Yesterday, Bastille Day 14th July, was the 218th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille prison in France, an event profoundly ignored here entre les Rosbifs.
It is hard recall the French Revolution without thinking of the response of the Chinese Premier Chou En Lai, who when asked what he thought was its impact answered "It is too early to tell!"
On July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille immediately took on a great historical dimension; it was proof that power no longer resided in the King as God's representative, but in the people, in accordance with the theories developed by their philosophers of the eighteenth century. Within two days the Revolution could not be reversed. For all citizens of France, the storming of the Bastille came to symbolize liberty and democracy in the struggle against oppression.
People are often unaware of the unique Irish contribution to both sides of the events! The charge of the mob on the Bastille Prison was led by Robespierre's Irish assistant and of the only seven prisoners they found inside one was an Irish lunatic who thought he was Julius Caesar!
This may have happened 218 years ago but in Ireland they remember it as if it was yesterday and think it is too early to judge the impact!
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