Bastille Day is the National Day of France celebrated as a national holiday on July 14 every year. The day is announced with many fireworks, dancing and parades in between the country. It commemorates the storming of the Bastille, a military stronghold and jail, on July 14, 1789, by an enraged mob, heralding the start of the French Revolution. During the 1300s, the Bastille was founded as a stronghold to protect the eastern approach to Paris. According to the online English encyclopedia Britannica, it was afterwards utilized as a French state jail and a site of imprisonment for notable people throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. On July 14, 1789, it was attacked by an enraged mob of revolutionaries, who then liberated the seven captives held at the site. When the French Revolution was started, the Bastille Day was commenced.

In later years, the July 14 observance was discontinued. However, during the Third Republic, politicians (especially Léon Gambetta) looked for methods to commemorate the regime's beginnings. Benjamin Raspail, a Deputy for the Seine Department, proposed that July 14 be designated as the Republic's holiday celebrating, and Parliament agreed on July 6, 1880. From the start, the focus was on the festival's patriotic and military nature, reflecting France's comeback from the disaster of 1870. Every community or area in France celebrated, beginning with a torchlight procession on the evening of the 13th. The very next morning, church or cannon salutes signaled the start of the military parade, which was followed by a luncheon, shows, and games.

Following the severity of the 1914-18 war, the 14th of July 1919 saw a huge victory festival. Similarly, three days of public celebration proceeded July 14, 1945. July 14th celebrations are as popular now as they have always been. The customary military exercise on the Champs-Elysées in Paris is a perfectly prepared and special attraction is staged. The proceedings of the day have been somewhat altered by the Fifth Republic's subsequent Presidents. President Giscard d'Estaing, for instance, redirected the victory parade in order to recreate the tradition of democratic Paris. The procession, however, moved to the Champs-Elysées beginning in 1980.

The "La Marseillaise" night-time procession planned by Jean-Paul Goude on July 14, 1989, was observed by various foreign heads of State and was a high watermark in the festivities of the bicentennial of the French Revolution under French President Mitterrand. During 1994, German troops participating in the Eurocorps marched along the Champs-Elysées, symbolising the two countries' reconciliation. For the very first time, armies from 27 European nations marched in the parade in 2007. Indian soldiers were invited to participate in the events in 2009, and the military parade was launched by 400 personnel of the Indian Army, and Air Force. In 2010, sixteen African countries marched in the parade to commemorate the anniversary of their freedom.

Thousands of "heroes" and nameless "victims" were asked to the celebration hosted in the park of the Elysée after the procession in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In the midst of the economic crisis, President Nicolas Sarkozy chose to cancel the "flower beds" in order to highlight the Elysée's efforts to properly manage public finances. As recommended by President François Hollande, this same incident was happened in 2011 and 2012 too.