The day began with troops, tanks and assault vehicles lining up in preparation by the Arc de Triomphe.
Ludovic Marin/AFP
Ludovic Marin/AFP
Members of the French Republican Guard (Garde Republicaine) expertly kept their horses under control as they waited for the parade to begin.
Phillipe Lopez/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron then joined French Armies Chief Staff General Francois Lecointre in an Acmat VLRA vehicle as the two reviewed the troops before the start of the Bastille Day military parade.
Ludovic Marin/Pool/AFP
French Mounted Republican guards were among the first soldiers to parade down the Champs-Elysées avenue.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
German chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, French President Emmanuel Macron and other heads of state watched an infantry exercise from seats on the side of Champs Elysées.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
Zapata CEO Franky Zapata flew a jet-powered hoverboard or “Flyboard” prior to the Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Elysées avenue in Paris.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
Portuguese and Dutch soldiers took part in the parade, as did the armed forces of several other nations.
Alain Jocard/AFP
French President Emmanuel Macron greeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel after surveying the troops.
Kamil Zihnioglu / POOL / AFP
France's elite acrobatic flying team “Patrouille de France” (PAF) performed a flying display over Paris during the parade.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
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Photo: Local reader @Clickchiyaaon
The French Foreign Legion's ceremonial Pioneers were an eye-catching sight with their traditional buffalo leather aprons and full beards and polished axes.
Two yellow vest protesters, both women, were surrounded and escorted from the site of the parade by French gendarmes.
Phillipe Lopez/AFP
The mounted Republican Guards, with their sabres and ceremonial uniform, were popular with spectators.
Alain Jocard/AFP
A French Char Leclerc tank took part in the parade.
Ludovic Marin/AFP
A drone mounted on the back of a pick-up.
Ludovic Marin/AFP
Members of the civic service and the universal national service SNU (Service National Universel) held a giant French flag.
Ludovic Marin/AFP
Armoured cars trundled down the Champs Elysées.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
More pictures of the Pioneers.
Lionel Bonaventure/AFP
A French Airbus A330 Phenix flew over the parade, followed by two French Mirage 2000-5 airplanes and four French Rafale airplanes.
Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP
And in a reminder of the continuing importance of France's military alliance with Britain, a CH47 Chinook helicopter also flew over the parade.
Zakaria Abdelkafi/AFP
After the parade was complete, a beaming Emmanuel Macron waved to the crowd before he was driven away.
Ludovic Marin/ POOL/AFP
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Photo: Local reader @Clickchiyaaon
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