5 important French events đŸ‡«đŸ‡· you should know about if you are learning French

Yes, yes language learning is also learning about another culture. Especially learning about the unspoken rules of politeness.
 
But it’s also learning a bit about the history of the country.
 
Why? Because if you don’t know about certain key dates, you won’t get references.
 
And if you want to be fluent, you definitely want to understand them.
 
Don’t panick though, I’m not going to recite to you the ENTIRE list of French rulers from Hugh Capet to Nicolas Sarkozy. Neither will I talk about the Fifth Republic, the Second Empire or the construction of the palace of Versailles.
 
You don’t need to know it all. Just enough to understand references.
 
That’s why today we’re going to take a look at 5 important French events you should know about if you are learning French.
 

And promise, I won’t mention the treaties, regimes, and other constitutional monarchies. We’re keeping things easy and popular.

Why those dates?

Sure, there are more than 5 important dates in French history. But, first, I don’t want to overwhelm you, and second, I decided to talk to you about these ones in particular because they REALLY shaped French society. 
 
French history is a long one. Like super long. Some people say Charlemagne (8th century for your information), but really it dates back way more than that.
 
So I’m keeping things simple. Because, even if everything is interesting, there’s just so much you can hear about conflicts, republics and other war of religion.
 
Understand them and the machinery of French culture, and French people will not be so obscure anymore 😉 

14 Juillet 1789 - La prise de la Bastille

via GIPHY

Probably the most clichĂ© event I could find 😃

Wow, yes I know: obvious, you’re going to tell me.
 
But, actually not so much. Because the French Revolution is a bit more complex than ‘all French people at the gates of the King’s castle, Marie-Antoinette saying ‘Let them eat cake’, and then guillotine’.
 
As any revolution, the French one was not only based on the idea of the people governing the people. It was a reaction to a long process of political instability, and of philosophical Enlightenment.  
 
If you want to know more about it, I recommend this short video. 
 
Fun fact – It did NOT end the French monarchy. 
 
Fun fact 2 – This is by no means the ONLY revolution in France.
 
Do you know how hard it is to short videos on the subject that are also historically coherent?

But well, why is the 14th of July important?

So the 14 Juillet is regarded as the starting point of the Revolution, where the literal fight for equality began. 
 
The Bastille was a prison, a place where the King would throw the nobles that he didn’t like basically. So the whole imagery of the storming of the Bastille by the revolutionaries was symbolic.
 
But that came after, because mainly, at the moment it was about stealing weapons.
 
Regardless, it is STILL regarded as this by French people. AND held in high esteem.
 
This event is the main reason why French people feel like demonstrating so often. It’s a question of the ‘right of the people’, the ‘power of the people’ against Nobility and the privileges. 
 
And that’s a bloody powerful value in French society, which has definitely inspired most of the other events on this list.

For the little story, Bastille Day, France’s national day, which first of all is NOT an independence day, was chosen because of the FĂȘte de La FĂ©dĂ©ration (14th of July 1790), not the Bastille (which was regarded as too violent to be commemorated on its own).

Août 1944 - La Libération

via GIPHY

Apart from the spontaneous kisses? 

Both World Wars were very traumatising for France, but especially the second, as France was occupied and ruled by Nazis.
 
Not that World War I was a breeze either, eh.
 
La libération is the term historian use to refer to the liberation of France by the Allies. But when a French person mentions La Libération, he/she is probably referring to the Libération of Paris.
 
So, the liberation of Paris by the French Resistance, the French Army and the Allies.

Why is the Liberation important?

Again, this is all about imageries. Even if the facts are a bit more grey, the French population remembers the libération of Paris as an act of Resistance from the Parisians.
 
And yes, in fact, the Parisians indeed started the liberation on their own, with strikes from the railway workers (yep, yep, the same ones), the metro workers, the gendarmerie (army police), and finally the police.
 
So, for French people, it’s not that different from the Revolution.
 
An uprising of the Parisian population against a common oppressor.
 
And, if you ever had to work with French people, you know what I’m talking about.

Mai 1968 - Mai 68

via GIPHY

 Alright, I’m super amazed I’ve found a GIF of it ahah 

Probably the least internationally known events on this list. But damn important in the popular history of France.
 
