NZ part of grand French parade

Australian soldiers ready to take part in the grand parade on the Champs-Elysees that marks the start of World War I commemorations. Photo / AP

Bastille Day ceremony marks start of World War I commemorations in country that suffered on huge scale.

A hundred years ago, thousands of French and colonial troops, huge artillery pieces and the latest hi-tech kit - airships - took part in a Bastille Day parade where France showcased its military might.

Just 16 days after the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand that propelled Europe towards a bloodbath, tricolore-waving crowds shouted themselves hoarse at the stirring display.

Yet how many of those marching young Frenchmen felt a premonition of early death, in the mud of Picardy, Flanders or Verdun? And who in the cheering crowd would have guessed the looming conflict would endure more than four years, and cost the life of one in 25 of France's population? Almost in an act of atonement for the madness of a century ago, the parade of 2014, held last night NZ time, was an unprecedented event, bringing together military representatives and young people from 76 countries, including New Zealand, who jointly delivered "a message of universal peace".

President Francois Hollande said it was "a party for all countries enamoured of freedom and human rights, a party to celebrate emancipation and human dignity". The parade marked the official start of commemorations for World War I in France.

The parade was to open with the presentation of 76 flags of nations that took part in World War I. Each country presented the colours of a regiment which fought in the conflict, the idea being to show the common humanity that underpins military tradition.

A three-person flag party was to present the regimental colours of the 2nd/1st Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment and display 21 battle honours, two of them won in the 1914-18 war.

The finale was to focus on future generations, with four-person youth delegations aged 18 to 24 performing a dance on the Place de la Concorde choreographed by the artistic director of Paris' Theatre de Chaillot, Jose Montalvo. New Zealand was represented by four French-speaking youngsters, Aria Newfield and Milan Djurich from Auckland, Isabel Kerr from Wellington and Alexander Summerlee from Christchurch. The Bastille Day parade traces its origins back to July 14, 1790, a year after the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris that sparked the French Revolution.

The first parade was a show of revolutionary fervour and national unity - the storm clouds of war, when monarchies surrounding France tried to crush the fledgling republic, had yet to gather.

The event was revived in 1880 with a military flavour and attained its military apogee in 1919, when France trumpeted the glory and the sacrifice of its men at arms in the "Grande Guerre".

The military component is the mainstay of the event, but civilian groups involved in the life of the Republic - doctors, streetsweepers and so on - have always been present.

It includes the bearded warriors of the Foreign Legion and the army's 132nd Dog Battalion, in recognition of the role that canines played as guards and messengers in the Great War.