Storming the Bastille July 1789: Paris Mob Sets into Motion French Revolution

Michael Streich

 At nine o’clock in the evening on July 14, 1789, King Louis XVI received word at Versailles that the Bastille had fallen in Paris to a mob that included both citizens and soldiers. “It is a revolt?” he asked the duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. “No, Sire,” la Rochefoucauld replied, “it is a revolution.” More than just symbol, the fall of the Bastille ended one chapter of French history and began another; it was the start of the French Revolution, a movement that would reverberate through every European capital and begin the process of gutting absolutism.

 

The Bastille as the Symbol of Royal Despotism

 

Historian Olivier Bernier referred to the Bastille as a “symbol of royal despotism,” and in July 1789 it was simply that, a symbol. In the process of being “phased out” by the government, the Bastille held only seven men, none of them political prisoners. British historian Simon Schama, in his book Citizens, analyzes the many mythologies associated with the Bastille, perpetuated by romanticist literature and art.

 

The fortress, built in the late 14^th Century, was garrisoned by 114 men, mostly veterans, under the command of the marquis de Launay, described as “stupid, weak, and indecisive.” The prison held no noteworthy inmates; the marquis de Sade had been held there until a week before the Bastille fell. The seven prisoners included four forgers, two madmen (one of whom thought that he was God), and an accomplice in an assassination plot against King Louis XV.

 

The Paris Mob in 1789

 

The men and women that converged on the Bastille on the morning of July 14^th were the bourgeoisie, shopkeepers, merchants, and artisans. Masters and journeymen were eventually joined by soldiers. These were the “popular emotions” Princeton historian Robert Darnton writes about, the mob driven by frenzy to blood lust, seen later in 1792 during the infamous September Massacres.

 

No effort was made to restrain the mob in the days before the attack on the Bastille. They had acquired arms but lacked ammunition. The Bastille magazine, however, contained cartridges. This was the object of the mob. All other considerations were secondary.

 

Two deputations of the people met with de Launay who treated them civilly, removed the cannon facing the faubourg St. Antoine, a section of Paris inhabited by hundreds of the mob waiting outside, but politely declined to surrender the fortress.

 

The mob managed to break through the main gate and stormed into the outer courtyard. Nervous defenders opened fire on the mob below. Thinking they had been lured into a massacre, the mob, now joined by soldiers that had brought cannon, began an all-out assault. By 5:00 de Launay surrendered. The battle had taken two hours.

 

De Laurnay was taken to the city hall of Paris but torn apart by an angry mob outside of the building. His head severed, it was placed on a pike and paraded through the city.

 

Immediate Results of the Fall of the Bastille

 

British historian Albert Goodwin writes that, “No other single event in the revolution had so many-sided or far-reaching results as the fall of the Bastille.” The power of the king was diminished; indeed, Louis XVI went to the Assembly to enlist their support in healing the nation. In all official matters, absolutism – what was left of it, capitulated.

 

Military forces, notably foreign regiments, were withdrawn from the area of Paris. A National Guard was authorized, commanded by the marquis de Lafayette. Finally, the National Assembly was left unmolested to craft a constitution and transform a society identified with the Ancient Regime into a powerful modern society.

 

Sources:

 

Olivier Bernier, Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood: The Mob, the Monarchy, and the French Revolution (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989)

Albert Goodwin, The French Revolution New York: Harper & Brothers, 1962)

Robert Darnton, The Kiss of Lamourette: Reflections in Cultural History (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990)

Simon Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989)

(First published in Suite101. Copyright owned by Michael Streich. All republishing subject to written approval)