About the Storming of the Bastille

On the fourteenth of July, 1789, a group of enraged demonstrators attacked the Bastille, a prison located in Paris, France. While the raid allowed rioters to loot the prison for weapons and liberate the prisoners held inside, the real purpose of the attack was to send a clear message of defiance to the king of France, Louis XVI. The Storming of the Bastille is remembered and celebrated as one of the first major conflicts of the French Revolution.

Long-Term Causes

The storming of the Bastille was predicated by months of discontent among the king's subjects. Throughout the 1780s, the French treasury devoted a significant portion of its financial resources to aiding the American colonists in their revolution against England, leaving little money to care for the French population. As a result, famine, starvation and disease ravaged the dense middle- and lower-class populations concentrated in Paris. The frustrations of the "common" subjects were heightened when new tax laws were enacted that disproportionately taxed those who earned less than the wealthy elite. To deal with unrest of the common subjects, the bourgeoisie representatives in the French government renamed themselves the National Assembly and lobbied the king in early July 1789 for the permission to draw up a constitution that would make the French government more democratic and protect the rights of the lower classes.

Short-Term Causes

While Louis XVI had reluctantly agreed to allow the National Assembly to create a constitution, he ordered several actions that directly compromised the power and capability of the Assembly. One of the most flagrant actions he took against them was to dismiss his finance minister, Jacques Necker, on July 11, 1789. Necker was one of his only advisers who was supportive of the Assembly's goals, and his removal set a clear message to middle- and lower-class Parisians that the king was not truly interested in working toward a democratic France. On the same day, Louis XVI summoned troops of Swiss and German mercenaries to his palace at Versailles, which his subjects saw as a sign that he was planning on removing the National Assembly from his government by force. The result of this news was that small skirmishes began to break out between government officials and commoners across Paris and the outlying provinces.

Storming of the Bastille

By the July 14, 1789, the skirmishes in Paris had grown to riotous mob rule. Angry Parisians attacked the Hotel des Invalides to gain arms and munitions, before the attention of the mob was turned to the better store of gunpowder and weapons kept in the Bastille. The Bastille was a prison that had been built during the medieval era as a jail for tax evaders, government enemies and mentally unfit members of society. It had long been regarded as a symbol of the monarchy's unpopular power. Early in the day, rioters started demanding that the garrison of soldiers inside surrender the weapons and release the seven prisoners who were still held inside. Negotiations between the commoners and soldiers failed, and violence broke out as the demonstrators attempted to enter the building. The soldiers inside the prison were overwhelmed, and by mid-afternoon the fortress was surrendered to the mob.

Significance

The storming of the Bastille was the first great victory of the French revolutionaries. The uproarious act persuaded King Louis XVI to allow the National Assembly to finish its work, and the result was the creation and passage of "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" in August 1789, a groundbreaking document that established men of all stations as equals entitled to certain inalienable rights. However, in spite of this positive development, the storming of the Bastille was merely the first of many bloody conflicts of the revolution that covered France until 1796.

Bastille Day

Since 1790, the 14th of July has been a national holiday in France. It is called "Bastille Day" and is celebrated as the first day of democracy and independence from royal rule in France.

Resources

• ThinkQuest: The Bastille in Context with the Revolution