Storming of the Bastille

The July 14, 1789, seizure of the Bastille fortress and prison in Paris by insurgents. It became a defining event of the French Revolution and a symbol of resistance to royal authority.

Paris uprising of July 1789: A popular insurrection in Paris in July 1789 that challenged royal authority and helped precipitate the French Revolution. The Bastille's capture was the uprising's most famous armed confrontation.
Estates-General of 1789: An assembly of France's three estates convened by Louis XVI in 1789 to address the kingdom's financial crisis. Its political deadlock intensified tensions in Paris before the assault.
Camille Desmoulins: A French journalist and revolutionary who urged Parisians to arm themselves during the crisis of July 1789. His speech at the Palais-Royal helped mobilize the crowds before the assault.
Great Fear: A wave of rural panic and peasant revolt across France in the summer of 1789. News of the Bastille's fall helped spread expectations of upheaval beyond Paris.
Bastille prisoners: People held in the Bastille when it was captured on July 14, 1789. Their small number contrasted with the prison's symbolic reputation as an instrument of royal oppression.
Invalides: A Paris complex of buildings founded for veterans, where insurgents seized weapons on July 14, 1789. The search for arms at the Invalides preceded the march on the Bastille.
National Assembly: The revolutionary assembly formed in 1789 by representatives of the French Third Estate and allied deputies. The assembly's challenge to royal authority heightened fears of a crackdown.
Louis XVI: King of France from 1774 until the monarchy's abolition in 1792. His government's troop movements and delayed response influenced the crisis surrounding the Bastille.
Abolition of feudalism: The August 1789 abolition of feudal privileges and obligations by the National Assembly in France. The popular pressure signaled by the Bastille's fall formed part of the upheaval behind these decrees.
Bastille keys: Keys associated with the Bastille's capture, several of which were sent abroad as revolutionary trophies. The keys became tangible symbols of the fortress's surrender and the monarchy's retreat.

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