What is the name of the French national anthem played on Bastille Day?

The French national anthem played on Bastille Day is La Marseillaise.

The song began in April 1792, when Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, an army officer and amateur composer, wrote it in Strasbourg during France’s revolutionary war with Austria. Its original title was “Chant de guerre pour l’armée du Rhin” (“War Song for the Army of the Rhine”). Volunteers from Marseille later sang it while marching to Paris, giving the composition its enduring name.

La Marseillaise became closely associated with the Revolution because of its stirring call to defend the nation and liberty. The revolutionary government adopted it as France’s national anthem in 1795. It was suppressed during parts of the nineteenth century, but the Third Republic restored it as the official anthem in 1879.

Bastille Day ceremonies commonly pair the anthem with the tricolour flag, military parades and public fireworks. A frequent mix-up is confusing it with “Le Chant des Partisans,” the anthem of the French Resistance during the Second World War; that is an important patriotic song, but not France’s national anthem.