Storming of the Bastille

Major event of the French Revolution

Storming of the Bastille

Part of the French Revolution

Storming of The Bastille, Jean-Pierre Houël
| Date| 14 July 1789; 235 years ago (1789-07-14)

|

Location|

Paris, Île-de-France, France

48°51′11″N 2°22′09″E﻿ / ﻿48.85306°N 2.36917°E﻿ / 48.85306; 2.36917
Result|

Insurgent victory

* Bastille captured
* Prisoners of the Bastille freed

Belligerents
Civilian insurgents
French Guards mutineers|  Royal government
Commanders and leaders
Pierre Hulin[1]
Stanislas Maillard
Jacob Job Élie[2]|  Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay
Strength

* 688–1,000 insurgents
* 61 French Guards
* 5+ Cannon

|  114 soldiers

* 82 Invalides
* 32 Swiss soldiers of the Salis-Samade Regiment

30 Cannon
Casualties and losses

* 93 killed
* 15 died of wounds
* 73 wounded

* 1 killed
* 6–8 died after surrender
* 105–107 captured

The Storming of the Bastille (French: Prise de la Bastille [pʁiz də la bastij]), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. After four hours of fighting and 94 deaths, the insurgents were able to enter the Bastille. The governor of the Bastille, Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay, and several members of the garrison were killed after surrender. At the time, the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. The prison contained only seven inmates at the time of its storming and was already scheduled for demolition but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy's abuse of power. Its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution.

In France, 14 July is a national holiday called Fête nationale française which commemorates both the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and the Fête de la Fédération which occurred on its first anniversary in 1790. In English this holiday is commonly referred to as Bastille Day.

## Background

[edit]

During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced a major economic crisis caused in part by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution and exacerbated by regressive taxes as well as poor harvests in the late 1780s.[3] Furthermore, Finance Minister Calonne, Louis XVI's replacement for Jacques Necker, thought that lavish spending would secure loans by presenting the monarchy as wealthy. That only added to Louis' financial woes. On 5 May 1789, the Estates General convened to deal with the issue but were held back by archaic protocols and the conservatism of the Second Estate, representing the nobility,[4] which made up less than 2% of France's population.[2]

On 17 June the Third Estate, with its representatives drawn from the commoners, reconstituted itself as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution. The king initially opposed that development but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July.[5]

Paris, close to insurrection and in François Mignet's words, "intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm",[6] showed wide support for the Assembly. The press published the debates, and political debate spread beyond the Assembly itself into the public squares and halls of the capital. The Palais-Royal and its grounds became the site of an ongoing meeting.[7]

The crowd, on the authority of the meeting at the Palais-Royal, broke open the Prisons of the Abbaye to release some grenadiers of the French Guards who had been reportedly imprisoned for refusing to fire on the people.[8] The Assembly recommended the imprisoned guardsmen receive the clemency of the king, return to prison for a token one-day period, and receive a pardon.[9] The rank and file of the regiment, which had been considered reliable, now leaned toward the popular cause.[10]

### Necker's dismissal

[edit]

On 11 July 1789, Louis XVI, acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council, dismissed and banished Necker (who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate) and completely reconstituted the ministry.[11] The marshals Victor-François, duc de Broglie, La Galissonnière, the duc de la Vauguyon, the Baron Louis de Breteuil, and the intendant Joseph Foullon de Doué, took over the posts of Puységur, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, La Luzerne, Saint-Priest, and Necker.

Jacques Necker (1732–1804), French minister of finance

News of Necker's dismissal reached Paris on the afternoon of 12 July. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements.[12] Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops, brought in from frontier garrisons to Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars and Saint-Denis, would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than 10,000 at the Palais-Royal. Camille Desmoulins 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 Saint Bartholomew for patriots! 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!'"[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.[13] By early July, approximately half of the 25,000 regular troops in Paris and Versailles were drawn from those foreign regiments.[14] The French regiments included in the concentration appear to have been selected either because of the proximity of their garrisons to Paris or because their colonels were supporters of the reactionary "court party" opposed to reform.[5]

During the public demonstrations that started on 12 July, the multitude displayed busts of Necker and of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and marched from the Palais Royal through the theatre district before it continued westward along the boulevards. The crowd clashed with the Royal German Cavalry Regiment ("Royal-Allemand") between the Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Palace. From atop the Champs-Élysées, Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (Marshal of the Camp, Proprietor of the Royal Allemand-Dragoons) unleashed a cavalry charge that dispersed the remaining protesters at Place Louis XV—now Place de la Concorde.[15] The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly-armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres.[16]

Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food and wine prices.[17] The people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns, and supplies might be hoarded. That night, rumours 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. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property,[18] seizing 52 wagons of wheat, which were taken to the public market. The same day, multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of social chaos in Paris.[19]

### Armed conflict

[edit]

