HowdidtheStormingoftheBastilleunfold?

Objective:CompareandcontrastmultipleperspectivesontheStormingoftheBastille.

Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_Singleton_the_Storming_of_the_Bastille.jpg

TheStormingoftheBastille,July14,1789

Directions:Readthesecondaryandprimaryaccountsbelowandanswerthequestions.

MultiplePerspectiveonTheFalloftheBastille(July14,1789)
ParisnewspaperaccountofthefalloftheBastille,1789

... The treacherous governor had put out a flag of peace. So a confident
advance was made; a detachment ofFrenchGuards,withperhapsfivetosix
thousand armed bourgeois, penetrated the Bastille'soutercourtyard,butas
soon as some six hundredpersonshadpassedoverthefirstdrawbridge,the
bridge was raised and artillery fire mowed down several French Guards and
some soldiers; the cannon fired on the town, and the people took fright; a
large number of individuals were killed or wounded;butthentheyralliedand
took shelterfromthefire...meanwhile,theytriedtolocatesomecannon...
The fighting grew steadily more intense; the citizens had become hardened
to the fire; fromalldirectionstheyclambered ontotheroofsorbrokeintothe
rooms; as soon as an enemy appeared among the turrets on the tower, he
was fixed in the sights of a hundred guns and mown down in an
instant...people bravely faced death and every danger; women, in their
eagerness, helped us to the utmost; even the children,afterthedischargeof
fire from the fortress, ranhereandtherepickingupthebulletsandshot;[and
sotheBastillefellandthegovernor,DeLauney,wascaptured]....

Meanwhile, they get ready to march; they leave amidst an enormouscrowd;

the applause, the outbursts of joy, the insults, the oaths hurled at the
treacherous prisoners of war; everythingisconfused;criesofvengeanceand

1.HowdidtheFrenchGuardsrespondto
theBastillebeingattacked?

2.HowaretheFrenchcitizensdescribed?

3.Isthissourcebelievable?Why?Why
not?


of pleasure issue from every heart.... On arriving at the square, the people,
anxious to avenge themselves, allowed neither De Launey nor the other
officers to reach the place of trial; they seized them from the hands of their
conquerors,andtrampledthemunderfootoneaftertheother.DeLauneywas
struck by a thousandblows,hisheadwascutoffandhoistedontheendofa
pike with blood streaming down all sides. . . . This glorious daymustamaze
our enemies, and finally usher in for us the triumph of justice and liberty. In
theevening,therewerecelebrations.

Source:quotedinJacksonJ.Spielvogel,WesternCivilization:ABriefHistory
(Belmont,CA:West/Wadsworth,1999),p.416from
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/bastille.html.

ADefenderoftheBastilleExplainsHisRole
In this passage,aSwissofficernamedLouisdeFluedescribeshowhis
contingent was overrun andhowhewasbroughtbacktotheCityHallwhere,
to his surprise, he found himself accused of having used force against the
people.
...
During the day of the 13th,fromthehightowersoftheBastille,various
fireswereseenburningaroundthecity,andwefearedsomethingsimilarnear
us, which would endanger the powder in the Bastille. . . .Hearingthisnews,
theGovernorordered...thefortressbesealedoff.
. . . About three o'clock in the afternoon, a troop of armed citizens
mixed with some soldiers came to attack from the Arsenal. They entered
without difficulty into the courtyard. . . . They cut the chains holding the
drawbridge,anditfellopen;thisoperationwaseasilycarriedoutbecausethe
Governor had ordered his troops not to fire before having warned them to
leave, which we could not do while they were still at such a distance [from
thefortress].Nevertheless,thebesiegersfiredfirstonthehightowers....
After having easily dropped the bridge, they easily knocked down the
door with axes and entered into the courtyard, where the governor went to
meet them. He asked them what they wanted . . . and the general cry went
up to "Lower the bridges!" . . . The governor responded he could not and
withdrew,orderinghistroopstotakeupdefensivepositions....
...I was very surprised to see him send four veterans to the gates to
open them and to lower the bridges. The crowd entered right away and
disarmed us in an instant . . . we were menaced with beingmassacredinall
manner possible. Finally, the furor . . . calmed a bit and I along with part of
mytroupewasconductedtotheCityHall.
During the trip, the streets and the houses, even the roofs,werefullof
crowds who insulted me andcursedme.Iwascontinuallysubjecttoswords,
bayonets, and pistols pressed against my body...I arrived finally to general
cries that I should be hung and at several hundred paces from theCityHall,
whenaheadonapikewasbroughtbeforemetoconsiderandIwastoldthat
it was M. de Launay [governor oftheBastille].CrossingtheplacedeGreve,I
was passed before the body of M. de Lorme [guardian ofCityHall]whowas
onthegroundinabathofhisownblood....
...
As for the story that was told and which has been generally received
that M. de Launay [the governor] had ordered the bridges lowered to let in
the crowd and that after, he had ordered them raised and ordered to fireon
those who had entered [the courtyard], this story has no need toberefuted.
Anyone who knows what a drawbridge is knows that having lowered one
enough to let a crowdentercannolongerraiseitagainatwill.Moreover,itis
impossible that the garrison fired on those who had entered the courtyard
becauseassoonasthecrowdentered,wewerealldisarmed.

1.HowdidtheFrenchGuardsrespondto
theBastillebeingattacked?

2.HowaretheFrenchcitizensdescribed?

3.Isthissourcebelievable?Why?Why
not?

Source:"RlationdelaprisedelaBastillele14juillet1789parundeses
dfenseurs,"inRvueRetrospective,vol.4(Paris:M.J.Taschereau,1834).
Source:http://chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/d/383/

SynthesisandReflection
4.HowdothesetwoaccountsoftheStormingoftheBastillediffer?

5.WhatissimilaraboutthesetwoaccountsoftheStormingoftheBastillediffer?

6.Whichofthetwosourcesdoyouthinkismoretrustworthy?Why?

7.TogetaclearerunderstandingofwhathappenedduringtheStormingoftheBastille,whatothersources
wouldyouexaminetocorroboratethetwosourcesyouvealreadyread?Whywouldyouselectthese
sources?