THE JONES CRY LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY

French Revolution: Fraternity, Equality and Freedom

Today, The Jones have had an intensive day. After visiting Disneyworld Paris and the Stade Roland-Garros and talking about their feelings and impressions about them during last three days, the family has returned to the English lessons. 

Then, they have revised a modal verb Have to/Don't have to and its importance to talk about routines.

More info: Have to I & II

Later, they have read another chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and they have been talking about the first reactions to the construction of Disneyworld Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, and about the pros and cons that the park offered to the inhabitants of this little town.

More information: Must vs. Have to

FRATERNITY. Tomorrow, the family is going to spend a great day in Paris because they have been invited to participate in MJ's birthday. For this special event, the family is going to sail by the Seine River meanwhile they are going to read some fragments of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. They have already written some postcards to celebrate this important day.

The Jones are visiting Le Place de la Bastille

EQUALITY. The Grandma has explained a lot of stories today.

On the one hand, she has talked about the French aristocrats and their life-style during the first decades of the last century. They had noble titles, practised some sports like tennis or equestrian, and had interesting jobs like pilots, writers or diplomats. It's the case of famous people like Roland Garros, René Lacoste or Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. This life-style was available only for rich and aristocratic people, because the rest or the population needed working to survive and they didn't enjoy free time and leisure.

FREEDOM. On the other hand, The Grandma has explained the influence of nature over important historic events. It's the case of the eruption of one of the Icelander volcanoes, Eyjafjallajökull, Bardarbunga or Laki, over the beginning of the French Revolution (1789); the Sicilian one, Etna, over the Reapers' War (1640) or the Neapolitan one Mount Vesuvius over Pompeii (79 AD) and Naples (1944).  

Merche Jones's memories with Open Arms

Marta Jones has also talked about the influence of droughts in the migratory movements and Joaquin Jones about the wars caused by the control of the natural resources, like Syria. 

The migrations like a linchpin has been taken by Merche Jones to talk about the last good news about Open Arms's boat which was detained in Sicily some days ago accused of illegal trafficking of humans, an accusation as unbelieved as false that has affected the whole crew and has avoided its normal work in the Mediterranean sea rescuing hundreds of people who escape from these insane horrible wars that seem, sadly and tragically, not to have an end.

More information: Open Arms
 

Finally, the family has written some predictions for Elena Jones's next participation in Roland Garros Tournament. The family is pretty sure she will win the slam.

The Jones are predicting the future

The Bastille was a fortress in Paris, known formally as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. 

It was stormed by a crowd on 14 July 1789, in the French Revolution, becoming an important symbol for the French Republican movement, and was later demolished and replaced by the Place de la Bastille.

The Bastille was built to defend the eastern approach to the city of Paris from the English threat in the Hundred Years' War. Initial work began in 1357, but the main construction occurred from 1370 onwards, creating a strong fortress with eight towers that protected the strategic gateway of the Porte Saint-Antoine on the eastern edge of Paris. 

The innovative design proved influential in both France and England and was widely copied. The Bastille figured prominently in France's domestic conflicts, including the fighting between the rival factions of the Burgundians and the Armagnacs in the 15th century, and the Wars of Religion in the 16th. The fortress was declared a state prison in 1417; this role was expanded first under the English occupiers of the 1420s and 1430s, and then under Louis XI in the 1460s.

More information: History

The defences of the Bastille were fortified in response to the English and Imperial threat during the 1550s, with a bastion constructed to the east of the fortress. The Bastille played a key role in the rebellion of the Fronde and the battle of the faubourg Saint-Antoine, which was fought beneath its walls in 1652.

The Storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789

Louis XIV used the Bastille as a prison for upper-class members of French society who had opposed or angered him including, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, French Protestants. 

From 1659 onwards, the Bastille functioned primarily as a state penitentiary; by 1789, 5,279 prisoners had passed through its gates. Under Louis XV and XVI, the Bastille was used to detain prisoners from more varied backgrounds, and to support the operations of the Parisian police, especially in enforcing government censorship of the printed media.

More information: History Today

Although inmates were kept in relatively good conditions, criticism of the Bastille grew during the 18th century, fueled by autobiographies written by former prisoners. Reforms were implemented and prisoner numbers were considerably reduced. In 1789 the royal government's financial crisis and the formation of the National Assembly gave rise to a swelling of republican sentiments among city-dwellers.  

Michelle Jones & the Génie de la Liberté

On 14 July the Bastille was stormed by a revolutionary crowd, primarily residents of the faubourg Saint-Antoine who sought to commandeer the valuable gunpowder held within the fortress. Seven remaining prisoners were found and released and the Bastille's governor, Bernard-René de Launay, was killed by the crowd. The Bastille was demolished by order of the Committee of the Hôtel de Ville. 

Souvenirs of the fortress were transported around France and displayed as icons of the overthrow of despotism. Over the next century, the site and historical legacy of the Bastille featured prominently in French revolutions, political protests and popular fiction, and it remained an important symbol for the French Republican movement.

Almost nothing is left of the Bastille except some remains of its stone foundation that were relocated to the side of Boulevard Henri IV. Historians were critical of the Bastille in the early 19th century, and believe the fortress to have been a relatively well-administered institution, but deeply implicated in the system of French policing and political control during the 18th century.

More information: French Revolution (Causes & Consequences)

The French revolution taught us the rights of man. 

Thomas Sankara