The Storming of the Bastille

Excerpted from Paris and Environs; Handbook for Travellers
K. Baedeker Publisher; Leipsig 1888.

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[Written less than 100 years after the fact, this colorful account of the storming of the Bastille gives some of the details of what actually happened - The Editor]

La Bastille was formerly the site of the Bastille St-Antoine a castle which was left standing with the boulevards were levelled in 1670. This stronghold, which was erected in 1371-83 by Kings Charles V and VI, was afterwards used as a state-prison, chiefly for the confinement of persons of rank who had fallen victims to the intrigues of the court or the caprice of the government, and attained a world-wide celebrity in consequence of its destruction on 14 July 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution.

With its massive walls, 10 ft. in thickness, and its eight heavy sombre towers, it rose just at the entrance of the city; and the cannon on its battlements commanded the adjoining suburb of St. Antoine, the quarter occupied by the artizan classes. It formed the standing cognisance of despotic power under the old monarchy, and presented a formidable barrier to the advancing tide of the Revolution. Ere long, therefore, the popular desire for independence, coinciding with the designs of the demagogues, raised the cry, which speedily resounded throughout the whole of Paris, - Down with the Bastille! Notwithstanding the moats, the walls, and the guns with which with which the castle was defended, the execution of the scheme presented no great difficulty. The garrison consisted of 138 men, one third of whom were Invalides; their provisions consisted of a couple of sacks of flour; they were unable to prevent the stoppage of their supply of water; and all hope of aid from without was cut off. From the suburbs and interminable multitude of armed men converged towards the entrance; and from the city came several companies of the regiments which had gone over to the Revolution, headed by the French guards. De Launay, the commandant, however, refused to capitulate, and the struggle began. A number of the citizens, with reckless bravery, succeeded in cutting the chains of the drawbridge, and the first court of the castle was speedily taken; but to the excessive exasperation of the assailants their attack on the second court was repulsed with great loss. The courage of the garrison was now exhausted. The Invalides desired to capitulate, and De Launay, who had been prevented by his officers from blowing up the castle and its inmates, let down the second bridge on being promised a free retreat. The victorious crowd immediately poured into the ancient building, some of the enthusiastic in the cause of Liberty, others bent on murder and destruction. The lives of the garrison were now in great jeopardy. The French guards succeeded with difficulty in saving the common soldiers; but De Launay and his officers, in spite of the long and heroic attempts of the leaders of the populace to protect them, were slain, and ther heads cut off as trophies.

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Excerpted from Paris and Environs; Handbook for Travellers
K. Baedeker Publisher; Leipsig 1888.