The storming of the Bastille took place on 14 July 1789 and marked the beginning of the French Revolution. The Bastille was a prison and a symbol of the absolute and arbitrary power of Louis the 16th's Ancient Regime. By capturing this symbol, the people signaled that the king's power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the Nation and be limited by a separation of powers.
The year 1789 was marked by severe bread shortages in Paris. Thunderstorms had destroyed the previous year’s crops, making wheat scarce. Plus King Louis XVI’s throne-coveting cousin, the Duc de Orleans, had bought up large quantities of flour to increase the effects of the shortage. He hoped to further increase discontent against Louis and Marie Antoinette. All of this left an uneasy atmosphere in Paris.
During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced a majoreconomic crisis, initiated by the cost of intervening in theAmerican Revolution(and particularly never-consummated efforts to invade Britain), and exacerbated by a regressive system of taxation.
The King and queen had not ventured from Versailles, fueling speculation about his commitment to the people of France and particularly those of Paris. What the people of Paris did not know, was that the Dauphin (prince and heir to the throne) lay dying at Meudon Palace. Louis and Marie Antoinette were no doubt occupied by the deteriorating health of their oldest son.
For several months there had been rumours of all kinds of dangers ranging from bands of bandits, evil aristocrats intentionally starving the people, or the king concentrating troops around Paris in preparation for a violent suppression of the people.
On 5 May 1789 the Estates-General of 1789 convened to deal with this issue, but were held back by archaic protocols and the conservatism of theSecond Estate, consisting of the nobility and amounting to only 2% of France's population at the time. On 17 June 1789 theThird Estate, with its representatives drawn from the middle class, or proletariats, reconstituted themselves as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which subsequently renamed itself the National Constituent Assemblyon 9 July. It formed a committee that was to run the state affairs and act as a civic militia to maintain order.
Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops brought to Versailles from frontier garrisons would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Foreign troops were deployed to Paris with no clear explanation as to why they were there. They were stationed at Paris’s 54 barrières, the gatehouses that led to the city.
On 11 July 1789, with troops at Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Denis, Louis XVI, acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council, dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker, who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate, and completely reconstructed the ministry. The marshal Victor-François, duc de Broglie, la Galissonnière, the duc de la Vauguyon, the Baron Louis de Breteuil, and the intendant Foulon, took over the posts ofPuységur, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, La Luzerne, Saint-Priest, and Necker.
On July 12- Mob of people in the public gardens of Tuileriers Palace were attacked by a German cavalry, who were ordered to clear the area. Rumors begin to circulate that the king was planning some type of action against the people of Paris. People scramble to arm themselves.
The unrest was growing among the people of Paris who due to their hostility against the Fiscal Legislation of State's Farmers, started attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food and wine prices. The people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. The next day, on 13 July, rumours spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as convent, hospital, school and even as a jail. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property, seizing 52 wagons of wheat which were taken to the public market.
That same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of social chaos in Paris during those days.
French Guards regiment had remained confined to its barracks during the initial stages of the mid-July disturbances. This regiment formed the permanent garrison of Paris. The French Guards regiment routed the cavalry, killing two, wounding three, and putting the rest to flight. The officers of the French Guards made ineffectual attempts to rally their men. The rebellious citizenry had now acquired a trained military contingent.
News of Necker's dismissal reached Paris in the afternoon of Sunday, 12 July. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements. Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops brought to Versailles from frontier garrisons would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal.Camille Desmoulins, a known freemasonfrom the lodge of the Nine Sisters, according to Mignet, successfully rallied the crowd by "mounting a table, pistol in hand, exclaiming: 'Citizens, there is no time to lose; the dismissal of Necker is the knell of a Saint Bartholomewfor patriots!
The demonstrators, led by Amaria Cahila of the third estate in France, had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalidesto gather arms (29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but without powder or shot), and were mainly seeking to acquire the large quantities of arms and ammunition stored at the Bastille.
With a few canons and around 3000 rifles under their possession the mobs decided to storm into the Bastille in the hope of finding more arms. The Bastille palace was being used as a prison at that time with Marquis de Launay as its head. It was known to have been weakly guarded with only 30 Swiss guards and 85 invalides. The head of the prison tried to reach to some sort of a middle ground with the angry mob and he even agreed to pull back the canons that were positioned up high.
The Bastille had been prepared for over a week, anticipating about a hundred angry subjects and along the thick rock walls of the gargantuan fortress and between the towers were twelve more guns that were capable of launching 24-ounce case shots at any who dared to attack. However, the enraged Paris Commune was too defiant and too livid to submit to the starvation and seeming injustice of their government.
