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KF5JRV > TODAY 14.07.19 16:16l 10 Lines 1740 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 10584_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jul 14
Path: IZ3LSV<IR2UBX<OK0NBR<OK2PEN<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190714/1415Z 10584@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle theBastille, a royal fortress and prison that had come to symbolize thetyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled thebeginning of the French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil andterror in which King Louis XVI was overthrown and tens of thousands ofpeople, including the king and his wife Marie-Antoinette, were executed.
By the summer of 1789, France was moving quickly toward revolution.Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, the military governor of the Bastille,feared that his fortress would be a target for the revolutionaries andso requested reinforcements. On July 12, royal authorities transferred250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille, and Launay brought his meninto the massive fortress and raised its two drawbridges.
At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, andvarious makeshift weapons began to gather around the Bastille. Launay’smen were able to hold the mob back, but as more and more Parisians wereconverging on the Bastille, Launay raised a white flag of surrender overthe fortress. Launay and his men were taken into custody, the Bastille’sgunpowder and cannons were seized, and the seven prisoners were freed.Upon arriving at the Hotel de Ville, where Launay was to be arrested andtried by a revolutionary council, he was instead pulled away by a moband murdered.
The capture of the Bastille symbolized the end of the ancien regime andprovided the French revolutionary cause with an irresistible momentum.In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and Louis and his wifeMarie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine for treason in 1793.
73, Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV @ KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.com
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