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KF5JRV > TODAY 14.07.20 12:03l 43 Lines 1723 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 53956_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Jul 14
Path: IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IW2OHX<IQ2LB<IR2UFV<N3HYM<N7HPX<KF5JRV
Sent: 200714/1056Z 53956@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.20
Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops
storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal
fortress and prison that had come to symbolize
the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This
dramatic action signaled the beginning of the
French Revolution, a decade of political turmoil
and terror in which King Louis XVI was
overthrown and tens of thousands of people,
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 and so requested reinforcements.
On July 12, royal authorities transferred 250
barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille, and Launay
brought his men into the massive fortress and
raised its two drawbridges.
At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with
muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons
began to gather around the Bastille. Launayâ€Ös men
were able to hold the mob back, but as more and
more Parisians were converging on the Bastille,
Launay raised a white flag of surrender over the
fortress. Launay and his men were taken into
custody, the Bastilleâ€Ös gunpowder and cannons
were seized, and the seven prisoners were freed.
Upon arriving at the Hotel de Ville, where Launay
was to be arrested and tried by a revolutionary
council, he was instead pulled away by a mob and
murdered.
The capture of the Bastille symbolized the end of
the ancient regime and provided the French
revolutionary cause with an irresistible momentum.
In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and Louis and
his wife Marie-Antoinette were sent to the
guillotine for treason in 1793.
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