Monthly Discussion Point: Bastille Day and the Beginnings of the Revolution

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

This month's discussion point is Bastille Day and the Beginnings of the Revolution.

Up for discussion are both the day itself, and everything leading up to it that probably helped to cause the revolution. Social reasons, political reasons, economic reasons - everything.

...Um, have fun? XD; And sorry this is a day late; I completely spaced if off yesterday!

Comments

[sunliner.livejournal.com]

I have but one thing to say and that is: OH MY GOD, I LOVE YOUR ICON!

[racaille.livejournal.com]

A lolcamilledesmoulins. Teh intarwebs will never cease to amaze me.

As for the day itself, I don't have much to discuss about it, sowwy.

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Why thank you. XD

[asako-michiru.livejournal.com]

I can't say much other than it was a good way of showing that the people had more power than the government and the corruption that had held them captive for so long. Since, of course, by storming it they freed the prisoners and showed they couldn't be oppressed. I think it was a signal of what was to come, blended in with the other violent actions, and a definite sign that the monarchy's days were limited, as any fear that had been was gone at that point. It was definitely a greatly symbolic action pointing towards revolution, and the violence that would come from the anger and desperation for a better country.
That's my opinion on it--not sure if that's what's wanted or not.

Sorry for the OT, I promise this is my first and last

[racaille.livejournal.com]

You've created a monster!

(http://photobucket.com)

(http://photobucket.com)

Re: Sorry for the OT, I promise this is my first and last

[pedrolino.livejournal.com]

you. win.

But Bastille Day! I think it's probably the most well-known event of the French revolution, save maybe guillotining Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Do you think that's safe to say?

Re: Sorry for the OT, I promise this is my first and last

[asako-michiru.livejournal.com]

I LOVE those. xDDD *snagged for locker useage, k?*

I actually think that, after the beheadings, the Reign of Terror may be the most well-known, with Bastille Day close behind. I don't think most people know what the Bastille even was, sometimes.

Re: Sorry for the OT, I promise this is my first and last

[pedrolino.livejournal.com]

That's probably true, I didn't think of that.

Re: Sorry for the OT, I promise this is my first and last

[racaille.livejournal.com]

I don't how it is outside of France, but in France Bastille Day (or rather "le 14 juillet") is indeed the first thing that comes to mind when people think of the French Revolution. Few people know it doesn't commemorate the storming of the Bastille but rather the Fête de la Fédération, which happened a year later (to celebrate Louis XVI signing the Constitution).

It remains the strongest symbol in France because we just don't commemorate mass executions. No one particularly enjoys the concept of beheading thousands of people, even if they were nobles. Many nowadays think that overall the results are good and that "to make an omelette you gotta break a few eggs". But people prefer to remember the happy beginnings instead of the sad slaughter, so they've been doing it every year for quite a while.

I actually remember the many 1989 bicentennial celebrations, and it was all about the positive aspects (at least for us kids). We didn't celebrate anything in the later years...

The only people commemorating the beheading of Louis XVI in France are usually extreme right-wing royalists, who are usually also anti-abortion, racist, antisemitic peeps who don't mind using skinheads as security for their events.

[sunliner.livejournal.com]

ROFL NOT EVEN KIDDING

Re: Sorry for the OT, I promise this is my first and last

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. XDD This is awesome.

[kkrum.livejournal.com]

this time last year, I read a biography on Marie-Antoinette, l'autrichienne, by Jean Chalon called Chere Marie-Antoinette ... pertty interesting stuss, albeit slanted. I think we could say that Louis XV's decision to have the dauphin marry, and thereby pacify the Austrian allies, pissed beaucoup de Frenchies off. The growing animosity towards the Austrians was neither pacified nor abated by the matrimonial conjunction of Austria and la France.

[racaille.livejournal.com]

One more thing is that several people were planning to destroy the Bastille due to urban planning anyway. Its size and location sucked, and people wanted to make a nice Louis XVI square in its location.

There were plenty of other prisons were -more- people were jailed (the "donjon de Vincennes" for example) due to the king's "lettres de cachet" so the public disagreement was more with the system of being able to put people in jail on a whim, no questions asked (you just needed to know the king).

A funny anecdote is the Marquis de Sade yelling to the crowd from his cell in the Bastille, using a pissing tube as a voice amplifier, that prisoners were being slaughtered. Which was bullshit of course, but happened just a few days before the 14th so that's really funny.

[citoyenne.livejournal.com]

I wish to get one thing clear: Did the mass that stormed the Bastille actually cut off the guards heads and placed them on spikes (etc.)? What I really mean to ask is how violent the whole event was.

Oh la la, the de Sade anecdote pwns, so does the "I'm in ur" pics xP

And since I've recently been in France (I came home yesterday actually), pictures from Place de la Bastille:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/stromcrow/LesFotografies/La%20France/DSC_0033.jpg
Juillet 1830, monument.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/stromcrow/LesFotografies/La%20France/DSC_0028.jpg
The inscription on the monument.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/stromcrow/LesFotografies/La%20France/DSC_0042.jpg
Place de la Bastille, where the brown line indicates where the prison once stood.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/stromcrow/LesFotografies/La%20France/DSC_0043.jpg