A (very) brief history of Bastille Day

The Storming of the Bastille, by Jean-Pierre Houël

Often compared to the United States’ 4^th of July, France will be celebrating Bastille Day this weekend.  I never really had a clear foundation of the holiday, expect that I knew it celebrated the storming of the Bastille, a fortress like prison and was the beginning of the French Revolution.  Given that my ignorance is probably not a minority, and that since I’m living in France and should have a better idea of La Fête Nationale, I found a few things that might make one sound a little less dumb the next time the subject is broached:

·         Before the French Revolution, France had The Ancien Regime system.  This means the population was broken into three “estates” or classes: The First Estate was the Roman Catholic clergy; the Second Estate was the nobility and the government, including the King and his court; the Third Estate was the rest of the population.  They were poor and had little to no chance of changing their estate.  One’s estate was determined by birth, not by skill.

·         The Third Estate paid heavy taxes to the nobility, who was supposed to pass the majority of them onto the King, but did not.  The peasants, who lived off their land, had growing difficulties and could not afford the rising cost of flour.  Bread being a major source of nutrition, people were left starving to death because the could not buy flour.

·         King Lous XVI, the king at the time, was a strong supporter of the American Revolution and created a large navy militia in hopes of crushing England.  (Basically, the French and English did not get along at all during this time.) After sending troops and developing a large maritime force, his financial resources were nil.

·         Trying to bring things back in line economically, Louis XVI tried to levy a tax against the nobles, who fought and won thanks to some support by the Third Estate.  Then, the King tried to get parliament in Grenoble to pass an okay for a large loan; he was denied.  The parliament was fired and they protested.  The King sent his troops in who were greeted with flying roof tiles and the event was called journee de tuiles or the Day of the Tiles.  The parliamentarians won and openly refused to pay the King’s taxes anymore and encouraged representatives from others regions to do the same.

·         At this time, there was a meeting of all three estates.  At first, the Third estate (the poor) thought they would get equal vote, but they were duped by the King.  They decided to revolt against his new call for taxes levied only against them.  They revolted and called for the nobility and clergy to join them.  The King left the meeting disgraced.

·         The newly formed delegation decided to meet in another part of building, the tennis courts, and decided to write France a constitution.  The King opposed this, but had not choice to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on July 9^th, 1789.

·         The King was obliged to admit his defeat.  On July 13^th in Paris, a rumor spread that the King’s army was going to attack the newly proclaimed parliamentarians.  On July 14^th, a group of craftsmen decided to fight back.  They stole 28,000 rifles but found no gun powder. The gun powder was stocked at the Bastille, so they decided to attack it.  The revolting crowd was small and did not impress the guards, but the guards decided to meet with some representatives in hopes of preventing a full out revolt.  It was also done to buy time for new troops who were scheduled to arrive and squash the revolt.

·         The revolutionaries began to storm the prison and the guards were forced to fire upon them, killing hundreds of people.

·        The new troops arrived and did not support the guards; instead, they fought with the revolutionist.

·         The King was forced to give up power and was later executed by guillotine (1793) along with his family, including his children and wife Marie-Antoinette.

Therefore, the storming of the Bastille was symbolic for the French people as a victory against the Monarchy.  It continues to get complicated after that, such as the formation of the new government, the signing of a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, a war with Austria, and eventually spatting between Founders Robespierre and Lafayette.  France became a Republic on September 21^st, 1792.