Most people don’t realize that the event marking French Independence Day, known in France as La Fête Nationale, began well before July 14, 1789, and the sacking of the Bastille Fortress. In fact, the storming of the Bastille was the climax of a quickening political drama whose acts included the looting of Les Invalides the day before, and the emergence of a revolutionary mob the day before that, all of which stemmed from a mounting national economic crisis.
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