The Bastille of Paris before the Revolution

The regiment of Gardes Françaises (French Guards) formed the permanent garrison of Paris and, with many local ties, was favourably disposed towards the popular cause.[20] The regiment had remained confined to its barracks during the initial stages of the mid-July disturbances. With Paris becoming the scene of a general riot, Charles Eugene, not trusting the regiment to obey his order, posted sixty dragoons to station themselves before its depot in the Chaussée d'Antin. The officers of the French Guards made ineffectual attempts to rally their men. The rebellious citizenry had now acquired a trained military contingent. As word of that spread, the commanders of the royal forces encamped on the Champ de Mars became doubtful of the dependability of even the foreign regiments.[21]

The future "Citizen King", Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, witnessed those events as a young officer and was of the opinion that the soldiers would have obeyed orders if put to the test. He also commented in retrospect that the officers of the French Guards had neglected their responsibilities in the period before the uprising and left the regiment too much to the control of its non-commissioned officers.[22] However, the uncertain leadership of Besenval led to a virtual abdication of royal authority in central Paris.

On the morning of 13 July, the electors of Paris met and agreed to the recruitment of a "bourgeois militia" of 48,000 men[18] from the 60 voting districts of Paris to restore order.[23] Their identifying cockades were of blue and red, the colours of Paris. Marquis de Lafayette was elected commander of that group on 14 July and subsequently changed its name to the National Guard. He added the colour white to the cockade on 27 July, to make the famous French tricolour. White was the historic colour of the Bourbon monarchy and Lafayette's decision to retain it in the new symbol of national identity illustrates his intention to achieve a constitutional monarchy rather than moving to a revolutionary republic.[24]

## Attack

[edit]

People in the Castle of Bastille, (Musée de la Révolution française). An eyewitness painting of the siege of the Bastille by Claude Cholat A plan of the Bastille and surrounding buildings made immediately after 1789; the red dot marks the perspective of Claude Cholat's painting of the siege. Flag of the regiment defending the Bastille

On the morning of 14 July Paris was in a state of alarm. The partisans of the Third Estate in France, now under the control of the Bourgeois Militia of Paris (soon to become Revolutionary France's National Guard), had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalides without meeting significant opposition.[25] Their intention had been to gather the weapons held there (29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but without powder or shot). The commandant at the Invalides had in the previous few days taken the precaution of transferring 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille for safer storage.[26]

At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners:[27] four forgers arrested under warrants issued by the Grand Châtelet court; James F.X. 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 30 years before; and one "deviant" aristocrat suspected of murder, the Comte de Solages,[28] imprisoned by his father using a lettre de cachet. A previous prisoner the Marquis de Sade had been transferred out ten days earlier, after shouting to passers-by that the prisoners were being massacred.[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.[29] Amid the tensions of July 1789, the building remained as a symbol of royal tyranny.[30]

An analysis in 2013 of the Bastille's dimensions showed that it did not tower over the neighbourhood as depicted in some paintings, but was a comparable height to other buildings in the neighbourhood.[31] The regular garrison consisted of 82 invalides (veteran soldiers no longer suitable for service in the field).[32] It had however been reinforced on 7 July by 32 grenadiers of the Swiss Salis-Samade Regiment[33] from the regular troops on the Champ de Mars.[34] The walls mounted 18 eight-pound guns and 12 smaller pieces. The Bastille's governor was Bernard-René de Launay, son of a previous governor and actually born within the Bastille.[26]

Arrest of Launay, by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, 1790, (Musée de la Révolution française)

Arrest of Launay by an unknown artist.

The official list of vainqueurs de la Bastille (conquerors of the Bastille) subsequently compiled has 954 names,[35] and the total of the crowd was probably fewer than one thousand. 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.[36]

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[37] and the release of the arms and gunpowder stored inside.[26] Two representatives from the Hotel de Ville (municipal authorities from the Town Hall)[36] were invited into the fortress and negotiations began, while another was admitted around noon with definite demands. The negotiations dragged on while the crowd grew and became impatient.[37] Around 1:30 PM, the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard.[2] A small party climbed onto the roof of a building next to the gate to the inner courtyard of the fortress and broke the chains on the drawbridge, crushing one vainqueur as it fell. Soldiers of the garrison called to the people to withdraw, but amid the noise and confusion these shouts were misinterpreted as encouragement to enter.[2] Gunfire began, apparently spontaneously, turning the crowd into a mob. 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.[2]

The firing continued, and after 3:00 pm, the attackers were reinforced by mutinous gardes françaises, along with two cannons, each of which was reportedly fired about six times.[9] Several farm wagons were filled with damp straw, which was set alight to provide cover for the besiegers. The clouds of smoke however proved a distraction for both sides and the wagons were hauled away. A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars did not intervene.[38]

With the possibility of mutual carnage becoming apparent, de Launay ordered the garrison to cease firing[39] at 5:00 pm. A letter written by de Launay offering surrender but threatening to explode the powder stocks held if the garrison were not permitted to evacuate the fortress unharmed, was handed out to the besiegers through a gap in the inner gate.[39] His demands were not met, but de Launay nonetheless capitulated as he realised that with limited food stocks and no water supply[36] his troops could not hold out much longer. He accordingly opened the gates, and the vainqueurs swept in to take over the fortress at 5:30 pm.[39]

