PARIS (AP) 鈥� This year鈥檚 celebrations aren鈥檛 just about France. Troops and warplanes from around Europe joined Tuesday鈥檚 pomp-filled parade through Paris, in a showcase of support for and a symbolic flexing of European military muscle.
On last Bastille Day as president, he is hosting around 30 other leaders for an event that appears aimed at showing both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump that Europe is united and
Macron’s wife, Brigitte, welcomed leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they arrived for the celebrations. Zelenskyy got an ovation from the assembled dignitaries.
Meanwhile, raging and a are shaking up France鈥檚 biggest national holiday, forcing the cancellation of traditional fireworks and firefighters鈥� balls.
Here鈥檚 what to know about Bastille Day this year.
It commemorates the start of the French Revolution
It鈥檚 celebrated on July 14 because that鈥檚 the day Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in 1789, helping spark the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy and sent King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette to the guillotine.
Today, the day is central to the French calendar. Presidents use it to vaunt France鈥檚 accomplishments and national pride, mayors host village festivals and families gather for holiday meals.
The centerpiece is the Paris parade beneath the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Elysees avenue, which inspired Trump to last year.
A huge French tricolor flag hanging below the monumental arch rippled in the wind as a military band on horseback rode down the tree-lined avenue followed by Macron standing in an open military vehicle to kick off the parade.
Spectators wore hats and brandished small fans to fend off the heat as a formation of air force planes roared overhead trailing red, white and blue smoke.
Ukraine is a special guest
Zelenskyy joined Macron along with some 30 other heads of state or government in the special viewing area for the parade.
Ukrainian troops marched along the cobblestoned avenue, and Ukrainian co-pilots trained in France will fly two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French air force pilots.
Troops from around Europe are marching
On the ground, the parade opened with around 500 troops from the 鈥砪oalition of the willing鈥� grouping of countries that have pledged to help with Ukraine鈥檚 postwar security.
Macron said Monday night that it鈥檚 a 鈥砱reat honor鈥� to welcome to the parade 鈥砤ll the partners in the coalition of the willing and our Ukrainian friends who will march with us and illustrate its strategic reawakening and our unity.鈥�
The foreign fighters in combat fatigues and dress uniforms marched with their national flags, in a break with tradition 鈥� usually only one foreign country is invited to take part in the parade. It was the first time in some 20 years that British troops took part. Ukrainian forces got the loudest cheers from the crowd.
In the skies, aircraft from Germany, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Italy were taking part.
The parade set a record in terms of number of troops: The Paris military governor said 7,600 troops were marching this year, compared with 5,810 in 2025. Thousands of soldiers started taking up positions early Tuesday, many taking selfies as helicopters flew overhead.
The heat is disrupting the holiday
Forest fires are raging in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris and in areas of southern France, as the country suffers through its third heat wave this year.
As a result, authorities in some regions 鈥� including the French capital 鈥� banned fireworks and firefighters’ balls customarily held around Bastille Day.
The Eiffel Tower’s fireworks and drone show was maintained, however, and held Monday night, including a drone formation shaped like the Statue of Liberty 鈥� a gift from France to the United States that arrived in New York in 1885 to mark the U.S. centennial, the end of the American Civil War, and friendship between the two countries.
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Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
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