As word of the king's decision to dismiss Jacques Necker - a favourite among Frances's third estate - from his government made its way throughout Parisian households, hundreds of hungry commoners flooded the streets in anger. The mob would march towards the Bastille, a medieval fortress in the heart of Paris which had been underutilized for years and was already planned to be demolished. The Bastille was housing cannons and gunpower the crowd wanted, and was only being guarded by 82 veterans incapable of serving in the field and an additional 32 Swiss soldiers. By the morning of July 14th, 1789, roughly 900 prisoners gathered outside the gates of the Bastille, demanding to be let in.
However, the Bastilles governor - Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay - refused to concede to the mob's demands but also knew his soldiers could not fight them off without additional reinforcements. Their fate would be sealed after two men from the crowd managed to scale the outer wall of the Bastille and cut the chains keeping the drawbridge upright. As it came crashing down it would crush one member of the crowd, however, the rest were undeterred as they made their way into the once impenetrable fortress. The crowd was unaware they were not being let in and rather had broken in with the help of the two men who scaled the wall, the guards began to panic when the mob who’d been trapping them inside the fortress had now suddenly began appearing in front of them. The guards began to open fire on a crowd who had already begun to suspect they were being led into a trap, causing some members of the crowd who had guns to start returning fire.
This marked the beginning of what is referred to as, the storming of the Bastille - a pivotal event in not only France's history but the history of civilization. By the time the mob had control of the Bastille, its governor had already been captured and decapitated, his head put on a spike and paraded around for all to see, representing the start of the French Revolution and the beginning of the end of the monarchy.
Welcome back to compelling history! Today we’ll be taking a look at the kings of France, and how their once iron clade grip on power came to an end. Before we step back into 18th century Paris, make sure to like and subscribe to help the channel continue growing! And make sure to let us know in the comments what you think our next topic should be.
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