Western Civilization II / Unit 7 WC2 0609 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Bastille, July 14
Captions available
The idea
Louis ordered the estates to join the Assembly, then summoned troops at the queen's and conservatives' urging. Paris rose from July twelfth; on the fourteenth crowds overwhelmed the Bastille, a prison and arsenal, and killed its guards, while royal troops defected.
In practice
By July sixteenth the army was unreliable and the king yielded.
Where people slip
An arsenal, not a symbol, is what the crowd wanted.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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