The French Revolution: Storming the Bastille

The French Revolution

• On July 14, 1789, Paris was in a state of unrest due to the king's command to move troops into the city and rumors of potential violence against citizens.
• 700 men and women formed a people's militia and broke into government buildings to find arms, eventually storming the Bastille fortress prison.
• The commander of the Bastille was killed, and the prisoners (only seven) were released, leading to the demolition of the hated symbol of the king's despotic power.
• The days that followed saw more rioting in Paris and the countryside, primarily due to high bread prices.

French Society During the Late Eighteenth Century

• Louis XVI, the 20-year-old king, ascended the throne in 1774 and faced an empty treasury due to long years of war and extravagant court expenses.
• France helped the American colonies gain independence from Britain, adding over a billion livres to the existing debt of over 2 billion livres.
• To meet its expenses, the state increased taxes, which only the third estate (common people) paid, while the nobility and clergy were exempt.
• The society of estates, part of the feudal system, divided France into three estates: the nobility, clergy, and common people.
• Peasants made up 95% of the population, but only a small number owned the land they cultivated, with nobles, the Church, and richer members of the third estate owning over 30% of the land.
• The nobles enjoyed feudal privileges, and the Church extracted tithes from peasants, further burdening the third estate.

A Growing Middle Class Envisages An End To Privileges

• The middle class, which emerged through expanding overseas trade and manufacturing, included merchants, manufacturers, lawyers, and administrative officials who were educated and believed in a society based on merit rather than birth.
• Philosophers like John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau promoted ideas of freedom, equal laws, and opportunities for all, influencing the middle class.
• The middle class sought to end privileges and envisioned a society where social position depended on merit, not birth.

The Ideas of the Enlightenment

• Enlightenment philosophers' ideas were widely discussed in salons, coffee-houses, and through books and papers.
• These ideas, promoting freedom, equality, and reason, fueled anger and protest against the system of privileges and the planned tax increase.

The morning of July 14, 1789, marks the beginning of the French Revolution. Citizens of Paris take a stand against the king's army, forming a people's militia in search of arms.