Squadron (a Brazilian air demonstration squadron) ended the air parade 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 militaries.^[1]