Happy Bastille Day

228 years ago today the infamous political prison, the Bastille was stormed by rioting commoners of Paris, aided by sympathetic factions within the police force. As I stated in the Independence Day post, this event would spark a 17 year conflict, both internally and internationally, that would end in 1815 with the second defeat of Napoleon and see the European powers develop a democratic republic for the people of France.

Louise XVI

 France's support for the American Revolution had put it in a financially precarious place. While not destitute or bankrupt, it would take a few years for the French economy to fully recover. That is if appropriate and sensible people were in charge. Unfortunately the ruler of France was Louise the XVI, and while not as disinterested in rule as Emperor Nero, he was as frivolous in his bacchanal pursuits of pleasure. To make matters worse, the majority of the aristocracy, drunk on the idea their old rivals the British were just served a humiliating lose of their colonies, followed the king in his hedonism. The lavish life styles of the upper class were spiraling France's weakened economy down further, and the only solution, to those in power who did not want to give up the years long party, was to tax the commoners. The people of the cities were growing desperate, trade was down, french coinage was not worth as much anymore, there were food shortages and now crippling taxes.

Jacques Necker

  Enter Jacques Necker, France's Finance Minister, he saw the hardship being endured by the people from the policies he was being forced to implement. He also, was not willing to turn a blind eye to the growing resentment that was starting to form within the starving populace, as they watched the aristocracy's gilded carriages go by. He implored the French court to take serious look at what was happening around them and to make changes before the 3rd Estate (the common people) revolt just like the Americans did. With the help of the king's cousin Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, the king was persuaded to allow the representatives from the 3rd estate to assemble into delegation to discuss and codify their grievances and suggest ways to alleviate them. On June 20th, at a meeting of the assembly, they took what is known as the Tennis Court Oath, not to disband until the king and the aristocracy agreed to make changes to the government forming a constitutional monarchy, they named themselves the National Constitute Assembly. This demand infuriated the king, he had the Assembly forcibly disbanded and dismissed Jacques Necker as Finance Minister, banishing him from court.

News of the kings reaction hit Paris like a tinderbox, the city was engulfed in anarchistic riots. The chaos soon reached the Hotel national des Invalides, a government run retirement home for military veterans. There, under the influence of a number of veterans, the rioters formed up into the "Bourgeois Militia". The militia spread forming other groups into the militia, including some of the police and national guard. Now being identified as an army, and no longer as malcontent rioters, the militia knew that it was only a matter of time before the regular army was sent against them. They needed weapons and ammo fast. What they saw was the monolithic citadel prison, the Bastille, as the most likely place to acquire all the arms they needed. They marched onto the prison, and at this point it was not just about the guns; as they marched leaders within the make shift army started to goad their followers to attack the prison with all they had, that it was a symbol of the oppressive goverment they were now fighting against; that the people inside, once freed would be like beacons to the rest of France. The ironic thing was, most of the prisoners, included the vast majority of the high profile ones, had been evacuated a day or two before (including the deviant sociopath Marquis de Sade), and most of the staff and guards with them. But once the fortress had fallen that did not matter to the people, the Bastille become the symbol the revolution leadership needed it to be to begin the loooonnnggg road to democracy.

One interesting tidbit about this event, is the fate of one of its heirlooms, the massive key to the main front gate. After its fall and the revolution had begun, one of the early leaders of the revolution was Marquise de Lafayette, the same general whose forces aided George Washington during the American Revolution (though he tried to be a more moderate voice within the French Revolution, and the radicals made him pay for it). Lafayette hoped that America would send troops to aid in their cause, and as a token of good will sent them the key to the prison, which had been presented to him by the Bourgeois Militia. The key made its way to Thomas Pain, writer of the pamphlet "Common Sense" which had inspired Jefferson's in his writing the Declaration. Pain then gave the key to another founding father, Rutledge (if you watched the videos in my 1776 post, the character of Rutledge is the one who sings Molasses, to Rum, to Slaves) who then presents it to President George Washington. The key now sits in a display case in the historic site of Mt. Vernon.

And so to leave you on this historic day I bring to you the French national anthem: La Marseillaise