Bastille Day Paris 2025, France

In the 18th century the French government and her citizens grew further and further apart. The citizens, shopkeepers and craftsman became poorer and poorer while King Louis XVI had absolute power and lived with part of the nobility in luxury. In 1789 the people revolted and forced their way into Hotel des Invalides, where the king’s weapons were stored, while the gunpowder for the weapons were in the Bastille wherever many political prisoners were imprisoned. This gave plenty of reasons to storm the Bastille, which happened on the 14th of July 1789 and the citizens demanded the surrender of the military leader of the prison, Bernard René Launay, and the prisoners were freed. It was the first time that citizens revolted against the king and the king couldn’t do anything. That’s why this liberation is the most symbolic moment of the French Revolution. After this the citizens went to Versailles where King Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette lived. The king, his wide and members of the court were beheaded. 

The Bastille was built to protect the east side of Paris during the Hundred Years war between France and England in the 14th century. Originally the Bastille was a castle with walls of 30 meters high and 1 meter thick, during the reign of Louis XIII it became a prison were citizens who were seen as enemies of the king were imprisoned. The storming of the Bastille is so important because the monarchy living in luxury had fallen!

Paris, the city where the storming of the Bastille took place, is the center of attention during the important Bastille day. The day begins with a military parade down the Champs Elysées towards the Arc de Triomphe and the Place de la Concorde. The military parade contains about 4.000 soldiers from the Air Force, Navy and Army, police officers and firefighters. This parade is the largest and oldest military parade in Europe. The army vehicles and the Gardes Républicaines on horses and in traditional uniforms make this event very impressive. After this parade there is a fly-past of military aircraft and helicopters starting with the jets of the Patrouille de France with plumes of red, white and blue smoke.

This year we also went to Evreux to see most of the participating aircraft for the fly-past arrive.

Formation 1: 8x Alpha Jet – Patrouille de France

Formation 2: 1x E-3, 2x Rafale C, 1x Rafale B, 2x Mirage 2000-5F, 1x F-16 (Belgian AF), 1x F-18 (Swiss AF), 1x EF-2000 (German AF), 1x EF-2000 (Italian AF) 1x EF-2000 (Spanish AF) and 1x Typhoon (Royal AF)

Formation 3: 1x KC-135RG and 4x Rafale B

Formation 4: 1x A-330MRTT, 1x Rafale C, 1x Rafale B and 2x Mirage 2000D

Formation 5: 1x A-400M, 1x Mirage 2000D and 2x Rafale B

Formation 6: 2x PC-21, 2x Alpha Jet, 2x Mirage 2000B and 2x Rafale B

Formation 7: 5x Rafale M, 2x E-2C and 1x Falcon 10

Formation 8: 1x Atlantique and 1x Falcon 50

Formation 9: 3x A-400M and 1x A-400 (Spanish AF)

Formation 10: 1x Falcon 900, 1x C-130J.30 and 2x CN-235