William Seay

French 111
The Storming of the Bastille

In the 1700s, France was ruled by Louis XVI, a harsh king who preferred to rule with an
iron fist and plenty of micromanaging. Tensions arose for years during King Louis reign, and
they eventually poured over into citizens of France storming the Bastille, which was a French
military fortress that had grown to symbolize the dictatorship and harsh ruling of the Bourbon
Monarchs. By doing this, the citizens of France began a dark decade of political strife and
turmoil, where King Louis was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including the king
and his own wife, were executed.
The Bastille was originally constructed as a fortification to protect the walled city of Paris
from attacks from Frances long term rival, England. Over the years, it eventually was made into
an independent stronghold. The Bastille was first used as a state prison in the 17th century, and
its cells were reserved for upper-class felons, political troublemakers, and spies. Most prisoners
there were imprisoned without a trial under direct orders of the king. Standing 100 feet tall and
surrounded by a moat more than 80 feet wide, the Bastille was an imposing structure in the city
of Paris.
By the summer of 1789, France was quickly moving towards revolution, a fact made
obvious by various demonstrations and protests in the streets of the capital itself. Due to food
shortages during those years, resentment at King Louis rule quickly turned to pure fury, and the
lower class of French Citizens called for a National Assembly and began to draft their own

constitution. Seemingly agreeing with the National Assembly, King Louis legalized it, but then
quickly moved to surround Paris with soldiers and dismissed the leaders of the Assembly. This
move sparked riots all throughout Paris, at the instigation of the Revolutionary leaders.
Bernard-Jordan de Launay, the military-governor of the Bastille during those years,
feared that his fortress would come under attack from the Revolutionary rioters, and thusly
requested reinforcements. They came in the form of Swiss Mercenaries, which bolstered his
forces. He then had most of his prisoners transferred out, and had kegs of gunpowder and food
brought into the Bastille to keep them better safe and prepare for some kind of make-shift siege
from the rioters outside. With the raising of the Bastilles two drawbridges, Launay had made it
very clear that he meant business.
On July 13, revolutionaries with muskets began firing at soldiers standing guard on the
Bastille's towers and then took cover in the Bastille's courtyard when Launay's men fired back.
That evening, mobs stormed the Paris Arsenal and another armory and acquired thousands of
muskets. At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, and various makeshift
weapons began to gather around the Bastille. Launay received a delegation of revolutionary
leaders but refused to surrender the fortress and its munitions as they requested. He later received
a second delegation and promised he would not open fire on the crowd. To convince the
revolutionaries, he showed them that his cannons were not loaded. Instead of calming the
agitated crowd, news of the unloaded cannons emboldened a group of men to climb over the
outer wall of the courtyard and lower a drawbridge. Launay and his men did their best to hold the
rioters back, killing over 100 of them and wounding several dozen more, but as more and more
Parisians poured into the fortress, it was inevitably lost and its munitions and weapons used to
continue the revolutionary fight.

"French Revolutionaries Storm Bastille." History. A&E Television Networks, 3 May 2010. Web. 30 Nov.
2014. <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/french-revolutionaries-storm-bastille>.