---
title: "Storming the Bastille: July 14, 1789 | Model Diplomat"
description: "Discover how the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 turned a political crisis into a popular revolution and gave France its enduring national holiday."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/lessons/storming-the-bastille"
---

[New](https://modeldiplomat.com/)

Storming the Bastille: Revolution in the Streets

Read 1 of 3

1/50 XP so far this lesson

Lesson 10 min 20 XP

# Storming the Bastille: Revolution in the Streets

July 14, 1789 — the day that turned a political crisis into a popular revolution and gave France its national holiday.

## July 14, 1789

The Bastille was a medieval fortress in eastern Paris used as a state prison. By 1789 it held only seven prisoners and had little military significance. But it was a powerful symbol of royal tyranny — the king could imprison anyone there without trial using lettres de cachet.

On July 14, a crowd of Parisians — artisans, shopkeepers, soldiers — attacked the Bastille seeking weapons and gunpowder. The garrison of 114 soldiers resisted, killing 98 attackers, before surrendering. The crowd murdered the governor, Bernard-Rene de Launay, and paraded his head through the streets on a pike.

The storming of the Bastille transformed the revolution. What had been a dispute between the king and the Assembly was now a popular uprising. The Parisian crowd had entered the political stage — and would remain there, driving the revolution leftward, for the next five years.

One question, then back to the lesson

Ask about this lesson