The Bastille

Throughout history, symbols have had an overwhelming presence among citizens. The French Revolution had many symbols that represented power. Did the events leading up to the storming of the Bastille persuade the French citizens to believe that it was a symbol of power? There are many reasons why the French citizens would believe the Bastille to be a symbol of power. It was a very overwhelming stone structure, which stood robust, surrounded by small villages along with farmland. The architecture and placement of this fortress gave itself a reputation of strength and impregnation. It stood by itself, being the most intimidating structure of its time.

In the medieval year of 1370 Charles V ordered the building of the Bastille, or bastide, which means fortress, as a castle to defend the eastern side of Paris. It had eight towers and was linked by walls that were over one hundred feet tall. The river Sienne River fed its moat, which was eighty feet wide, but in the year 1789 it was dry. It was never meant to be a prison, but in the first half of the 17th century, Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister of Louis XIII, began to send prisoners to the fortress. This remained the Bastille's chief function until the year 1789.

The Bastille wasn't an ordinary prison though; these prisoners were not given a trial. They were just locked up and kept in the prison until the king wished them out. Prisoners were only released after they sworn an oath never to reveal what was inside the prison. This gave the fortress a mysterious reputation. The liberators of the fortress were disappointed to see that the inside was more comfortable than they had imagined. By the year 1789 life inside the Bastille was no longer as the horrors of legend said they were. During Louis XVI's rule, life inside the fortress was very easy. The prisoners had servants who made them meals, used their own furniture, some were given living allowance, and almost all were allowed to play games or walk freely around the fortress.

During 1789, the Bastille held only seven prisoners. These seven prisoners were Jean de la Correge; Jean Bechade; Bernard Laroche; Jean-Antoine Pujade; De Witt; the Count of Solages; and Tavernier. The first four of them were all properly tried and convicted forgers; the Count of Solages was imprisoned on request of his family who suspected him to be guilty of murder and incest; and De Witt imagined himself to be Julius Ceaser, St. Louis, and sometimes God. The last, Tavernier had been locked up since 1759 for his part in the Damiens conspiracy against Louis XV. He was the only political prisoner that was found when the Bastille was liberated on July 14, 1789. There was a staff of several dozen cooks, doctors, barbers, and workmen as well as eighty to ninety soldiers that guarded and cared for the seven prisoners. The Governor of the Bastille had a very good job, one of the best paid, in the royal service. Louis XVI and his monarchy were in major debt and plans were made to demolish the Bastille. In June of 1789, an architect produced plans for the destruction of the fortress and the redeveloping the site.

The two predecessors of Louis XVI, his father and grandfather, Louis XV and Louis XIV, left him great debts because of excessive spending. The country of France was close to being bankrupt. Though the nobles and clergy were very wealthy, Louis couldn't tax them because they were wealthy. Then the First and Second Estates did not accept a land taxed proposed by Louis, which would cover some of the debt. By the year 1789 the country of France was in great debt and financial crisis. Other unfortunate events happened the year leading up to the storming of the Bastille. During the beginning of 1789 the bad weather had reduced the grain crops by almost one-quarter the normal yield. The cold winter made for frozen rivers, which also halted the transport and milling of flour in many parts of the nation. This then raised the price of bread in Paris from around 8 sous to nearly 14 sous. Many people did not have the money to buy bread at these outrageous prices this is one of the reasons that many of the peasants in the countryside started revolting.

The king called the Estates-General, an assembly of delegates, to Versailles in May of 1789 in order to approve a tax plan, but the delegates couldn't agree on how to vote. Normally each estate had one vote and two out of the three Estates refused. The Third Estate then dropped from the assembly and declared themselves the National Assembly on June 17, 1789. He wanted to approve a new tax plan because taxes and laws were different in each of the provinces of France causing confusion and injustice. Louis XVI then locked them out of their meeting place, so the National Assembly moved to the palace tennis court. They made "the Tennis Court Oath" which meant that they would not leave the tennis court until they gave France a constitution and the king recognized them. If royal officials did not produce food supplies at affordable prices, then people would act directly to seize food.

Louis XVI then ordered 20,000 troops into Paris to protect the National Assembly and prevent disorder in the city. Parisians believed that food shortages and royal troops would be used in tandem to starve the people and overwhelm then into submission. People in the countryside soon heard three rumors of the happening in Paris. Fifteen thousand troops were marching to Paris to level it and kill any rebellious citizens. The Governor of the Bastille had pointed cannons toward people surrounding the Bastille and would blow them away. The representatives of the National Assembly (the third estate) were already locked up in the Bastille dungeons. These rumors caused an atmosphere of fear and panic, which lead to demonstrations, panicky reactions, and acts of violence. These small rumors would soon cause a very explosive act. They became afraid of the nobles and mobs started to burn manors and destroy paperwork. The peasants preformed these actions because they heard rumors that vagrants were marching to villages to destroy the harvest and coerce the peasants into submission. This was called the Great Fear.

On the night of July 12, the revolting citizens burnt down forty-four tollgates surrounding Paris resulting in the destruction of records. The Parisians also plundered the richest monastery in Paris, throwing furniture out its windows, destroying records all in search of gunpowder and weaponry. This same night all gunsmiths and saddlers were plundered in search of weaponry also.

On the morning of July 14, about 7000 citizens broke into a weapons depot and captured several cannons and about forty thousand rifles, but there still was no gunpowder. The citizens