Ninety-eight attackers and one defender had died in the actual fighting or subsequently from wounds, a disparity accounted for by the protection provided to the garrison by the fortress walls.[40] De Launay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. Outside the Hôtel, a discussion as to his fate began.[41] The badly beaten de Launay shouted "Enough! Let me die!"[42] and kicked a pastry cook named Dulait in the groin. De Launay was then stabbed repeatedly and died. An English traveller, Doctor Edward Rigby, reported what he saw, "[We] perceived two bloody heads raised on pikes, which were said to be the heads of the Marquis de Launay, Governor of the Bastille, and of Monsieur Flesselles, Prévôt des Marchands. It was a chilling and a horrid sight! ... Shocked and disgusted at this scene, [we] retired immediately from the streets."[43] The three officers of the permanent Bastille garrison were also killed by the crowd;[44] Surviving police reports detail their wounds and clothing.[45]

Three[46] of the invalides of the garrison were lynched, plus possibly two[34] of the Swiss regulars of the Salis-Samade Regiment who were reported missing. The remaining Swiss were protected by the French Guards[47] and eventually released to return to their regiment.[48] 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.[49] It is critical of de Launay, whom Flue accuses of weak and indecisive leadership.[49] The blame for the fall of the Bastille would rather appear to lie with the inertia of the commanders of the 5,000[50] Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars, who did not act when either the nearby Hôtel des Invalides or the Bastille was attacked.[51] A brief order sent from the Baron de Besenval to the governor read only "M. de Launay is to hold firm to the end; I have sent him sufficient forces".[52]

Engraving, c. 1789: militia hoisting the heads of Flesselles and the Marquis de Launay on pikes. The caption reads "Thus we take revenge on traitors". Sans-culottes wearing iconic Phrygian caps and tricolor cockades

Returning to the Hôtel de Ville, the mob accused the prévôt dès marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery, and he was assassinated on the way to an ostensible trial at the Palais-Royal.[53] King Louis XVI first learned of the storming the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. "Is it a revolt?" asked Louis. The duke replied: "No sire, it's not a revolt; it's a revolution."[54] Indeed, the storming of the Bastille is suggested to be the founding point of the French Revolution in national discourse. In his book The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny, however, historian Ian Davidson argues 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. Nonetheless, the fall of the Bastille marks the first time the regular citizens of Paris, the sans-culottes, made a major intervention into the Revolution's affairs. For this stage of the Revolution, the sans-culottes were allies to the "bourgeois Revolutionaries".[55]

The Place de la Bastille and the July Column where the Bastille once stood.

## 14 to 15 July – immediate reaction

[edit]

At Versailles, the Assembly were for a few hours ignorant of most of the Paris events. The representatives remained however concerned that the Marshal de Broglie might still unleash a pro-Royalist coup to force them to adopt the order of 23 June[56] and then dissolve the Assembly. Louis Marie de Noailles apparently was first to bring reasonably accurate news of the Paris events to Versailles. Charles Ganilh and Bancal-des-Issarts had been dispatched to the Hôtel de Ville and confirmed de Noailles' report.[57]

By the morning of 15 July, the outcome appeared clear to the king as well, and he and his military commanders backed down.[58] The 23 regiments of Royal troops concentrated around Paris were dispersed to their frontier garrisons.[14] The Marquis de la Fayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris;[59] Jean Sylvain Bailly—leader of the Third Estate and instigator of the Tennis Court Oath—became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the Commune de Paris.[60] The king announced that he would recall Necker and return from Versailles to Paris; on 17 July, in Paris, he accepted a blue-and-red cockade from Bailly and entered the Hôtel de Ville to cries of "Long live the King" and "Long live the Nation".[61]

## Aftermath

[edit]

### Political

[edit]

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 émigrés.[62] Among the first to leave were the comte d'Artois (the future Charles X of France) and his two sons, the prince de Condé, the prince de Conti, the Polignac family, and (slightly later) Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the former finance minister. They settled at Turin, where Calonne (as agent for the count d'Artois and the prince de Condé) began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France.[63]

The news of the successful insurrection at Paris spread throughout France. 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.[23] In rural areas, many went beyond this: some burned title-deeds and no small number of châteaux, as the "Great Fear" spread across the countryside during the weeks of 20 July to 5 August, with attacks on wealthy landlords impelled by the belief that the aristocracy was trying to put down the revolution.[64][65]

On 16 July, 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 speaking—if the magnitude of the event is considered—the loss of very few lives. From this moment we may consider France as a free country, the King a very limited monarch, and the nobility as reduced to a level with the rest of the nation."[66]

