How did the Storming of the Bastille unfold?   Objective:  Compare and contrast multiple perspectives on the Storming of the Bastille.  

 

   

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Singleton_the_Storming_of_the_Bastille.jpg 

The Storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789  Directions: Read the secondary and primary accounts below and answer the questions. 

Multiple Perspective on The Fall of the Bastille (July 14, 1789) Paris newspaper account of the fall of the Bastille, 1789  ... The treacherous governor had put out a flag of peace. So a confident                           advance was made; a detachment of French Guards, with perhaps five to six                         thousand armed bourgeois, penetrated the Bastille's outer courtyard, but as                   soon as some six hundred persons had passed over the first drawbridge, the                         bridge was raised and artillery fire mowed down several French Guards and                       some soldiers; the cannon fired on the town, and the people took fright; a                           large number of individuals were killed or wounded; but then they rallied and                         took shelter from the fire . . . meanwhile, they tried to locate some cannon . . .                                   The fighting grew steadily more intense; the citizens had become hardened                     to the fire; from all directions they clambered onto the roofs or broke into the                             rooms; as soon as an enemy appeared among the turrets on the tower, he                           was fixed in the sights of a hundred guns and mown down in an                           instant...people bravely faced death and every danger; women, in their                   eagerness, helped us to the utmost; even the children, after the discharge of                         fire from the fortress, ran here and there picking up the bullets and shot; [and                             so the Bastille fell and the governor, De Launey, was captured]. . . .   Meanwhile, they get ready to march; they leave amidst an enormous crowd;                       the applause, the outbursts of joy, the insults, the oaths hurled at the                         treacherous prisoners of war; everything is confused; cries of vengeance and                     

1.How did the French Guards respond to 

the Bastille being attacked? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. How are the French citizens described? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Is this source believable? Why? Why 

not? 

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of pleasure issue from every heart.... On arriving at the square, the people,                         anxious to avenge themselves, allowed neither De Launey nor the other                     officers to reach the place of trial; they seized them from the hands of their                             conquerors, and trampled them underfoot one after the other. De Launey was                       struck by a thousand blows, his head was cut off and hoisted on the end of a                                 pike with blood streaming down all sides. . . . This glorious day must amaze                             our enemies, and finally usher in for us the triumph of justice and liberty. In                             the evening, there were celebrations.  

Source: quoted in Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization: A Brief History (Belmont, CA: West/Wadsworth, 1999), p. 416 from http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/bastille.html. 

A Defender of the Bastille Explains His Role 

In this passage, a Swiss officer named Louis de Flue describes how his                         contingent was overrun and how he was brought back to the City Hall where,                           to his surprise, he found himself accused of having used force against the                         people.  

. . . During the day of the 13th, from the high towers of the Bastille, various                           

fires were seen burning around the city, and we feared something similar near                         us, which would endanger the powder in the Bastille. . . . Hearing this news,                             the Governor ordered . . . the fortress be sealed off. 

. . . About three o'clock in the afternoon, a troop of armed citizens                           mixed with some soldiers came to attack from the Arsenal. They entered                       without difficulty into the courtyard. . . . They cut the chains holding the                           drawbridge, and it fell open; this operation was easily carried out because the                         Governor had ordered his troops not to fire before having warned them to                         leave, which we could not do while they were still at such a distance [from                             the fortress]. Nevertheless, the besiegers fired first on the high towers. . . . 

After having easily dropped the bridge, they easily knocked down the                     door with axes and entered into the courtyard, where the governor went to                         meet them. He asked them what they wanted . . . and the general cry went                               up to "Lower the bridges!" . . . The governor responded he could not and                             withdrew, ordering his troops to take up defensive positions.. . . 

...I was very surprised to see him send four veterans to the gates to                           open them and to lower the bridges. The crowd entered right away and                         disarmed us in an instant . . . we were menaced with being massacred in all                               manner possible. Finally, the furor . . . calmed a bit and I along with part of                                 my troupe was conducted to the City Hall. 

During the trip, the streets and the houses, even the roofs, were full of                           crowds who insulted me and cursed me. I was continually subject to swords,                         bayonets, and pistols pressed against my body...I arrived finally to general                     cries that I should be hung and at several hundred paces from the City Hall,                             when a head on a pike was brought before me to consider and I was told that                                 it was M. de Launay [governor of the Bastille]. Crossing the place de Greve, I                             was passed before the body of M. de Lorme [guardian of City Hall] who was                             on the ground in a bath of his own blood. . . . ... 

As for the story that was told and which has been generally received                         that M. de Launay [the governor] had ordered the bridges lowered to let in                           the crowd and that after, he had ordered them raised and ordered to fire on                             those who had entered [the courtyard], this story has no need to be refuted.                           Anyone who knows what a drawbridge is knows that having lowered one                       enough to let a crowd enter can no longer raise it again at will. Moreover, it is                                 impossible that the garrison fired on those who had entered the courtyard                       because as soon as the crowd entered, we were all disarmed. 

Source: "Rélation de la prise de la Bastille le 14 juillet 1789 par un de ses défenseurs," in Révue Retrospective, vol. 4 (Paris: M. J. Taschereau, 1834). 

Source: http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/383/ 

1.How did the French Guards respond to 

the Bastille being attacked? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. How are the French citizens described? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Is this source believable? Why? Why 

not? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Synthesis and Reflection 

4. How do these two accounts of the Storming of the Bastille differ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. What is similar about these two accounts of the Storming of the Bastille differ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Which of the two sources do you think is more trustworthy? Why?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. To get a clearer understanding of what happened during the Storming of the Bastille, what other sources 

would you examine to corroborate the two sources you’ve already read? Why would you select these 

sources?  

 

      

         

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