2016-07-14 Thu

The day of 14th July 1789 turned out to be one of the most important days in the history of France. This day is marked with the most remarkable event of French Revolution. 227 years before the angry French mob stormed and dismantle the Bastille Prison.

The 18th Century France was an Anarchy dominated by the state and clergy. With the government deeply in debt, the subjects were suffered from inflation and scarcity of needful resources. The extravagant life of the Royal Family was bleeding the state treasure as well as the subjects. However, overall attitude towards these problems was very casual. Hence, the resentment against the rule of King Louis XVI was turning to fury.

A month prior to the incident, the people of France were thinking about eliminating the feudalism. Fuelled by the thinking of philosophers and activists these thoughts quickly turned into a Revolution. With the banishment of the Finance minister the last hope to have different laws and regulation went in vain.

Enraged by the fear, crowds gathered throughout Paris at the Palais-Royal on July 12th and started moving towards Bastille. At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons began to gather around the Bastille. The prison was attacked and handfuls of prisoners were released.

Why Bastille? The Bastille Prison was a symbol of the King's absolute and arbitrary power. Storming the prison was a message of commoners to the King that such anarchical rule can be attacked and stopped. Being the first act of protest this incident is appreciated in French history as it further led to the French Revolution – a turning point of the nation.

As the first act of uprising against the unjust rule this incident is remembered not only by France but also by many other countries. In the year of 1971 France issued set of three stamps featuring the incidents of French Revolution. Among them, a stamp of 0.65 francs depicts Bastille Prison and angry mob storming it.

Besides, countries like Vietnam, Cote D’Ivoire and Benin issued stamps to celebrate 200 years of the Fall of Bastille. US Airmail issued a beautiful stamp to commemorate entire French Revolution. A stamp showing French Tricolour with the denomination 45 cents was issued with “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” written in each stripe.