On 22 July the populace lynched Controller-General of Finances Joseph Foullon de Doué and his son-in-law[67] Louis Bénigne François Bertier de Sauvigny. Both had held official positions under the monarchy. About 900 people who claimed to have stormed the Bastille received certificates (Brevet de vainqueur de la Bastille) from the National Assembly in 1790, and some of these still exist.[68]

### Demolition of Bastille

[edit]

The Bastille During the First Days of its Demolition by Hubert Robert, 1789

Although there were arguments that the Bastille should be preserved as a monument to liberation or as a depot for the new National Guard, the Permanent Committee of Municipal Electors at the Paris Town Hall gave the construction entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy the commission of disassembling the building.[69] Palloy commenced work immediately, employing about 1,000 workers. The demolition of the fortress, the melting down of its clock portraying chained prisoners, and the breaking up of four statues were all carried out within five months.[70]

In 1790, Lafayette gave the key to the Bastille—weighing one pound three ounces—to U.S. President George Washington. Washington displayed it prominently at government facilities and events in New York and in Philadelphia until shortly before his retirement in 1797. The key remains on display at Washington's residence of Mount Vernon.[71][72]

Palloy took bricks from the Bastille and had them carved into replicas of the fortress, which he sold, along with medals allegedly made from the chains of prisoners. Pieces of stone from the structure were sent to every district in France, and some have been located. 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 Musée d’Art Campanaire. 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.[73]

## In popular media

[edit]

A Tale of Two Cities, the 1859 novel by Charles Dickens, dramatizes the Bastille storming in "Book The Second - the Golden Thread," Chapter 21, “Echoing Footsteps” (“Seven prisoners released, seven gory heads on pikes, the keys of the accursed fortress of the eight strong towers, some discovered letters and other memorials of prisoners of old time, long dead of broken hearts, - such, and such - like, the loudly echoing footsteps of Saint Antoine escort through the Paris streets in mid-July, one thousand seven hunderd and eighty-nine.”)

La Révolution française, a 1989 French film dramatizes the storming in Part I. One Nation, One King, a 2018 French film dramatizes the storming.