We like uprisings. This is another one.
 
Imagine a France where there is a true divide between older generations and young generations. And I’m not just talking about age. There’s a real abyss between their cultures, ideologies, realities,
 
 
The French government has a strong, military leader: De Gaulle. But students are protesting against the Vietnam war. 
 
There’s one value that young people feel they don’t have: freedom. 
 
Besides all of that, it’s also the working class that is not going well: high unemployment, low salaries, factories are closing,

 
Internationally, it’s the period of the hippies, of sexual liberation, the Civil Rights Movement in the US,
 
 
So, on the 13th of May, after a series of demonstrations from the students and the workers, a general strike begins. This is literally paralysing France and forces the dialogue between generations, strangers, and different political parties. 

Why is Mai 68 important?

Because it shaped the way French people talk about politics: debates, discussions, strikes,
 
 
And you’ll see that if you make friends with French people. Debating is huge. Especially when it comes to politics, philosophy and even history.

 

It’s not only for the intellectuals anymore.

 
Also, the movement gave us some pretty amazing slogans :
 
“Il est interdit d’interdire” 
It is forbidden to forbid.
 
“Soyez rĂ©alistes, demandez l’impossible”
Be realistic, ask for the impossible
 
“Sous les pavĂ©s, la plage”
Under the cobblestones, the beach
 
“Prenez vos dĂ©sirs pour des rĂ©alitĂ©s”
Take your desires for realities. 

12 Juillet 1998 - Coupe du Monde de Football

via GIPHY

Definitely a big moment for French people

You’re going to think I’m silly. And it probably won’t be remembered as much as the other events on this list.
 
And I doubt anyone will put it on this sort of list in the centuries to come.
 
But still, chances are anyone that was born before 1993 remembers it today.
 
France won the football (soccer) World Cup at home, for the first time, beating Brazil 3-0.

Why is 1998 important?

It’s important for you to remember because French people still have memories of slogans, of the songs, and of the giant parties that followed.
 
‘Black, Blanc, Beur’
Black, White, Beur (to refer to the ethnicities of the players)
 
‘ET un, et deux, et trois, zĂ©ro’ 
And one, and two, and three, zero. (The scrore)
 
And the inevitable, Gloria Gaynor.
 
Wait, what?
 
Yes, yes, I Will Survive was a huge hit, and at parties, or when France wins something, you can still hear today French people singing the part of the song that has no lyrics…
 
I mean, come on, we’re not that good at English 😉 
 
So we sing – la la la la la la la la. (If you want to hear me sing this, check out the podcast)
 
Don’t laugh.
 
Bref, it’s another time the French population was in the streets, celebrating as one nation.
 
See, we don’t need conflict to be in the street.

2015 - 'Je suis Charlie'

France is no stranger to terrorism (you can check the list of terrorist incidents in France on Wikipedia). But 2015 was a dark year. 
 
Although, as a language learner, perhaps the most memorable of 2015 attacks is the Charlie Hebdo attacks and the November attacks.
 
In January 2015, two men attacked the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and murdered 8 people. 
 
In November 2015, three groups of men attacked the Bataclan, a concert hall, the State de France, where the president was attending a game, and several restaurants and cafés. They murdered 130 people.
 
I’m going to pass on the details of the shootings because what interests me here is the reaction.

Why are the terrorists attacks of 2015 important?

Because both series of attacks were clearly targeting the French culture, especially freedom of speech.
 
I’m sure you have heard of the slogan that was used and re-used on social media.
 
The fact that French people really reacted very strongly to the Charlie attacks is a statement of how much freedom of speech is a strong value of France.
 
Also, and I think that’s the theme of this article when French people are experiencing strong feelings, they take it to the streets: anger, oppression, happiness, even philosophical ideas.
Well, I hope you learned A LOT 😉
 
I quite like these little historical articles, don’t you? Maybe next time we could chat about Napoleon, Louis XIV, Victor Hugo or Charles Martel? What do you think?
 
Truly, I think the correlation between language and culture is not talked about enough. 
 
That’s it for today, as usual, apply what you’ve learned this week, keep learning, keep laughing, and I’ll see you next week for another article on Just French It.
 
À la prochaine !

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