Page 25 - All About History - Issue 34-16

Protest

Inside the prison
When it was stormed by the Parisians,
the Bastille had only seven inmates,
but more than 13,000 kilograms of
gunpowder to plunder. After the siege,
the revolutionaries tore down the prison
walls and sold the bricks as emblems of
the revolution.

The French Guard
The prison’s regular garrison consisted
The events of 82 invalides (veterans no longer
suitable for service in the field), but
Two revolutionaries were invited into the
it had been reinforced the previous
fortress to negotiate, but by 1.30pm, the crowd
week with 32 grenadiers of the Swiss
had grown impatient. They surged into the
Salis-Samade regiment. They were
undefended outer courtyard and the chains on
armed with 18 eight-pound guns and
the drawbridge were cut, crushing a vainqueur
12 smaller pieces. As the siege went on,
as it fell. By 5.30pm, the castle had been
two detachments of the French Guard
surrendered, at the cost of 98 revolutionary lives.
defected and joined the people, bringing
two cannons with them.

The Tricolore
While depictions of the Storming of the
Bastille often show revolutionaries waving
the blue, white and red flag of France, this is
historically inaccurate. The Paris militia wore
cockades of red and blue – the colours of the
city’s coat of arms – and the white was added
on 27 July to ‘nationalise’ the design.

© Kurt Miller

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