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Lüsebrink, Hans-Jürgen; Reichardt, Rolf; Schürer, Norbert (1997). The Bastille. Duke University Press. p. 43\. ISBN 978-0-8223-1894-1.
2. ^ a b c d e Schama 1989, p. 402.
3. ^ Schama 1989, pp. 60–71.
4. ^ Price 2003, p. 20.
5. ^ a b Sydenham 1965, p. 46.
6. ^ a b This article incorporates text from the public domain History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, by François Mignet (1824), as made available by Project Gutenberg.
7. ^ Schama 1989, pp. 370–371.
8. ^ Schama 1989, p. 371.
9. ^ a b Godechot 1970, p. 242.
10. ^ Schama 1989, p. 375.
11. ^ Price 2003, pp. 85–87.
12. ^ Price 2003, p. 85.
13. ^ Price 2003, p. 76.
14. ^ a b Godechot 1970, p. 258.
15. ^ Micah Alpaugh, "The Politics of Escalation in French Revolutionary Protest: Political Demonstrations, Nonviolence, and Violence in the Grandes journees of 1789", French History (Fall 2009)
16. ^ Schama 1989, p. 385.
17. ^ Cobb & James 1988, p. 73.
18. ^ a b Price 2003, p. 88.
19. ^ Louis, Bergeron (1970). Le Monde et son Histoire. Paris. p. Volume VII, Chapter VI.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Micah Alpaugh, "The Politics of Escalation in French Revolutionary Protest: Political Demonstrations, Nonviolence and Violence in the Grandes Journees of 1789", French History (2009)
20. ^ Terry Crowdy. French Revolutionary Infantry 1789–1802, p. 6. ISBN 1-84176-660-7
21. ^ Price 2003, pp. 96–97.
22. ^ Comments recorded in diary entries made by Louis-Philipp during 1789
23. ^ a b Cobb & James 1988, p. 75.
24. ^ Schama 1989, pp. 454 & 456.
25. ^ Cobb & James 1988, p. 68.
26. ^ a b c d Schama 1989, p. 399.
27. ^ Civilisation: A Personal View, Kenneth Clark, Penguin, 1987, p. 216
28. ^ Godechot 1970, p. 92.
29. ^ Schama 1989, p. 398.
30. ^ Godechot 1970, p. 87.
31. ^ Pfanner, Eric (9 January 2013). "'Paris 3D,' a Digital Model of the French Capital". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
32. ^ Connelly, Owen (2006). The Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon 1792–1815. New York: Routledge. p. 18.
33. ^ Crowdy, Terry (2004). French Revolutionary Infantry 1789–1802. Bloomsbury US. p. 8\. ISBN 1-84176-660-7.
34. ^ a b Christopher J. Tozzi, p. 54 "Nationalizing France's Army. Foreign, Black and Jewish Troops in the French Military, 1715–1831, ISBN 978-0-8139-3833-2
35. ^ Hibbert, Christopher. The French Revolution (1980), p. 82 (1982 Penguin Books edition)
36. ^ a b c Schama 1989, p. 400.
37. ^ a b Schama 1989, pp. 400–401.
38. ^ Price 2003, p. 89.
39. ^ a b c Schama 1989, p. 403.
40. ^ Schama 1989, pp. 403–404.
41. ^ Schama 1989, p. 404.
42. ^ Schama 1989, p. 405.
43. ^ Rigby, Edward, Dr. Rigby's Letters from France &c. in 1789, HardPress Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-1313441636[page needed]
44. ^ Jacques Godechot, p. 315 "The Taking of the Bastille July 14th, 1789", Charles Scribner's Sons New York 1970
45. ^ J. B. Morton, appendix The Bastille Falls: and other studies of the French Revolution, Longmans, Green & Co, London 1936
46. ^ Godechot 1970, p. 244.
47. ^ Crowdy, Terry (2004). French Revolutionary Infantry 1789–1802. Bloomsbury USA. p. 9\. ISBN 1-84176-660-7.
48. ^ Godechot 1970, pp. 292–299.
49. ^ a b "Relation de la prise de la Bastille le 14 juillet 1789 par un de ses défenseurs", in Revue Rétrospective, vol. 4 (Paris: M. J. Taschereau, 1834)
50. ^ Christopher Hibbert, p. 70 The French Revolution, ISBN 978-0140049459
51. ^ Godechot 1970, pp. 216–217.
52. ^ Jacques Godechot, p. 297 "The Taking of the Bastille July 14th, 1789", Charles Scribner's Sons New York 1970
53. ^ Hibbert, Christopher (1980). The Days of the French Revolution. New York: William Morrow and Co. pp. 69–82\. ISBN 0-688-03704-6.
54. ^ Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret, La Bastille est prise, Paris, Éditions Complexe, 1988, p. 102.
55. ^ Davidson, Ian (2016). The French Revolution: From Enlightenment to Tyranny. Great Britain: Profile Books. p. 29\. ISBN 978-1-84668-541-5.
56. ^ "The Séance royale of 23 June 1789". Fitchburg State College. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
57. ^ Schama 1989, pp. 419–420.
58. ^ Price 2003, p. 92.
59. ^ Terry Crowdy, French Revolutionary Infantry 1789–1802, p. 9. ISBN 1-84176-660-7
60. ^ François Furet and Mona Ozouf, eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution (1989), pp. 519–528.
61. ^ Sydenham 1965, p. 50.
62. ^ Price 2003, p. 93.
63. ^ Cobb & James 1988, p. 129.
64. ^ Sydenham 1965, p. 54.
65. ^ Cobb & James 1988, p. 77.
66. ^ Alger, John Goldworth (1889). "Chapter II. At the Embassy". Englishmen in the French Revolution. Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. Retrieved 14 July 2018 - via Wikisource.
67. ^ Sydenham 1965, p. 55.
68. ^ "Brevet de vainqueur de la Bastille (1790)". Criminocorpus.org. 14 July 1790. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
69. ^ Schama 1989, p. 412.
70. ^ Schama 1989, p. 414.
71. ^ "Bastille Key". Digital Encyclopedia of George Washington. Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
72. ^ William J. Bahr. [George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key, p. 8. ISBN 978-1537323374
73. ^ "14 Revolutionary Facts About Bastille Day". mentalfloss.com. 14 July 2017.

## References

[edit]

* Cobb, Richard; James, Colin (1988). The French Revolution. Voices From a Momentous Epoch 1789–1795. Guild Publishing.
* Godechot, Jacques (1970). The Taking of the Bastille. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
* Sydenham, M.J. (1965). The French Revolution. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd.
* Price, Munro (2003). The Fall of the French Monarchy. ISBN 0-330-48827-9.[full citation needed]
* Schama, Simon (1989). Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution. Viking. ISBN 0-670-81012-6.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Abbott, John Stevens Cabot (1887). The French Revolution of 1789 as Viewed in the Light of Republican Institutions. Jefferson Press. pp. 112–122\. OL 13506000M.
* Alpaugh, Micah (Spring 2014). "A Self-Defining Bourgeoisie in the Early French Revolution: The Milice bourgeoise, the Bastille Days of 1789, and their Aftermath". Journal of Social History. 47 (3): 696–720\. doi:10.1093/jsh/sht108.
* Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bastille" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 502.
* Stephens, Henry Morse (1886). A History of the French Revolution. C. Scribner's Sons. pp. 128–68\. OL 7156213M.
* Sewell, William H. (December 1996). "Historical Events as Transformations of Structures: Inventing Revolution at the Bastille". Theory and Society. 25 (6): 841–881\. doi:10.1007/BF00159818.
* Taylor, David (1997). The French Revolution. Heinemann. pp. 16–17\. ISBN 978-0-4353-1694-5. OL 10245877M.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Storming of the Bastille at Wikimedia Commons

* Place de la Bastille Archived 7 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine – official French website (in English)
* Thomas Jefferson's letter to John Jay recounting the storming of the Bastille Archived 10 July 2010 at the Wayback Machine

