The Storming Of The Bastille: A Major Turning Point In The French Revolution

Improved Essays
The Storming of the Bastille was a major turning point in the French Revolution.1 It was the start of violent uprisings against the king, and an important moment in the growth of nationalism. Violence and fear had been growing in Paris. On July 13, 1789 rumours that the King was planning an attack on the National Assembly spread,2 and this panicked the Parisians.3 A group of craftsmen and salesmen convened, and they went to the Invalides to steal weapons.4 The Invalides refers to The Hôtel national des Invalides, a set of buildings in Paris.5 At the Invalides they managed to steal about twenty-eight thousand rifles, but they did not find any gunpowder. They knew of an important prison that happened to be a symbol of the king's absolute power,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the late 1780's to early 1790's, Europe was in turmoil. The French king, Louis XVI had been deposed and executed by the radical French Republicans. While France dealt with the chaos that was it's government, the rest of Europe was afraid its citizens would rise in revolt as well. To bring order to France, an English fleet moved toward the crucial port of Toulon in the south. Among the threats of invasion by Austria, Russia, Prussia and Spain, France also had to deal with the popular revolt of French loyal to Louis' family in the Vendee region where citizens had beaten back forces of the French Republic.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The change of leaders and the type of government was not liked by many people inside and outside of France, and the new Republic had to deal with many threats that endangered their ideals. Countries outside of France, like Austria and Prussia, were not only anxious that the rebellion in France will influence their own people’s views on the government, but, they also were related to the royal family that got overthrown. Their conflict also branched from the fact that the revolutionaries violated some European treaties by invading papal territory and abolishing the rights of the Austrian princes in Alsace. Foreign governments undermined the revolution by attacking France, providing refuge for French rebels (émigrés) and armed them to attack…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    rred during the radical period of the French Revolution as a response to the conflict between the Girondins and The Mountains. During this time, the Committee of Public Safety executed thousands of internal “enemies of the revolution” (“Report in the Name,” 47). Although many argue otherwise, The Terror was not a perversion of the original ideals of the revolution because the ideals of the revolution were to gain more equality for the people of France, and the punishments that occurred were necessary and the cultural changes, in fact, benefited the citizens. As seen through the voices of the Third Estate and its supporters, one of the fundamental goals of the French Revolution was to gain equality and freedom for citizens. In the Town of…

    • 1589 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    European history has obviously a lot of history that build up to modern day Europe. Many turning points in their history has a lot of significances to them, especially during 1789-1791 where the French Revolution occurred. Many events that happened during the French Revolution showed political and social effects. The political effects was the event of the Tennis Court Oath and the . The social effects that happened was the publication of The Declaration of the Rights of Women and the event of the Tennis Court Oath.…

    • 240 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages

    During the time of the Enlightenment, many people started to question their daily lives. While the French monarchs and churches were taking total control of the people and their government, philosopher such as John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wallstonecraft started to not only question but applied logic and reason to life as they knew it, but also had similar thoughts of equality for all. Little did any of them know that their ideas would pave the way for many concepts that we still use to this day. We start out in the year of 1690, which was eighty-six years before America's declaration of independence was first written. John Locke, who is widely known for his book "Two Treatises of Government", which contained many controversial theories that are similar to what we know today.…

    • 529 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The great social theorist and philosopher, Isaiah Berlin once stated, “Injustice, poverty, slavery, ignorance - these may be cured by reform or revolution. But men do not live only by fighting evils. They live by positive goals, individual and collective, a vast variety of them, seldom predictable, at times incompatible.” In simpler terms, Berlin is saying that to cure injustice and poverty, men may use revolution and reform but they cannot “live only by fighting evils”, they must also live by positive goals that protect society’s interests as a whole and not become guided by their own ignorance. And it is for these reasons that Maximilien Robespierre’s Reign of Terror was not justified.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The French Revolution was a very chaotic time. The third class was very angry they weren't being treated equally. They wanted to be like the first and second class. They decided to rebel and this caused the French Revolution. They rebelled and attacked many places like the Bastille and the Palace of Versailles.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages

    During the eighteenth century, two revolutions occurred that changed the course of not only the nations they took place in, but also the world. The first revolution to occur was the American Revolution which started as a rebellion against the monarchy and resulted in a new country being formed. The second revolution was the French Revolution. The French Revolution began as an uprising of the citizens of France against their monarchy. This revolution resulted in many deaths of the people of France and also led to the reign of Napoleon.…

    • 1095 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Reign Of Terror Dbq

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Once the crowd of 800 was settled outside the Bastille, unwilling to move, they began to demand gunpowder and weapons of their own. The protesters then started calling for fair trials for the state prisoners and enough bread and food to feed their families. The citizens were clearly outraged, both at Marie Antoinette for spending the city’s limited money on extravagant jewelry and dresses instead of food for her people, and at countless other unjust political leaders. Due to the government's refusal of their protests, the mob eventually tore the Bastille down brick by brick. There were many lives lost on both sides; this might just be the greatest revolution France has ever…

    • 948 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The French Revolution was a historic event triggered by a chain of events in France that lasted for ten years. The primary significance of it being the abolishment of absolute monarchy after the lower class fought for their rights and demanded a change in the unfair social structures that have left them in poverty and made their lives more difficult than the first two estates. Some causes of the French Revolution include social disputes between the first, second and third estate. The first estate was made up of the clergy and church workers and the second made up of the nobles, while the third estate consists of the Bourgeoisie, otherwise known as the middle class and "peasants". This was the social class that had the least amount of…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    French Revolution Dbq

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Was the French Revolution really the end of The Age of Enlightenment? Many people believed that after the French Revolution ended it also brought down all the ideas that the philosophers had believed. Even though the philosopher’s ideas did dim a little after the war ended they were still remembered in the people’s mind. The French Revolution was not the end of the Age of Enlightenment because it was just the peak that helped modernize the society that we live in today. Without the ideas that the Enlightenment brought we might not have the liberty that we currently have because it was used to create many of the documents that are used to prove our rights.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The French Revolution, which started in 1789 and ended in 1799, brought many political and social changes to France. The French Revolution began because the 3rd Estate, which was comprised of peasants and bourgeoisie, was frustrated by the large amount of taxes and also that their voice was not being heard in government. In the beginning of the Revolution, many changes were made based on enlightenment ideals. However, toward the end of the Revolution in 1794, these enlightenment ideals were twisted by Robespierre. Although an effort was made to use enlightenment ideas, it was eventually unsuccessful when the Revolution turned more radical.…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As the Revolution gained more power, its leaders became more paranoid. In 1793, Maximilien Robespierre, who had assumed most of the power in France, declared that a reign of terror would begin. During this period of time, the French government’s first priority was keeping the Revolution safe from people who wanted…

    • 1097 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With that things started to get bad. The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 immediately became a symbol of French nationalism. It showed that people were really starting to take citizenship of them selfs and not relying on the King. The French Revolution took 25 years of blood and hurt that is almost always forgotten about. The people realized that they could become a united front.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Then on July 14th, 1789 a group of rioters stormed the Bastille fortress hoping to capture arms and ammunition ("French Revolution."). This is a key difference between the American and French revolutions, as the French revolution was kicked off by the peasants starting the first acts of violence, while in America it was British soldiers that started the violence which only enraged the American populace even more. After the storming of Bastille the people of France were suddenly in a state of hysteria and revolutionary fervor ("French Revolution."). Thus began “The Great Fear” which was a period of time where the peasants of France were known to riot, loot, and burn the property of anyone who was above them in the status…

    • 2394 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Great Essays