In the summer of 1789, Paris was at a boil. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and Louis and his wife Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine for treason in 1793. This disarmament might have deescalated the situation had it been announced in time. Arrest of Launay by an unknown artist. It is estimated that 98 attackers and one invalide died in the conflict. It is a statutory holiday in France. Storming of the Bastille. With your support millions of people learn about history entirely for free, every month. Due to its monumental importance to the progression of the Revolution, the fall of the Bastille marks a significant place in western history and in the story of the rise of western democracies. De Launays Swiss soldiers, who had wisely removed their uniforms, were mistaken for prisoners and treated well by the crowd. King Louis XVI needed more money, but had failed to raise more taxes when he had called a meeting of the . [25] Their intention had been to gather the weapons held there (29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but without powder or shot). One of the contractors hired to carry out the work, Pierre-Franois Palloy, saw an opportunity to promote the peoples victory by turning the Bastilles remains into souvenirs: inkwells made from its ironwork, fans from its papers, paperweights from its stones, and small replicas from its bricks. storming of the Bastille, iconic conflict of the French Revolution. World History Encyclopedia. 30 Apr 2023. The perceived efforts of the king to undo the work of the Estates-General of 1789, which had resulted in the formation of a National Assembly dominated by members of the Third Estate, combined with rising bread prices to send the people of Paris into a panic, causing them to lash out against symbols of royal authority, including the ever-looming Bastille. It overturned the longstanding French system of monarchical government and introduced the ideas of liberty, equality, fraternity, and human and civil rights to modern political practice. As the famous anecdote goes, when Louis XVI asked if the attack on the Bastille had been a revolt, the Duke de La Rochefoucauld responded, No, sire, it is a revolution (Schama, 420). [66] Palloy commenced work immediately, employing about 1,000 workers. When ten of these guards were imprisoned for indiscipline, 4,000 Parisians invaded the prison and freed them. The prison had become a symbol of the monarchy's dictatorial rule, and the event became one of the defining moments in the Revolution that followed. With his speech, Desmoulins lit the powder keg of the crowd, which quickly took to the streets. And it all began one July day when the people of Paris captured a fourteenth-century gothic prison known as the Bastille. Only two days after the Bastille's fall, the king's youngest brother, Comte d'Artois, led a group of French royalists in an exodus from France. Louis XVI of FranceJoseph-Siffred Duplessis (Public Domain). Those Parisians with weapons began firing back at the defenders, while carts filled with dung and straw were lit aflame before the gate to provide the attackers with a smoke screen. Amidst the chaos, as several revolutionaries fell, people began to accuse de Launay of luring the crowd into the inner courtyard so they could more easily be massacred. B. it was the most violent act in the French Revolution. Nine days after the Bastille fell, the deaths of de Launay and de Flesselles were followed by the similar murders of Bertier de Sauvignay, intendant of Paris and Foulon, one of the ministers who was to have replaced Neckers government. A breakdown of occupations included in the list indicates that the majority were local artisans, together with some regular army deserters and a few distinctive categories, such as 21 wine merchants. The crowd seems to have felt that they had been intentionally drawn into a trap and the fighting became more violent and intense, while attempts by deputies to organise a cease-fire were ignored by the attackers. Nine hundred Parisians gathered outside the fortress that morning with the intention of confiscating its gunpowder and cannons. Humanity. [58], Immediately after the violence of 14 July members of the nobility little assured by the apparent and, as it was to prove, temporary reconciliation of king and people started to flee the country as migrs. The taking of the Bastille also reminds us that on the long, bumpy road toward representative democracythat is, on the road toward the rule with the consent and for the benefit of the peopleit is sometimes easier to strike down the visible signs of authoritarian power than to deal with the complicated, often shadowy sources of that power. Cocktail Recipe Book Eat. Hearing that the Bastille had fallen, Louis XVI asked the duke de La Rochefoucauld: So, is there a rebellion? To which the duke retorted: No, Sire, a revolution!. As a victory by ordinary Parisians over a prominent representation of the kings coercive power, the event quickly became a symbol of revolutionary struggle. Immediately, de Launay was met with a shower of daggers, sabers, and bayonets, before the crowd riddled him with pistol shots. An officer by the name of Bquard had his hand cut off while he was opening the gate to the crowd. While the storming of the Bastille was significant for putting power into the hands of the sans-culottes and being one of the first major events of the Revolution, it was also notable for introducing bloodshed into the Revolution. Bastille Day, celebrated annually on July 14, was chosen as a French national holiday in 1880. What was the Bastille? Ep. The French Revolution began in 1789 and lasted until 1794. [35], The crowd gathered outside the fortress around mid-morning, calling for the pulling back of the seemingly threatening cannon from the embrasures of the towers and walls[36] and the release of the arms and gunpowder stored inside. The people had been suffering from food shortages and the weight of taxes used to pay King Louis XVIs vast debts. '"[6], The Swiss and German battalions referred to were among the foreign mercenary troops who made up a significant portion of the pre-revolutionary Royal Army, and were seen as being less likely to be sympathetic to the popular cause than ordinary French soldiers. The storming of the Bastille occurred on July 14, 1789. Prise de la Bastille by Jean-Pierre Houl (1874), Alfred-Philippe Roll (1846-1919) a painting. [2] Gunfire began, apparently spontaneously, turning the crowd into a mob. