A mediaeval fortress and prison in E Paris, France. King Charles V built the Bastille of Paris as a fortress in c.1370. For centuries it was used as a political prison by French monarchs, the symbol of Bourbon despotism. Stormed by a Parisian mob on 14 July 1789, its destruction came to have a unique place in French Revolutionary ideology as marking the end of the ancien régime and the beginning of the French Revolution. The anniversary of the day is a French national holiday.
For Bastille Linux, a hardening application, see Bastille Linux.The Bastille (48°51′12″N, 2°22′9″E) was a prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, which along with the Tennis Court Oath is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. The event was commemorated one year later by the Fête de la Fédération. The French national holiday, celebrated annually on July 14 is officially the Fête Nationale, and officially commemorates the Fête de la Fédération, but it is commonly known in English as Bastille Day.
Early history of the Bastille
Built from 1370 to 1383 as part of the defences of Paris, the structure was converted into a prison in the 17th century by Charles VI. It began to acquire a poor reputation when it became the main prison for those taken under lettres de cachet issued by the Bourbon kings.
By the late 18th century, the building was made up of eight close-packed towers, around 24 m (80 feet) high, surrounding two courtyards and the armoury.
Storming
The confrontation between the commoners and the ancien régime ultimately led to the people of Paris storming the Bastille on July 14, 1789, following several days of disturbances. The regular garrison consisted of about 80 invalides (veteran soldiers no longer capable of service in the field) under Governor Bernard-René de Launay.
A crowd of around 1,000 people gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the guns and the release of the arms and gunpowder.
In the early afternoon, the crowd broke into the undefended outer courtyard and the chains on the drawbridge to the inner courtyard were cut. De Launay ordered a ceasefire; De Launay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville, but was stabbed to death by the mob in the street outside the Hôtel. Several of De Launay's officers were also killed. The officer commanding the Swiss detachment later prepared a detailed account of the fall of the fortress which, perhaps unfairly, laid blame on De Launay for indecisive behavior.
Historical assessment
Many historians believe that the storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than any practical act of defiance. The act of telling this false version of the events began on July 17, 1789 with the publication of the Révolutions de Paris.
The Storming of the Bastille, 14 July 1789
10:30 Due to the pressure of the crowd, the voters of Paris came together outside the town hall and sent a delegation to Bernard-Rene Jordan de Launay.
11:30 A second delegation led by the knight Jacques Alexis Thuriot and Louis Ethis de Corny, is sent to the Bastille without result.
13:30 The defenders of the Bastille (82 invalids and 32 detached Swiss soldiers of the regiment of Salis-Samade) opened fire on order from the governor.
14:00 A third delegation is sent to the Bastille.
15:30 A detachment of 61 French guards commanded by Pierre Hulin, former sergeant of the Swiss guards, arrives in front of the Bastille with five cannons.
17:00 The crowd invades the Bastille, delivers the seven prisoners of common right who were locked up there, seizes the powder and the balls, takes along to the Town hall, the garrison of the Bastille. On the way, the governor, Bernard-Rene Jordan de Launay is killed and several invalids are put to death.
Notable prisoners
The Man in The Iron Mask Nicolas Fouquet Voltaire Marquis de Sade Claude de Bourdeille, comte de Montrésor René Auguste Constantin de Renneville Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême Hugues Aubriot, builder of the Bastille Louis François Armand du Plessis, duc de Richelieu Pierre François de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal Marguerite De Launay, Baronne Staal James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton Louis Pierre Manuel François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, duc de Luxembourg Antoine Nompar de Caumont François de La Rochefoucauld François de Bassompierre André Morellet Jacques Pierre Brissot Charles François Dumouriez Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy John Vanbrugh ExiliIn fiction
Comte de Rochefort (fictional, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After) Doctor Alexander Manette (fictional, A Tale of Two Cities)Demolition
The propaganda value of the Bastille was quickly seized upon, notably by the showy entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy, "Patriote Palloy." But Palloy secured a license for demolition from the Permanent Committee at the Hôtel de Ville and quickly took complete control.
Palloy secured a fair budget and his crew grew .
The area today
The former location of the fort is currently called the place de la Bastille. The large ditch (fossé) behind the fort has been transformed into a marina for pleasure boats, the Bassin de l'Arsenal, to the south, and a covered canal, the Canal Saint Martin, extending north from the marina beneath the vehicular roundabout that borders the location of the fort.
Some undemolished remains of one tower of the fort were discovered during excavation for the Métro (rail mass-transit system) in 1899, and were moved to a park a few hundred metres away, where they are displayed today.
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