Women in the Revolution: The October March
How thousands of Parisian women marched on Versailles, forced the king back to Paris, and shaped a revolution that ultimately excluded them.
Bread and Fury
On the morning of October 5, 1789, women from the marketplaces of Paris — poissardes (fishwives), laundresses, and working women — gathered in growing numbers, furious over the price and scarcity of bread. The harvest had improved, but grain was not reaching the capital in sufficient quantities. Rumors circulated that the royal court was hoarding supplies while Parisians starved.
The women began by storming the Hotel de Ville, Paris's city hall, demanding bread and weapons. Then, several thousand strong, they set out on the twelve-mile march to Versailles in the rain. They were joined along the way by men, including members of the National Guard under the reluctant command of the Marquis de Lafayette, who tried and failed to control the march.
The march was simultaneously a bread riot and a political act. The women demanded that the king address the food crisis, but they also demanded that he sign the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which he had been stalling on. They wanted the royal family to leave Versailles and come to Paris, where they could be watched.