Chapter-1 Part-1: Fall of the Bastille Fort

Let’s make sure we’re clear on some new Vocabularies before we continue.

Storming of Bastille or Fall of the Bastille Fort

• to move quickly with a lot of energy into a place and attack.

Town Hall

• It refers to a central government building where government officials work. They make important decisions about the town or city.
• Also in this hall, french citizens gathered for meetings or to discuss local issues.

Execution – to punish someone by killing them intentionally.

Introduction

• Before we start learning about the French Revolution, watch this short video. It shows how the high price of bread made people very upset and led to changes in France.

• Long ago in France, people protested together because they were very upset that bread cost too much. Their protests changed their country a lot and this protest marked the beginning of The French Revolution.
• It took historians many years to uncover the unexpected truth: the protests ultimately led to the King of France being punished and dethroned(end of the reign of the King of France).
• During the protest, no one thought that simple protests related to bread could make such big changes.
• Let’s understand further how these protests changed history.

Paris in Crisis

• Louis XVI ruled France from Paris.
• On 14th July 1789, he ordered his soldiers to enter the city of Paris.
• This action made the people of Paris very scared and worried about their safety.
• Because they had heard news or gossip, which wasn’t officially confirmed, saying that the king might tell his soldiers to fire their guns and hurt the citizens.
• This was the beginning of the causes of the French Revolution.

Citizens Gather to Protect Themselves

• Therefore, around 7,000 people of all genders gathered in front of the most important government building in the city, called the town hall.
• They also entered different buildings that belonged to the government.
• Inside the Town hall, they looked for weapons such as guns, swords, or other fighting tools.
• They looked for weapons to protect themselves from the soldiers sent by King Louis XVI.

Fall of the Bastille Fort

• After some time, A few hundred people(200 to 900 people approximately) moved towards the eastern part of the city and quickly entered the large fortress and prison known as the Bastille.
• They searched for bullets, guns, and other military equipment or weapons to protect themselves from soldiers.

Swords and Guns Against Soldiers

• The Bastille was protected by soldiers of Louis XVI and it was used to keep prisoners and store guns, bullets, and other military equipment and weapons.

Destroying the Bastille

• The crowd that entered the Bastille, used swords, guns, and other weapons to fight against the soldiers and killed them.
• There were only 7 prisoners inside the Bastille prison. The crowd released these 7 prisoners.

Why People Wanted to Destroy the Bastille?

• Bastille Fortress is a Big building consisting of many soldiers.
• King Louis XVI stayed in this fortress and made Rules and decisions.
• These rules and decisions made by him should be strictly followed by the people of France.
• His citizens thought he used this fortress to show off his power(how strong he was) and make them feel scared and unsafe.
• Therefore, They wanted to destroy the Bastille fortress to show they didn’t want the king to have so much power over them anymore.

Selling Pieces of the Fortress

• They destroyed the Bastille Fortress into very small pieces of stone and sold these pieces in the market to anyone who wanted to have a piece of it as a memory of when the fortress was destroyed.

Protesting against High Bread Prices

• Many people from the village gathered with this crowd because they were angry and upset as the cost of bread was high and they could not buy as much as they needed.
• They protested to show their unhappiness and inability to afford bread due to its high price.

Historians Examining the old Records to find causes and impact of the French Revolution

• After these protests, Many historians studied what happened in the past by examining old records, writings, and other historical evidence.
• They found that these events kept happening, one after another, and together these events resulted in big changes in history, like the French citizens executing the king of France.

Surprising Results Uncovered

• During these protests, most people did not think or expect that the protests about bread prices would lead to the king being executed.
• They didn’t know that their protests related to the high cost of bread would lead to the king’s execution.

Conclusion

• In the end, protests against the high price of bread changed everything in France.
• They clarified that they were no longer scared of the king’s power.
• This situation including the Fall of the Bastille fort, is one of the causes of the French Revolution.
• They destroyed Bastille and the king lost his power because of what happened.
• Historians later learned how important these protests were.
• They led to big changes in how countries are ruled and how people fight for what they need.
• The French Revolution showed that when people unite and fight for what they believe in, they can change history, highlighting the causes of the French Revolution.

Click here to go to Part 2 of Chapter 1.