This Day in History:
French Revolutionaries
Storm the Bastille July 14, 1789 The siege of the royal fortress
is considered the beginning
of the French Revolution. With revolution in the air,
a crowd of Parisian surrounded
the fortress, armed with muskets
and makeshift weapons. The military governor of
the Bastille and his men
initially held the crowd back. As the mob began to increase,
the governor surrendered
the fort. He was arrested and
later murdered by the mob. The incident provided the
momentum the revolutionaries
needed to eventually
abolish the monarchy. Ten years of revolution
would follow, in which
King Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette
and tens of thousands were executed.
