Daily Brain Teaser: Bastille Day Special

Celebrate July 14 with a five-question quiz on French history, culture, and the spirit of Bastille Day.

Bonjour! Today is July 14 — Bastille Day in France — so we're tipping our berets with a five-question trivia quiz on French history and culture. Pas besoin of a dictionary; just your memory (and maybe a croissant) will do.

Questions

1. In what year did the storming of the Bastille fortress-prison take place, the event now commemorated by France's national holiday?

2. What is Bastille Day officially called in French?

3. "La Marseillaise," France's stirring national anthem, was composed by which French army officer in 1792?

4. France's national motto is a three-word phrase. Liberté, Égalité, and... what is the third word?

5. Eugène Delacroix's famous painting Liberty Leading the People — often mistakenly linked to 1789 — actually commemorates a different French revolution. In what year is that painting's uprising set?

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Answers

1. 1789

2. La Fête Nationale (also widely called simply le 14 juillet)

3. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle

4. Fraternité (brotherhood)

5. 1830 (the July Revolution)

How'd you do?

• 5/5 — Vive la France! You're a true history buff.

• 3–4/5 — Pas mal! Solid effort.

• 0–2/5 — Time to book that trip to Paris and brush up.