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French Revolution

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Significant civil and political events by year

1788|

* Day of the Tiles (7 Jun 1788)
* Assembly of Vizille (21 Jul 1788)

1789|

* What Is the Third Estate? (Jan 1789)
* Réveillon riots (28 Apr 1789)
* Convocation of the Estates General (5 May 1789)
* Death of the Dauphin (4 June 1789)
* National Assembly (17 Jun – 9 Jul 1790)
* Tennis Court Oath (20 Jun 1789)
* National Constituent Assembly (9 Jul – 30 Sep 1791)
* Storming of the Bastille (14 Jul 1789)
* Great Fear (20 Jul – 5 Aug 1789)
* Abolition of Feudalism (4–11 Aug 1789)
* Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (26 Aug 1789)
* Women's March on Versailles (5 Oct 1789)
* Nationalization of the Church properties (2 Nov 1789)

1790|

* Abolition of the Parlements (Feb–Jul 1790)
* Avignon–Comtat Venaissin War (Jun 1790 – 1791)
* Abolition of the Nobility (23 Jun 1790)
* Civil Constitution of the Clergy (12 Jul 1790)
* Fête de la Fédération (14 Jul 1790)

1791|

* Flight to Varennes (20–21 Jun 1791)
* Champ de Mars massacre (17 Jul 1791)
* Declaration of Pillnitz (27 Aug 1791)
* The Constitution of 1791 (3 Sep 1791)
* National Legislative Assembly (1 Oct 1791 – Sep 1792)

1792|

* France declares war (20 Apr 1792)
* Brunswick Manifesto (25 Jul 1792)
* Paris Commune becomes insurrectionary (Jun 1792)
* 10th of August (10 Aug 1792)
* September Massacres (Sep 1792)
* National Convention (20 Sep 1792 – 26 Oct 1795)
* First republic declared (22 Sep 1792)

1793|

* Execution of Louis XVI (21 Jan 1793)
* Revolutionary Tribunal (9 Mar 1793 – 31 May 1795)
* Reign of Terror (27 Jun 1793 – 27 Jul 1794)
* Committee of Public Safety
* Committee of General Security
* Fall of the Girondists (2 Jun 1793)
* Assassination of Marat (13 Jul 1793)
* Levée en masse (23 Aug 1793)
* The Death of Marat (painting)
* Law of Suspects (17 Sep 1793)
* Marie Antoinette is guillotined (16 Oct 1793)
* Anti-clerical laws (throughout the year)

1794|

* Danton and Desmoulins guillotined (5 Apr 1794)
* Law of 22 Prairial (10 Jun 1794)
* Thermidorian Reaction (27 Jul 1794)
* Robespierre guillotined (28 Jul 1794)
* White Terror (Fall 1794)
* Closing of the Jacobin Club (11 Nov 1794)

1795–6|

* Insurrection of 12 Germinal Year III (1 Apr 1795)
* Constitution of the Year III (22 Aug 1795)
* Directoire (1795–99)
* Council of Five Hundred
* Council of Ancients
* 13 Vendémiaire 5 Oct 1795
* Conspiracy of the Equals (May 1796)

1797|

* Coup of 18 Fructidor (4 Sep 1797)
* Second Congress of Rastatt (Dec 1797)

1798|

* Law of 22 Floréal Year VI (11 May 1798)

1799|

* Coup of 30 Prairial VII (18 Jun 1799)
* Coup of 18 Brumaire (9 Nov 1799)
* Constitution of the Year VIII (24 Dec 1799)
* Consulate

Revolutionary campaigns

1792|

* Verdun
* Thionville
* Valmy
* Royalist Revolts
* Chouannerie
* Vendée
* Dauphiné
* Lille
* Siege of Mainz
* Jemappes
* Namur

1793|

* First Coalition
* War in the Vendée
* Battle of Neerwinden
* Battle of Famars (23 May 1793)
* Expedition to Sardinia (21 Dec 1792 – 25 May 1793)
* Battle of Kaiserslautern
* Siege of Mainz
* Battle of Wattignies
* Battle of Hondschoote
* Siege of Bellegarde
* Battle of Peyrestortes (Pyrenees)
* Siege of Toulon (18 Sep – 18 Dec 1793)
* First Battle of Wissembourg (13 Oct 1793)
* Battle of Truillas (Pyrenees)
* Second Battle of Wissembourg (26–27 Dec 1793)

1794|

* Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies (24 Apr 1794)
* Second Battle of Boulou (Pyrenees) (30 Apr – 1 May 1794)
* Battle of Tourcoing (18 May 1794)
* Battle of Tournay (22 May 1794)
* Glorious First of June (1 Jun 1794)
* Battle of Fleurus (26 Jun 1794)
* Chouannerie
* Battle of Aldenhoven (2 Oct 1794)
* Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 – 7 Jun 1795)

