12.1.3

The Storming of the Bastille

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The Storming of the Bastille, 1789

Although France was very powerful throughout most of the 1700s, towards the end of the century it faced financial and political problems. These problems caused tensions within society, which led to demands for change.

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Tensions

  • Tensions began to grow within Paris.
  • The National Assembly were demanding political reform, but this was not being acknowledged.
  • Rumours spread that the king was intending to use force to shut down the National Assembly, as French soldiers and foreign mercenaries (foreign soldiers employed by the king) appeared around the city.
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Storming the Bastille

  • After Necker, the king’s popular finance minister, resigned from his post, tensions reached a height in Paris.
  • On 14th July an angry mob stole nearly 30,000 muskets from an army barracks and stormed (attacked) the Bastille, which was a large fortress and prison in Paris.
  • The Bastille represented royal authority, so the attack was meant to show their hatred for the vast power of the king.
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The Revolution begins

  • The angry mob entered the Bastille by force, murdered its governor, and put his head on a spike for all of Paris to see.
  • Louis XVI was powerless to respond; many of his own French troops had deserted him to support the storming of the Bastille, and it was obvious that he had lost all control.
  • This was the beginning of the French Revolution.

Jump to other topics

1The Medieval World: 450-1450 AD

1.1Anglo-Saxon England

1.2The Contest for the English Throne

1.3Conquering the Holy Land, 10-96-1396 AD

1.4King John

1.5The Magna Carta & Parliament

1.6The Black Death

2Worldviews

3The Empire of Mali

4The Renaissance & Reformations, 1500-1598 AD

5The British Empire, 1583-1960 AD

6The Peasants' Revolt

7Religion in the Middle Ages

8Slavery, 1619-1833 AD

9The English Civil War, 1642-1660

10The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1840

11US Independence, 1775-1783

12The French Revolution, 1789-1815

13The British Empire, 1857–1930

14Suffrage

15World War 1, 1914-1918

16The Inter-War Years, 1919-1939

17World War 2, 1939-1945

18The Cold War, 1947-1962

19Civil Rights in the USA, 1954-1975

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