Federation Festival
The federation festival ( French Fête de la Fédération ) is a famous festival on the field of Mars (Champ de Mars) in Paris , which was held on July 14, 1790 on the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille . It is one of the most important revolutionary festivals of the French Revolution . 60,000 delegates from 83 departments gathered for the celebrations. Louis XVI of France swore the oath on the constitution.
prehistory
The model was the regional federation festivals of the National Guard, which were held in the south of France as early as August 1789 and which arose everywhere in France. The parliamentary assembly Constituent Assembly approved the proposal of the Paris city administration to hold a national federation festival in Paris . The commander of the Paris National Guard La Fayette then began planning a national federation festival in Paris to commemorate the storming of the Bastille on the first anniversary of the event. Because of the short time left until then, the preparation, like the celebration itself, turned out to be improvisation.
In 1790, Parliament declared this first commemoration on July 14, 1789, the festival of reconciliation and the unity of all French. They wanted on the one hand the legitimacy of King Louis XVI. not deny, on the other hand, demonstratively expressing the general desire for unity and national reconciliation. Jean-Sylvain Bailly , French astronomer and first mayor of Paris, suggested that the planned festive meeting on July 14 should be dedicated to the commitment to freedom. On the feast day, following Bailly's suggestion, one should take an oath to preserve and defend liberty. Charon, the president of the Paris Commune, shouted slogans like “French we are free! French, we are brothers! "
Preparations on the field of Mars
The Champ de Mars, which at the time was far outside Paris, was expanded for the planned celebrations and military parades. The Altar of the Fatherland was erected in the middle . At one end a triumphal arch was built for the parade troops to march through, and the king's tent at the opposite end. On the long sides, earth walls were piled up, into which stepped platforms for the spectator seats were drawn. The grandstands offered a total of around 400,000 spectators. These grandstands then existed until the Second Empire in the second half of the 19th century.
On July 1, 1790, 1,200 workers began the earthworks. They were fed, but poorly paid. When they were accused of working too slowly under the time pressure of the remaining two weeks, they threatened to stop the construction work. An appeal was therefore made to the goodwill of the Parisians, who then also took part in the preparations in large numbers with voluntary unpaid work.
The high-ranking social representatives also acted as role models. Louis XVI came up from Saint-Cloud and brandished the pickaxe. The Paris commander, La Fayette, toiled in shirt sleeves like a worker. Immediately the Field of Mars resembled a busy human anthill, in which the workers of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine worked alongside the nobles, the monks next to the commoners, and where the courtesans shook hands with the ladies from the fine districts. The charcoal burners, butchers and printers came with their tricolor-adorned guild flags. The Ça ira and other patriotic songs were sung with joy. Soldiers mingled with the National Guards. The Parisians brought about 50,000 federalists from the provinces into their home. The families of the parliamentarians lived in the new military school.
The Federation Festival
The festival took place on July 14, 1790, exactly one year to the day after the storming of the Bastille . At four in the morning, the festivities began in heavy rain that was to last all day.
The spectators sat down on the stands erected around the parade area, Louis XVI. in the pavilion built for him in front of the École Militaire . The mass was held by Talleyrand , under the Ancien Régime Bishop of Autun. La Fayette rode into Gala on a white horse and stepped onto the podium. Louis XVI swore by nation and law, the crowd repeated the oath and they started a Te Deum , then they parted again with hugs and vivos, many of them on Louis XVI.
14,000 federalists came from the provinces, with each division of the National Guard dispatching two out of a hundred men. They marched under the banner of their department and with their drums in 83 groups.
With the permission of the Constituent Assembly , a delegation from the United States of America also attended the Federation Festival, including John Paul Jones , Thomas Paine , James Swan , Joel Barlow, and others. On this occasion, the Stars and Stripes blew outside the young American republic for the first time.
Many cities abroad, including Hamburg , celebrated the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille as a festival of freedom .
Effects and representations
Another federation festival took place on July 14, 1792, but the unity and momentum of the first celebration were already gone due to growing distrust. During the reign of the Hundred Days in 1815 attempts were made to revive Paris and Brittany , but to no avail.
At the suggestion of Deputy Benjamin Raspail and in memory of the Federation Festival, July 14th was officially declared a French national holiday on July 6th, 1880 .
The song of July 14th (Chant du 14 juillet) , composed by Marie-Joseph Chénier and François Joseph Gossec , was sung in the Écoles Normales until the Second World War.
The federation festival was depicted in many ways, for example on paintings by Hubert Robert and Charles Thévenin .
France issued a 2 euro commemorative coin in 2015 on the 225th anniversary of the federation festival.
La Fête de la Fédération , oil on canvas, 1790 by Charles Thévenin.
The triumphal arch of the Federation Festival of Hubert Robert.
Commemorative medal.
Looking towards the federation festival behind the king's tent.
Detail of the federation festival.
Announcement of the federation festival in a newspaper advertisement with the forecast of frequent heavy downpours throughout the day.
swell
- Jules Michelet : Histoire de la Révolution française. Chamerot, Paris 1847, Volume II, Book III, Chapter XI: «De la religion nouvelle. Fédérations (juillet 89-juillet 90) ”and Chapter XII:“ De la religion nouvelle. Fédération générale (14 juillet 1790) », pp. 161–195.
- Edgar Quinet : La Révolution. A. Lacroix, Verboeckhoven & Cie, Paris 1866, Volume 1, Book Seven: “Varennes”, Chapter 1: “Fédération”, pp. 251-253.
- Adolphe Thiers : Histoire de la révolution française. , JP Meline, Bruxelles 1834, Volume 1, Chapter V, pp. 167-175.
- Mona Ozouf : La fête révolutionnaire, 1789–1799. Gallimard, Paris 1976, Chapter II: "La fête de la Fédération: le modèle et les réalités".