14 Jul
Today is Bastille Day. Bastille Day celebrates the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 by the French. It is not one of the Top 173 Things in History, largely because it just falls under the umbrella of something much larger that is.
But, in the wake of discussing the Defenestration of Prague, let us pause to recognize the people who got it right. The people who knew, “This is how you start a revolution.”
Bastille Day is like the Defenestration of Prague plus logic.
12 Jul
This actually happened. Some people were sitting around, mulling how to enact change, and finally thought, “You know what? That’s it! Let’s start throwin’ guys out windows.”
You know what’s crazier? This happened more than once. Like several times. Do the italics do my incredulity justice here? Instead of signing a declaration or firing some bullets or storming a jail, the Bohemians–on multiple occasions, mind you–thought the most viable means of protest was some good, old-fashioned defenestrating.
This would be like the United States having a proud tradition of Senatorial canings.
My favorite part of all this? The “real” Defenestration of Prague in 1618 didn’t even work, thanks to a little well-placed manure. The perpetrators that day must have forgotten their Aesop: “Look before you defenestrate.”
This is the kind of history you can’t make up.