The Bastille was governed by a man named Marquis de Launay. On July 7th, thirty-two Swiss soldiers led by Lieutenant Deflue, came to aid de Launay, helping him to prepare for a small mob. Rumors were flying everywhere. The Marquis was expecting a mob attack, but certainly not a siege! The entire workforce of the Bastille had stealthily and furiously been repairing the Bastille and reinforcing it, all to prepare for a minor attack from a hundred or so angry citizens.
The time was half past three, on the famous date of July 14, 1789. A huge, bloodthirsty mob marched to the Bastille, searching for gun powder and prisoners that had been taken by the unpopular and detested King, Louis XVI. Even elements of the newly formed National Guard were present at the assault. The flying rumors of attacks from the government and the biting truth of starvation were just too much for the angry crowds.
There were over three hundred people ready to give their lives to put an end to their overtaxing and overbearing government. However the Bastille was threatened by more than the numerous crowds: three hundred guards had left their posts earlier that day, out of fear and from the rumors.
The Marquis de Launay, fearing a growing anger among the revolutionaries, accepted nevertheless to meet some of their representatives inside the prison. He hoped to buy time, as he was expecting a rescue team to arrive shortly and to help him secure his castle. But the negotiations ended when a group of revolutionaries entered the Bastille. The guards were ordered to fire, killing hundreds of people.
The Bastille was guarded by cannon, eighty soldiers and an additional thirty Swiss Guards. The soldiers had six hundred musketoons, twelve rampart muskets complete with more than fifteen thousand cartridges and twenty thousand pounds of powder. The mob was temporarily halted by the sight of the cannons. A rumour went around that one of the cannons was being positioned to fire at the street of St. Antoine. This would pose a direct threat to the people of Paris. The mob became enraged, demanding that the cannon be redirected.
Soon they had put together a message demanding that the prison allow them access to the ammunition. A delegation was invited into the prison by the Governor of the Bastille, Bernard de Launay. DeLaunay then invited the delegation to lunch with him. When they did not return the mob became angry, fearing that they had been detained. A second delegation was sent forth. These soon came out again with the message that the Governor had adamantly refused to surrender. The delegates also had the information that the cannon were unloaded. This piece of news was all that the mob needed to urge them on.
An unwise decision on the part of De Luanay was to let the mob into the courtyard. Soon after a few gun shots triggered a chaotic crossfire which resulted in a blood bath inside the prison courtyard. In this period of four hours it was seen that many of the prison defenders changed sides and started fighting from the revolutionaries’ side.
The path of the revolt completely changed when the rescue team showed up and decided not to fight against but with the mob. With their canons and their professional soldier skills, they brought victory to the people of France against Louis XVI's guards in a few hours.
The cry of "We want the Bastille!" went up among the crowd. The army now became fearful and withdrew to the Champ de Mars. Then a group of youths climbed onto a perfumier's shop built against a wall of the prison and dropped into the courtyard. They rushed to the drawbridge and soon had it falling open with a devastating crash. This actually killed one of the crowd. The mob, however, was now able to rush into the prison's courtyard. But then fire came from the army and several of the protestors were cut down. Fierce fighting followed and carried on into the evening. Finally the mob got their hands on some cannons. They dragged them into position to blow down the gates of the prison. The soldiers guarding the prison now urged their Governor to surrender. Instead deLaunay threatened to blow up the whole prison. Finally, pressure put on him by his defenders changed his mind. Before the cannon could be fired, Governor deLaunay surrendered. This did not, however, spare his life. Before long his severed head was paraded to the mob. Eventually the fighting ended and de Launay and his men where taken to Town Hall and murdered and their heads were put up on posts and paraded around the city. So the Marquis de Launay was beheaded, with his head then put on a stake and carried all over the city as a sign of victory.
There weren't many prisoners in the Bastille at the time of the storming; only 7 people were freed. And that very night, 800 men began to destroy the Bastille. Two days after the storming of the Bastille, the National Assembly ordered that this symbol of despotic power be burned to the ground. The crowds cheered as the prison walls crumbled and finally grass grew where the Bastille once stood.
At the news of the storming of the Bastille the king was forced to reinstate the Necker and depose the troops near the capital. It was at this moment that the red, white and blue cocard was crowned as the symbol of France.
The fall of the Bastilles marked the unofficial end of absolute monarchy, the birth of the sovereign Nation, and, eventually, the creation of the (First) Republic, in 1792. Even though tempers cooled slightly in the days following the storming, French nobles began fleeing abroad. Louis and Marie Antoinette refused to be parted from one another or their children. Even though it would be another two and half months until the king and queen of France would be forcibly taken to Paris, the end was certainly near for the French monarchy, which had reigned for 1300 years and the start of the French Revolution.
Bastille Day was declared the French national holiday on 6 July 1880, on Benjamin Raspail's recommendation, when the new Republic was firmly entrenched. Bastille Day has such a strong signification for the French because the holiday symbolizes the birth of the Republic.
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