On this day in 1789, a crowd of nearly one thousand protesters stormed the Bastille in Paris, France, a major event in the French Revolution, commemorated annually as “Bastille Day”.

In the months running up to the uprising, the people of France were facing a dire economic crisis, food shortage, and increased militarization of Paris on orders of King Louis XVI. The Bastille was an armory and prison, perceived by many as a symbol of royal authority in the city.

On the morning of July 14th, a crowd of approximately one thousand people surrounded the Bastille, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of its cannon, and the release of the arms and gunpowder stored there.

After negotiations stalled, the crowd surged into the courtyard of the Bastille and were fired upon by troops in the garrison. In the carnage that followed, ninety-eight protesters and one defender of the Bastille were killed.

Governor Marquis de Launay, fearing his troops could not hold out, capitulated to the crowd and opened up the Bastille doors. He was captured and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. While the crowd debated his fate, the badly beaten Launay shouted “Enough! Let me die!”, kicked a pastry cook in the groin, and was then promptly stabbed to death.

As news of the successful seizure of the Bastille spread throughout the country, revolutionaries established parallel structures of power for government and militias for civic protection, burned deeds of property, and in some cases attacked wealthy landlords.

King Louis XVI first learned of the storming the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. “Is it a revolt?” asked the King. The duke replied: “No sire, it’s not a revolt; it’s a revolution.”

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  • uokgerku [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    1 month ago

    I wanna live in a world where if u leave the door open too long instead of flies coming in or smth, big wild fluffy non-ebola-carrying fruit bats just come into your house and start eating all your fruit

    Known problem with fruit bats

    No, I haven’t fully considered the implications of this

    • uokgerku [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      1 month ago

      I heard that under Mamdani u can’t even walk home from the communist grocery stores in NYC without being accosted by swarms of fruit bats

      Brave small businesses have opened up providing fruit bat resistant grocery bags but the regime has started offering FREE night classes to the fruit bats about how to open anti-fruit-bat bags

      Sad our country has come to this