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil and terror in which King Louis XVI was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including the. The citizens of Paris answered promptly and 600,000 pieces were returned. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The storming of the Bastille. Mark, Harrison W.. "Storming of the Bastille." [36] Around 1:30 pm, the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard. The Bastille, in fact, was originally a fortified gate, but Charles VI turned it into an independent stronghold by walling up the openings. The demolition of the fortress itself, the melting down of its clock portraying chained prisoners, and the breaking up of four statues were all carried out within five months. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. This very night all the Swiss and German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all; one resource is left; to take arms! World History Encyclopedia. Launay was then stabbed repeatedly and died. 13 miles away, however, the skies of Versailles remained mournfully silent (Schama, 371). Bastille, medieval fortress on the east side of Paris that became, in the 17th and 18th centuries, a French state prison and a place of detention for important persons charged with various offenses. It was erected in the 14th century to defend the city's eastern approaches. When Jacques de Flesselles, the prvt des marchands (roughly equivalent to mayor) emerged from the Hotel to see what was causing the commotion, he was shouted down as a traitor and shot dead on the spot. Yet, the world in recent years has had its own share of Bastilles, from Tahrir Square in Cairo to Independence Square in Kyiv (not to mention the recent commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Movement). Painted by Jean-Pierre Houl in 1789, housed in the Bibliothque nationale de France. On July 14, 1789, protests by members of the French middle and lower classes turned into a full-on uprising as they stormed the Bastille. With eight round towers, two drawbridges, and walls eight feet thick, the Bastille loomed over the city as a physical manifestation of the power of the old regime. Storming of the Bastille. https://www.worldhistory.org/Storming_of_the_Bastille/. That night, rumors spread that supplies were hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as a convent, hospital, school, and even a jail. At the time, the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. [37] With the possibility of mutual carnage suddenly apparent, Governor de Launay ordered the garrison to cease firing[38] at 5:00 pm. It was later made into an independent stronghold, and its name was corrupted to Bastille. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. [46] Their officer, Lieutenant Louis de Flue wrote a detailed report on the defense of the Bastille, which was incorporated in the logbook of the Salis-Samade Regiment and has survived. The Storming of the Bastille (French: Prise de la Bastille French pronunciation: [piz d la bastij]) in Paris, France, on July 14, 1789, refers to revolutionary insurgents storming and seizing control of the medieval armory, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille.At the time, the Bastille represented royal authority in the center of Paris. The Bastille loomed large in the French imagination as a mysterious, medieval, dark . [12] Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troopsbrought in from frontier garrisons to Versailles, Svres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Deniswould attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Angered by Launays evasiveness, the people stormed and captured the place; this dramatic action came to symbolize the end of the ancien rgime. However, he did remove the cannons from the walls and even allowed one of the delegates to go up the ramparts to confirm that action. Various other pieces of the Bastille also survive, including stones used to build the Pont de la Concorde bridge over the Seine, and one of the towers, which was found buried in 1899 and is now at Square Henri-Galli in Paris, as well as the clock bells and pulley system, which are now in the Muse dArt Campanaire. Menu. In accord with principles of popular sovereignty and with complete disregard for claims of royal authority, the people established parallel structures of municipalities for civic government and militias for civic protection. We contribute a share of our revenue to remove carbon from the atmosphere and we offset our team's carbon footprint. 82 revolutionaries had been killed during the Storming of the Bastille, with 15 others later dying of their wounds. Today, in times of deterritorialized terror, outsourced prisons, bitcoins, and subcontracted state and military arbitrariness, the Storming of the Bastille might look like a quaint scene from an old-fashioned opera. So a . Despite agreeing to a Constituent Assembly, the . 12 Jul 1789 - 14 Jul 1789. [3] Furthermore, finance minister Calonne, Louis XVI's replacement for Necker, thought lavish spending would secure loans as it presented the monarchy as wealthy. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. He was the son of a previous governor, and commander of the Bastille's garrison when the prison-fortress in Paris was stormed on 14 July 1789 . The prize the crowds were after, 250 barrels of gunpowder, sat guarded within. [26], The high cost of maintaining a garrisoned medieval fortress, for what was seen as having a limited purpose, had led to a decision being made shortly before the disturbances began to replace it with an open public space. In his book The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny, however, historian Ian Davidson argued that Louis XVI capitulating to the Third Estate at Versailles has a better claim to being the founding event, noting that the "bourgeois Revolutionaries" of Versailles had a major role in steering the future of the revolution, using parliamentary and political mechanisms, for the next three years. [61][62], On 16 July 1789, two days after the Storming of the Bastille, John Frederick Sackville, British ambassador to France, reported to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds, "Thus, my Lord, the greatest revolution that we know anything of has been effected with, comparatively speakingif the magnitude of the event is consideredthe loss of very few lives. 