Why did the storming of the Bastille take place ?

Why did it happen?

There are many reasons but the main one was that the citizens were fed up of the differences that there were between the social classes. While most of the population was starving to death it was told around the people that the king and the nobles were always satisfied of what they ate.

Being tired of this the population decided to rebel and they attacked the bastille and freed the prisoners. This was the start o f the revolution!

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens Version

Charles Dickens is the author of the book "A tale of two cities". This book is set during the French Revolution and it speaks about two different countries: France and England.

In his story the storming of the Bastille is described as a really violent action. He talks about a mob of people that attacked the Bastille and in his version there are lots of prisoners and lots of victims. This version isn't necessarily wrong, even lots of people that lived in those times didn't know at all how it went and they had to rely on what they heard.

The story that Charles Dickens narrates is partly true but it's a bit different from the truth because it's a historical romance and these types of books always change slightly history to make the story more drammatic.

Charles Dickens knew very well the streets of Paris, infact in his book there are very detailed descriptions of the city. His version of the story is a bit violent because even his father was trapped in prison for many years, for this reason Charles Dickens wanted to show his disappointment in his book.

In his opinion the french people that participated to the storming of the Bastille were all heroes. He thought that having the courage to stand up against the french crown even by risking their own lifes made them all heroes.

Many other people that looked back at the Storming of the Bastille have said that under this point of view Dickens was completely wrong because it was a massacre without anything of heroic.

Mainly this is Charles Dickens version of the Storming of the Bastille and his reasons for writing it like this. He wasn't completely wrong but he didn't have the knowledge of the historians of today and for this reason his version is different from what we study nowadays in schools.

LINKs

Here are some links to games, videos, nice photos you might want to see on the storming of the bastille!

Also some quizzes

http://hotbird1.blogspot.com
http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/games/ ( in this site you can choose which game to do and then type in the theme of the game, "The France storming of the bastille" and you will find some nice funny quizzes to answer to!)
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/43998000/jpg/_43998904_bastillefourap.jpg
http://logo.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/470x317_cancan.jpg
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=73622&rendTypeId=4

From different views..

We can see that the Storm of the Bastille can be seen from many different points of view..

There is the opinion of the actual people who lived in Paris during the Storm of the Bastlle, 1789, and the point of view of the historians: completely different ideas but which one to belive??

Lets start from what the people of 1789 thought:

• They thought the Bastille was a "hated prison of a hated king" and that inside it, many people were kept with chains.


• The Bastille was attacked because the king was going to crush Paris with foreign soldiers.


• When they were going towards the Bastille, the Governor of the Bastille pointed cannons at them, and the soldiers fired.


• They entered into the Bstille but many of the people were killed.


• The Governor was captured and executed.


• Many prisoners were freed.

But now lets see what the historians think..

• The Bastille was a prison for enemies of the king arrested without trial, by orders called lettres de cachet. It usually kept about only ten prisoners.


• First the crowd took weapons from the king's store.


• The Governor of the Bastille tried hard to avoid trouble when the crowd attacked the Bastille. Some of the people were shot.


• When the Governor opened the gate he was surrounded.


• The crowd murderd him by cutting off his head.


• Seven prisoners were freed.

You can see that some statements are very different, for example that according to the people the bastille contained many prisoners, instead according to the historians, in the bastille the were only ten prisoners.

A big difference is also when the Governor of the Bastille dies: some say he has been executed, some say he has been murdered from the growd.

Who should we believe??

The Bastille TODAY!

What has happened of the bastille?

How do people remember it?

Is there something to celebrate it?

Of course there is and what we are talking about is the Bastille day!

It is evident that the bastille has left a big sign in France's history in fact it is the leading cause to the start of the revolution and thanks to the revolution France got the constitution and became a very modern country for that time.

Bastille day is the symbol of the end of monarchy in France and that the power is not in god's, or in the knig's hands but in the people's.It also symbolises for all the population liberty, democracy and the fight for what is wanted.

Nowadays the storming of the bastille is remebered in France with many celebrations. Many people of the country reunite in Paris were there is the main feast.

The government of france includes everyone, the military troops, the band, the Paris fire brigade, the Royal horse artillery, the royal band, the king's troops and the aviation of the Patrouille de France...EVERYONE!So as you can see it is a very important and special day; and there are also banquets and markets selling suovenirs of the bastille day and information on tha storming of the bastille.

SO when the 14th July will come, day in which is celebrated the Bastille day, you will know what is going on in France...HAPPY BASTILLE DAY!

Welcome!

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For a History assessment we have created this simple blog, for you to understand better the storming of the bastille!
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We are going to compare different versions of the storming of the Bastille. We will talk about the version that Charles Dickens talked about in his book "Tale of two cities", the version of the historians and the version that is told every year during the Bastille day in France. The main role of this website is to understand why there are so many different interpretations of this great event in history.

In brief words the Storming of the Bastille was the start of the revolution in France. In the 14 July 1789 the peasants attacked the prison of the king and freed the prisoners.