Today the Bastille is inseparably associated with the Great French Revolution. After all, the year of the capture of the Bastille became the beginning of epochal changes in the country. And not only in France, but also throughout Europe. But who took the Bastille? Why was it so important and how is this event so remarkable?
Preconditions of the revolution
Many researchers of history, studying some or other revolutionary events, always They try to single out two sets of their causes: the benefit of certain social groups in the country and the immediate conditions that allowed the transformation. At the end of the XVIII century, France was an absolute monarchy, where the power of the king relied on a highly bureaucratized state apparatus. However, such a system, which was a progressive one and a half centuries ago, turned into an out-dated and reactionary one by the noted period. The development of the ideas of the educators of the time, in particular, the ideas of the social contract and class representation in parliamentary structures, led to a conflict between the king and the aristocracy, the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie, the peasantry and all the higher classes, who increasingly exploited it. Moreover, it was found that the so-called Old Order only contributed to the lagging behind of England. Revolutionary events were immediately preceded by the parliamentary crisis in the country in 1787 and 1789, caused by the demands of the Third Estate (that is, the lowest) of great political rights (after all They accounted for 96% of the country's population). The attempt of the King to dissolve the Constituent Assembly gave a start to the movements of the masses.
Who took the Bastille? And why was it necessary?
Mass clashes between the people and the army began on July 12, 1789. The riots in Paris lasted the next two days. The Bastille at that time was a political prison, personifying the atrocities of the royal regime against those who dared to oppose him. The capture of the Bastille is one of the most important symbols of this revolution - the struggle against monarchical arbitrariness. However, those who took the Bastille were probably quite surprised. At that moment, only seven prisoners were held in the prison. However, the very fact of the fall of this stronghold was important.
Results of the revolution
In August 1789, the French Declaration on the Rights of Man and the Citizen was adopted. Two years later, the first in the history of France (and the fourth in the history of Europe) was ratified. By one estimate, the revolution continued until 1794, when the Thermidorian coup was carried out, Eliminated the Jacobin dictatorship of Maximilian Robespierre, on others - until 1799, when a new coup d'état took place that brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power. Unfortunately, not always revolutions lead to the desired results for the people. And not always the fruits of its driving forces. Here and those who took the Bastille, and did not get what they wanted. Already forty years after the event, the Bourbon dynasty was reinstated on the throne. However, the people of France (and indeed of the whole of Europe) had a successful experience in the struggle against the absolutization of power. The next French revolution happened already in 1848 and spread throughout the continent. This movement was launched by Paris. The Bastille became their unchanging symbol. Today, the day of taking the prison is revered in France as a national sacred object, and on July 14 it is celebrated every year on a scale comparable to the celebration of Independence Day.