1795|

* Siege of Luxembourg (22 Nov 1794 – 7 Jun 1795)
* Peace of Basel

1796|

* Italian campaign (1796)
* Battle of Lonato (3–4 Aug 1796)
* Battle of Castiglione (5 Aug 1796)
* Battle of Theiningen
* Battle of Neresheim (11 Aug 1796)
* Battle of Amberg (24 Aug 1796)
* Battle of Würzburg (3 Sep 1796)
* Battle of Rovereto (4 Sep 1796)
* First Battle of Bassano (8 Sep 1796)
* Battle of Emmendingen (19 Oct 1796)
* Battle of Schliengen (26 Oct 1796)
* Second Battle of Bassano (6 Nov 1796)
* Battle of Calliano (6–7 Nov 1796)
* Battle of Arcole (15–17 Nov 1796)
* Ireland expedition (Dec 1796)

1797|

* Italian campaign (1797)
* Naval Engagement off Brittany (13 Jan 1797)
* Battle of Rivoli (14–15 Jan 1797)
* Battle of the Bay of Cádiz (25 Jan 1797)
* Treaty of Leoben (17 Apr 1797)
* Battle of Neuwied (18 Apr 1797)
* Treaty of Campo Formio (17 Oct 1797)

1798|

* French invasion of Switzerland (28 January – 17 May 1798)
* French Invasion of Egypt (1798–1801)
* Irish Rebellion of 1798 (23 May – 23 Sep 1798)
* Quasi-War (1798–1800)
* Peasants' War (12 Oct – 5 Dec 1798)

1799|

* Second Coalition (1798–1802)
* Siege of Acre (20 Mar – 21 May 1799)
* Battle of Ostrach (20–21 Mar 1799)
* Battle of Stockach (25 Mar 1799)
* Battle of Magnano (5 Apr 1799)
* Battle of Cassano (27–28 Apr 1799)
* First Battle of Zurich (4–7 Jun 1799)
* Battle of Trebbia (17–20 Jun 1799)
* Battle of Novi (15 Aug 1799)
* Second Battle of Zurich (25–26 Sep 1799)

1800|

* Battle of Marengo (14 Jun 1800)
* Convention of Alessandria (15 Jun 1800)
* Battle of Hohenlinden (3 Dec 1800)
* League of Armed Neutrality (1800–02)

1801|

* Treaty of Lunéville (9 Feb 1801)
* Treaty of Florence (18 Mar 1801)
* Algeciras campaign (8 Jul 1801)

1802|

* Treaty of Amiens (25 Mar 1802)
* Treaty of Paris (25 Jun 1802)

Military leaders

France|

| French Army|

* Eustache Charles d'Aoust
* Charles-Pierre Augereau
* Alexandre de Beauharnais
* Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
* Louis-Alexandre Berthier
* Jean-Baptiste Bessières
* Napoléon Bonaparte
* Guillaume Brune
* Jean François Carteaux
* Jean-Étienne Championnet
* Chapuis de Tourville
* Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine
* Louis-Nicolas Davout
* Louis Desaix
* Jacques François Dugommier
* Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
* Charles François Dumouriez
* Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino
* Louis-Charles de Flers
* Paul Grenier
* Emmanuel de Grouchy
* Jacques Maurice Hatry
* Lazare Hoche
* Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
* François Christophe de Kellermann
* Jean-Baptiste Kléber
* Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
* Jean Lannes
* Charles Leclerc
* Claude Lecourbe
* François Joseph Lefebvre
* Étienne Macdonald
* Jean-Antoine Marbot
* Marcellin Marbot
* François Séverin Marceau
* Auguste de Marmont
* André Masséna
* Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey
* Jean Victor Marie Moreau
* Édouard Mortier, Duke of Trévise
* Joachim Murat
* Michel Ney
* Pierre-Jacques Osten [fr]
* Nicolas Oudinot
* Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon
* Jean-Charles Pichegru
* Józef Poniatowski
* Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
* Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer
* Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier
* Joseph Souham
* Jean-de-Dieu Soult
* Louis-Gabriel Suchet
* Belgrand de Vaubois
* Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno

|

French Navy|

* Charles-Alexandre Linois

Opposition|

|  Austria|

* József Alvinczi
* Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen
* Count of Clerfayt (Walloon)
* Karl Aloys zu Fürstenberg
* Friedrich Freiherr von Hotze (Swiss)
* Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth
* Pál Kray (Hungarian)
* Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (French)
* Maximilian Baillet de Latour (Walloon)
* Karl Mack von Leiberich
* Rudolf Ritter von Otto (Saxon)
* Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
* Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich
* Prince Heinrich XV of Reuss-Plauen
* Johann Mészáros von Szoboszló (Hungarian)
* Karl Philipp Sebottendorf
* Dagobert von Wurmser

|

Britain|

* Sir Ralph Abercromby
* James Saumarez, 1st Baron de Saumarez
* Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth
* Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany

Netherlands|

* William V, Prince of Orange

Prussia|

* Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick
* Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen

Russia|

* Alexander Korsakov
* Alexander Suvorov
* Andrei Rosenberg

Spain|

* Luis Firmin de Carvajal
* Antonio Ricardos

Other significant figures and factions

Patriotic Society of 1789|

* Jean Sylvain Bailly
* Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
* François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
* Isaac René Guy le Chapelier
* Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
* Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
* Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
* Nicolas de Condorcet

Feuillants
and monarchiens

* Grace Elliott
* Arnaud de La Porte
* Jean-Sifrein Maury
* François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy
* Guillaume-Mathieu Dumas
* Antoine Barnave
* Lafayette
* Alexandre-Théodore-Victor, comte de Lameth
* Charles Malo François Lameth
* André Chénier
* Jean-François Rewbell
* Camille Jordan
* Madame de Staël
* Boissy d'Anglas
* Jean-Charles Pichegru
* Pierre Paul Royer-Collard
* Bertrand Barère de Vieuzac

Girondins|

* Jacques Pierre Brissot
* Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière
* Madame Roland
* Father Henri Grégoire
* Étienne Clavière
* Marquis de Condorcet
* Charlotte Corday
* Marie Jean Hérault
* Jean Baptiste Treilhard
* Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud
* Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
* Jean Debry
* Olympe de Gouges
* Jean-Baptiste Robert Lindet
* Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux

The Plain|

* Abbé Sieyès
* de Cambacérès
* Charles-François Lebrun
* Pierre-Joseph Cambon
* Bertrand Barère
* Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot
* Philippe Égalité
* Louis Philippe I
* Mirabeau
* Antoine Christophe Merlin de Thionville
* Jean Joseph Mounier
* Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours
* François de Neufchâteau

Montagnards|

* Maximilien Robespierre
* Georges Danton
* Jean-Paul Marat
* Camille Desmoulins
* Louis Antoine de Saint-Just
* Paul Barras
* Louis Philippe I
* Louis Michel le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau
* Jacques-Louis David
* Marquis de Sade
* Georges Couthon
* Roger Ducos
* Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois
* Jean-Henri Voulland
* Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai
* Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville
* Philippe-François-Joseph Le Bas
* Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier
* Jean-Pierre-André Amar
* Prieur de la Côte-d'Or
* Prieur de la Marne
* Gilbert Romme
* Jean Bon Saint-André
* Jean-Lambert Tallien
* Pierre Louis Prieur
* Antoine Christophe Saliceti

Hébertists
and Enragés|

* Jacques Hébert
* Jacques-Nicolas Billaud-Varenne
* Pierre Gaspard Chaumette
* Charles-Philippe Ronsin
* Antoine-François Momoro
* François-Nicolas Vincent
* François Chabot
* Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte
* Jean-Baptiste-Joseph Gobel
* François Hanriot
* Jacques Roux
* Stanislas-Marie Maillard
* Charles-Philippe Ronsin
* Jean-François Varlet
* Theophile Leclerc
* Claire Lacombe
* Pauline Léon
* Gracchus Babeuf
* Sylvain Maréchal

Others|

| Figures|

* Charles X
* Louis XVI
* Louis XVII
* Louis XVIII
* Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien
* Louis Henri, Prince of Condé
* Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé
* Marie Antoinette
* Napoléon Bonaparte
* Lucien Bonaparte
* Joseph Bonaparte
* Joseph Fesch
* Joséphine de Beauharnais
* Joachim Murat
* Jean Sylvain Bailly
* Jacques-Donatien Le Ray
* Guillaume-Chrétien de Malesherbes
* Talleyrand
* Thérésa Tallien
* Gui-Jean-Baptiste Target
* Catherine Théot
* Madame de Lamballe
* Madame du Barry
* Louis de Breteuil
* de Chateaubriand
* Jean Chouan
* Loménie de Brienne
* Charles Alexandre de Calonne
* Jacques Necker
* Jean-Jacques Duval d'Eprémesnil
* List of people associated with the French Revolution

|

Factions|

* Jacobins
* Cordeliers
* Panthéon Club
* Social Club

Influential thinkers

* Les Lumières
* Beaumarchais
* Edmund Burke
* Anacharsis Cloots
* Charles-Augustin de Coulomb
* Pierre Claude François Daunou
* Diderot
* Benjamin Franklin
* Thomas Jefferson
* Antoine Lavoisier
* Montesquieu
* Thomas Paine
* Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* Abbé Sieyès
* Voltaire
* Mary Wollstonecraft

Cultural impact

* La Marseillaise
* Cockade of France
* Flag of France
* Liberté, égalité, fraternité
* Marianne
* Muscadin
* Bastille Day
* Panthéon
* French Republican calendar
* Metric system
* Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
* Cult of the Supreme Being
* Cult of Reason
* Temple of Reason
* Sans-culottes
* Phrygian cap
* Women in the French Revolution
* Incroyables and merveilleuses
* Symbolism in the French Revolution
* Historiography of the French Revolution
* Influence of the French Revolution
* Films

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