On the eve of the revolution, the Bastille was the symbol of oppression among average working class citizens. Originally, the Bastille was built in the 1370s to form part of the fortification on the eastern side of the city. However, during the 17th and 18th centuries of absolute rule, the Bastille was converted and used to house political prisoners. Citizens of every class may be arrested by secret warrants known as lettres-de-cachet. Those arrested were indefinitely imprisoned in Bastille without accusation or trial, and many who were arrested never came back again. With the fortress rising high above the workers’ residences surrounding it, the Bastille soon became a symbol of royal oppression and military rule.
By overtaking and destroying ultimate symbol of absolutism in Paris at the time, it played psychological role among everyone for the revolution to come. For the people, they now know that the oppressiveness of the absolute government can be overthrown and a revolution is by all means possible. The fall of the Bastille was proof of that. Their most feared, hated and oppressive symbol was destroyed and this gave more morale to the revolutionaries. Their hatred can be clearly seen in the pamphlet Des Benefaits de la Révolution Françoise, that listed the benefits of the French Revolution. The first on the list was “the destruction of the Bastille”, and the second was “the abolition of the as lettres-de-cachet” (see attached source). This clearly showed that both of those factors made up the most influencing grievances of the people. When the Bastille fell and those obstacles were removed, the people became empowered to do more to change. It allowed them to force the king to do whatever they want, such as maintaining the newly formed National Assembly and enacted the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen without opposition.
On the other side of the story, the fall of the Bastille signified the king’s inability to make a well thought-out decision and his loss of control. He was generally weak for an absolute position. Before the fall of the Bastille and during the formation of the National Assembly, the king locked members of the Third Estate out of the meeting hall, dissatisfying Third Estate members. This led to the formation of the Tennis Court Oath and the order of the king that the three estates must meet separately was ignored. With panic and reluctance, the king reversed his position on June 27, 1789 and instructed the nobility and high clergy to join the National Assembly. Yet, later the king was worried at his decision, and with the consultation of his advisors, Louis called troops to Versailles and Paris and dismissed the popular financial minister, Jacques Necker on July 11. However, it was too late. The king has already lost control. His actions displeased the Third Estate and the general population and caused panic and anger among the people. Thousands of hungry people started to revolt and acquire weaponry, and stormed the Bastille, a symbol of despotism which showed the king’s loss of control.
The storming of the Bastille also clearly signified the power the majority of the people hold and the weaknesses of feudalism and absolutism. Before the fall of the Bastille, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès published a pamphlet, Qu'est-ce que le tiers état? – What is the Third Estate? He said that the people were everything because the privileges that the nobility held were “nothing more than a chimera”, and that all the burdensome of these services were performed by the third estate. Soldiers who formed part of the third estate made the nobility and the absolute rule more powerful. But during the French Revolution, the soldiers did not support the chimera and soldiers in the Bastille were not willing to fight. They surrendered and in some cases even helped the revolutionaries. It showed that Sieyès was right that the Third Estate was “everything” and “it is the whole”. Because the Third Estate “embraces then all that which belongs to the nation”, and during the storming of the Bastille the Third Estate did not embrace all that which belongs to the nation, this made the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution easy.
Today, France celebrates Bastille Day as a national holiday every year on July 14. It is one of the most significant dates of the French Revolution because it empowered the people to make change and showed that the indecisive king had lost control. It proved that Sieyès was right and that the Third Estate was everything when the nobility lost power. All those formed the fundamental beginnings of the French Revolution and without the fundamental beginnings, the revolution may have failed. The French Revolution was the revolution that changed the world. By introducing new ways of governing and bringing an end to absolute rule, in France and other countries, the people finally got what they wanted: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.
References:
- “Experiencing History – The French Revolution” Allan D. Hux / Frederic E. Jarman, 1982
- “Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood” – Oliver Bernier, 1989
-
‘A History of the Modern World 8th Edition” – R.R. Palmer, Joel Colton, 1995
- “The French Revolution” – Francois Furet, Denis Richet
- “Bastille”, “French Revolution” - Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2003
- “Modern History Sourcebook: Sieyes – What is the Third Estate?”