By Bill Barrow
The military parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the army and combine its convergence with the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump to create a Peacetime Outlier In American history. Yet it still reflects global traditions that serve a series of political and cultural purposes.
Variations on the theme have surfaced between old NATO allies in Europe, one party and authoritarian states and the darkest regimes of history.
France: Bastille Day and Trump’s inspired idea
The oldest Democratic ally of the US holds one military parade every July 14 To commemorate one of the most important moments of the French Revolution. It inspired Trump’s idea for a Washington version for a Washington version.
On July 14, 1789, French insurgents stormed the Bastille, who housed prisoners of the government of Louis XVI. Revolutionaries started with a Fête de la Fédération as a day of national unity and pride the following year, even with the first French Republic even more than two years after determining.
The Bastille Day Parade has been rolled annually since 1880. Now it goes off an iconic Parisian route, the Avenue des Champs-Elysées. It passes the Arc de Triomphe – a memorial with tribute to the French Revolution, Napoleonic wars and the First World War – and ultimately for the French president, ministers and invited foreign guests.
Trump Lived in 2017 atearly in his first presidency, as American troops marched as guests. The spectacle left him openly jealous.
“It was one of the greatest parades I have ever seen,” Trump told French President Emanuel Macron. “It was military power, and I think something great for France and for the spirit of France. We will have to try to surpass it.”
The British fixed ceremonial standards
In the United Kingdom, King Charles III serves as ceremonial (although not practically) head of the British forces. Unlike in France and the US, where chosen presidents wear civilian clothing, even at military events, Charles Dons have extensive clothing uniforms – medals, sash, sword, sometimes even a bear hat and chinriem.
He does it famous for Trip the colora parade and troop inspection to mark the British Monarch’s official birthdayRegardless of their actual date of birth. (The US Army has said it has no specific plans to recognize Trump’s birthday on Saturday.)
In 2023, the first full year of Charles as King, he drove on horseback to inspect 1,400 representatives of the most prestigious British regiments. His mother, Queen Elizabeth IIused a carriage during the last three decades of her 70-year-old government.
The British trace trip the color back to King Charles II, who ruled from 1660-1685. It became an annual event under King George III, described in the declaration of independence of the American settlers as a figure of “absolute despotism (s) tyranny.”
Authoritarians show off military assets
Grandiose military splendor is common among modern authoritarians, especially those who have seized power through coups. It sometimes serves as a show of violence intended to dismiss potential challengers to seek legitimacy and respect from other countries.
Cuba’s Fidel Castro, who wore routine military robe, kept Parades to commemorate the revolution he led on December 2, 1959. In 2017, the then President Raúl Castro repeated the event to the event a fidel Shortly after The death of his brother. Hugo Chávez van Venezuela, known as ‘Comandante Chávez’, was chairman of frequent parades until his death 2013. His successor, Nicolás Maduro, has carried military clothing at Similar events.
North -Korean dictator Kim Jung Un, who used famous union with Trump in a top of 2018, used one 2023 Military Parade To show off with his daughter and potential successor, along with pieces of the nuclear arsenal of his isolated country. The event on the Kim Il Sung -Square of Pyongyang – named after the grandfather of Kim – marked the 75th anniversary of the Noord -Korean army. Kim watched from a viewing position while missiles other weapons that were moved by and geese-stepping soldiers marched past him who sing: “Defense with your life, Paektu Bloodline” resilient to the biological origin of the Kim family.
In China, the units of the units of Beijing set her National day parade Every 10 years to project civilian unit and military power. The most recent events, held in 2009 and 2019, concerned trucks with nuclear missiles that were designed to avoid American defenses, as well as other weapons.
Legions of troops, together with those hard assets, flocked past President Xi Jinping and other leaders gathered on Tiananmen -Square in 2019 while spectators waved Chinese flags and fighter hunters flew above.
Earlier this spring, XI joined Russian President Vladimir Putin – Another Strongman leader Trump has occasionally praised – on the red square of Moscow for the annual “Victory Day” parade. The event of May 9 commemorates the role of the Soviet Union in beating Nazi Germany in the Second World War -a worldwide conflict in which China and the Soviet -Union, despite the fact that they are not democracies, have joined the Allied powers when combining the asments led by Germany and Japan.
A birthday parade for Hitler
Great citizen-military displays were of course a characteristic in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy before and during the Second World War. Hairwriting images of such events Live as a reminder of the dangers of authoritarian extremism.
Under those frequent occasions: a parade that makes Germany the multi -day compliance of Germany of the 50th anniversary of Adolf Hitler in 1939 (some extreme right -wing extremists in Europe Still mark it the birthday From the birth of Hitler.) The four hours of March by Berlin on 20 April 1939 included more than 40,000 employees in the army, Marine, Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Schutzstaffel (generally known as the “SS”) hundreds of thousands of spectators held the streets. The invited guests of the Führer counted 20,000.
Hitler was at the front and in the middle on a platform at street level. Only.
Originally published:
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