Ask The History Doc: The Bastille

Ask the History Doctor: I got back from Paris a while ago and while I was there a lot of people seemed to make a big deal out of whatever happened on the Place de la Bastille. What is the story?———–Unknowing   Dear Unknowing,   Like you, I have recently returned from Paris, so I believe I may be able to answer your question.   If you mention “large crowd,” “angry voices,” and “Bastille” in the same sentence, it would probably tend to make any reasonably well-informed historian more than just a little nervous, especially if he happened to be on that very spot at the time. This site is indelibly associated with Paris’s tendency to erupt into a revolution, sometimes with only minimum notice in advance.   The most well known of these eruptions, of course, happened during what Americans usually refer to as THE French Revolution — as if there had been only one. This particular revolution followed our own revolution by just a few years. The first overt show of violence came with the so-called “Storming of the Bastille,” on July 14 1789, an event which the French memorialize today as “Bastille Day.”   All revolutions create their own mythologies, of course (remember George Washington and the cherry tree?), and the French Revolution is no exception. Thus, the Storming of the Bastille is sometimes presented as a brave act of defiance against royal oppression, with the Bastille as the focus because it was used as a royal prison. In this view, crowds of “oppressed Parisians” gathered in the streets and bravely attacked the Bastille, suffering terribly at the hands of the well-armed guards, in their valiant efforts to liberate hundreds of what today might be called political prisoners.   It is true that the Bastille was stormed and it is also true that the prisoners inside were liberated. Unfortunately for the legend, it is not true that there were hundreds of prisoners (more like ten or fewer) and apparently none of them had been incarcerated for political reasons. One seems to have been a thief, at least one was apparently a murderer, and one appears to have been convicted of counterfeiting, with the others guilty of similar crimes. These were all “liberated” to ply their trades upon the hapless population of Paris during the increasing chaos of the revolution.   At the time, the Bastille was guarded by approximately one hundred disabled veterans, who had been assigned this task because it represented less strenuous duty. The Marquis de Launey, in command of this not-very-threatening group, sensibly decided to surrender after a few hours without putting up much of a fight. The Marquis was promptly killed, along with at least six of his men. Later, Jacques de Flesselles, the head of the merchants of Paris; Joseph Foullon, intendant of finances; and Louis de Bertier de Sauvigny, acting as intendant of Paris, were also killed by the participants in the uprising.   Ironically, the attack on the Bastille may have occurred because of a desire by the Parisian middle class to calm down what was becoming a dangerous situation. Louis XVI, who was already having trouble at Versailles, had surrounded Paris with troops three days before, just in case. This action had caused great consternation in Paris, with rumors flying that “the King is sending troops to murder us all in our beds.” The middle class elements decided to quickly form a new city government in an attempt to provide some stability and order. The city government established a militia, hoping to control the looting which was beginning, and Lafayette was named head of this new National Guard. Some Parisians were wary of this development, and on July 14 they headed for the Bastille, hoping to find arms there to protect themselves against whoever might turn out to be on the other side, whether royal or bourgeois.   The show of violence on July 14 certainly got the King’s attention. When Louis XVI reluctantly agreed to appear at the seat of city government, the Hotel de Ville, to recognize the new city regime, the new tricolor cockade began to appear everywhere as if by magic. Serving as a symbol of harmony between Paris and its ruler, the white of royalty was sandwiched between the colors of Paris, which were red and blue. For a brief moment, Louis seriously believed the worst was over.   The king’s brother, on the other hand, appears to have been more of a realist. The Count d’Artois left France shortly after the taking of the Bastille, thereby saving his own life and beginning a stream of “émigrés” who waited out the revolution in various locations outside of France.   The Bastille no longer exists today, of course, but the Place de la Bastille still retains some of its almost magical ability to excite a crowd. What you probably heard about recently was a series of demonstrations on this site, very loud and angry, which brought the whole area to a standstill. The cause this time was not royal oppression, of course, but Middle Eastern conflict, with a very large crowd on Saturday filling the Place de la Bastille, angrily supporting the Palestinian cause, followed by another very large crowd on Sunday equally vehement about the Israeli side. The History Doctor, who was all of about three-and-a-half feet from the action, did the sensible thing and locked herself into her hotel room. Just in case, you know.   The History Doctor offers no guarantees as to the accuracy of the questions asked—or of the answers given, either.   Copyright © Paris New Media, LLC   To learn more about this subject or plan a trip to France, order a book from Amazon.com.