16 Jul 1789. Half an hour after the delegates left to report this concession, however, two men scaled the Bastilles outer wall and cut the chains of one of the drawbridges, causing the bridge to descend. On 14 July 1790, the first anniversary of the storming was celebrated nationwide as the Fte de la Fdration, with a massive celebration taking place in the spot where the Bastille once stood. To symbolize the kings reconciliation with his people, Lafayette later added Bourbon white to the design, creating the modern French tricolor. But the kings reversal failed to prevent the country from sliding further into full-blown revolution. Moreover, on July 14 the entire structure contained only seven inmates: four common counterfeiters, two mentally ill men, and a count who had been imprisoned at the request of his family. By the summer of 1789, France was moving quickly toward revolution. Leaping upon a table in the Caf Foy in the gardens of the Palais-Royal, Desmoulins delivered a rousing speech in which he lauded Necker and emphasized the threat of the soldiers, whose oppressive presence could lead to another St. Bartholomews Massacre. Thus, when the panicking soldiers within began shooting, the already suspicious people felt sure that they had been lured inside the inner yard to make them easy targets. It is a privilege which we should strive not to lose. Christopher J. Tozzi, p. 54 "Nationalizing France's Army. The wall separating the two courtyards contained a small drawbridge. . Mistaken for a prison warder, the hand was later paraded about the Parisian streets, still gripping the gate key. A poor harvest followed by a devastating winter meant that bread prices were the highest they had ever been in the 18th century, reaching an all-time high on 14 July. The building itself is outlined in brick on the location where it once stood, as is the moat in the Paris Metro stop below it, where a piece of the foundation is also on display. Before long, 30,000 troops were concentrated around Paris, many of them foreign soldiers in the pay of the French monarchy. Although the catalyst for the attack was the dismissal of popular Genevan commoner Jacques Necker (1732-1804) from the ministry of King Louis XVI of France (r. 1774-1792), societal imbalances and financial hardships had been pressuring the French people for years. An analysis in 2013 of the Bastille's dimensions showed that it did not tower over the neighbourhood as depicted in the paintings, but was a comparable height to other buildings in the neighbourhood. Though there were some who wished to turn the Bastille into a museum or a new home for the volunteer militia, the Permanent Committee of Municipal Electors at the Htel de Ville swiftly authorized the buildings destruction. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. And they found themselves in the midst of unprecedented political turmoil caused by the opening of the Estates General, Frances Parliament, for the first time in more than one hundred years. Movies. People in Paris were sick of with King Louis XVI's indifference to the financial crisis, and they were also fed up with the growing cost of staples like bread. Under Louis XIV the Bastille became a place of judicial detention in which the lieutenant de police could hold prisoners; under the regency of Philippe II, duc dOrlans, persons being tried by the Parlement were also detained there. [54], By the morning of 15 July, the outcome appeared clear to the king as well, and he and his military commanders backed down. The governor was Bernard-Ren de Launay, son of a previous governor and actually born within the Bastille. [26], At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners:[27] four forgers arrested under warrants issued by the Grand Chtelet court; James F.X. On the night of 27 June, the skies above Paris were illuminated with fireworks to celebrate the reconciliation of Frances three orders into a single, unified National Assembly. Jacob-Job lie and Pierre-Augustin Hulin, brought organization to the revolutionaries haphazard efforts, along with more guns and two cannons, which were soon aimed directly at the Bastilles gate. On 26 June, Louis XVI called six royal regiments into the Paris region, and on 1 July he summoned ten more. Whyte, an Irish born "lunatic" suspected of spying and imprisoned at the request of his family; Auguste-Claude Tavernier, who had tried to assassinate Louis XV thirty years before; and one "deviant" aristocrat suspected of murder, the Comte de Solages,[28] imprisoned by his father using a lettre de cachet. It was built to defend the eastern approach to the city of Paris from the English threat in the Hundred Years' War.It was declared a state prison in 1417. Corrections? There were over 98 deaths, and 73 people were wounded. [26], The official list of vainqueurs de la Bastille (conquerors of the Bastille) subsequently compiled has 954 names,[34] and the total of the crowd was probably fewer than one thousand. Yet by 1789, the Bastille was very much a paper tiger. On the morning of July 14, 1789, when only seven prisoners were confined in the building, a crowd advanced on the Bastille with the intention of asking the prison governor, Bernard Jordan, marquis de Launay, to release the arms and munitions stored there. All Rights Reserved. As word of this spread, the commanders of the royal forces encamped on the Champ de Mars became doubtful of the dependability of even the foreign regiments.[21]. Officials had recently entered talks to close the prison and replace it with a public forum. The sense of menace that the militarization of the city caused provoked a march to the Htel des Invalides, where they looted approximately 3,000 firearms and five canons.
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