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    Bastille Day

    Posted by Chicago Boyz Archive on July 14th, 2011 (All posts by )

    Vive la France.

     

    This entry was posted on Thursday, July 14th, 2011 at 12:06 am and is filed under France, History, Holidays, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

    11 Responses to “Bastille Day”

    1. Dan from Madison Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 5:52 am

      “La” France, actually. Those articles are always a killer.

      [Fixed. Lex.]

    2. Michael Kennedy Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 9:59 am

      The fireworks along the Seine in Paris on Bastille Day are pretty impressive. So is Foch’s tomb which right next to Napoleon’s.

    3. Cris Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 11:52 am

      Eh? Nothing to celebrate here, folks. The slaughter and eventual mutiny of the poilus? The Vichy government? The Empire? The Bourbons? Mais non!

    4. sol Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 3:33 pm

      I remember driving through France – one small town after another – each had a central square and each had a a granite slab on which were carved the names of those who died in World War I. Sometimes there were more names than there were people still living in the town.

      According to a plaque I read at Verdun over a million people were injured or died there. Wikipedia has a smaller number.

      A 100,000 wounded or dead at a small nearby village called Liverdun.

      The area is pretty and peaceful today.

      The horror is overwhelming.

    5. Lexington Green Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 4:03 pm

      Stopping the Germans? Saving their country? Disproving the lie that the French won’t fight? Mais oui.

    6. Sgt. Mom Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 8:00 pm

      My own memory of visiting Verdun and Bar le Duc:
      http://open.salon.com/blog/sgt_mom/2008/12/03/country_roads_and_confiture_bar_le_duc

    7. Lexington Green Says:
      July 14th, 2011 at 8:56 pm

      “The Germans tried to take it but the French held on.”

      Thanks, Sgt. Mom.

    8. Cris Says:
      July 15th, 2011 at 1:43 am

      Merde! France has been a pimple on the butt of western civ since Charles Martel passed.
      La Gloire? Bleh!
      Guerre a la Outrance? Phui!
      Dien Bien Phu? Blaaaaaaaaaaaat!
      The women are passable, if one does not mind garlic.

    9. Lexington Green Says:
      July 15th, 2011 at 2:12 pm

      The Franks of France of their arms are reft,
      Three hundred blades alone are left.
      The glittering helms they smite and shred,
      And cleave asunder full many a head;
      Through riven helm and hauberk rent,
      Maim head and foot and lineament.

      ***

    10. sol Says:
      July 16th, 2011 at 11:41 am

      I am not against war, per se. A million died at Verdun – a place few had every heard of. That is the nature of war.

      If there must be war, then fight it in the other guy’s country.

      It has been US policy since 1890 to fight our wars in some one else’s country, to destroy some one else’s bridge, level someone else’s cities, etc. A very good policy. We did that in WWI, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Haiti, Guadeloupe, and places that never made the news.

      George Bush fought the War on Terror in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afganistan.

      Obama is changing this 100 year policy. He is bringing the War on Terror home to America so he can fight it in our streets, our buses, our trains, our planes and our buildings. Soon we will not need our TVs to watch it.

      This in not the change anyone (except jihadis) hoped for.

    11. zenpundit Says:
      July 16th, 2011 at 3:29 pm

      “They shall not Pass”

      And they didn’t. But the impact of the carnage at Verdun warped the character of the man who said it over time, moving him from national hero in the first world war to a grand traitor in the second.

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