Just what is Bastille Day?

When President Trump heads to France next month to attend a Bastille Day parade, he will be attending an event along the Champs-Élysées that is a revered tradition in that country.

Bastille Day, which is celebrated July 14, commemorates an important historical moment in the French Revolution.

Rising taxes and food shortages caused dissatisfaction with the monarchy among the lower classes and led to the revolution in 1789.

Two days after the revolution started, a group of Parisians stormed the Bastille Fortress to free political prisoners and arm themselves against the French military. The fortress was considered a symbol of an absolutist monarchy.

President Trump to travel to Paris for Bastille Day

The seizure marked a major turning point in the revolution, which eventually led to the establishment of a republic.

The celebration includes a military parade in Paris. Bastille Day is also celebrated in other countries around the world, including in the U.S.

Last year, the festivity was marred by a terrorist attack in Nice, which killed more than 80 people.

French President Emmanuel Macron extended the invitation in a phone call Tuesday with Trump.

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