The French Revolution

On 11 July 1789 King Louis, acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council, as well as his wife, Marie Antoinette, and brother, the Comte d'Artois, banished the reformist minister Necker (after he suggested that the royal family live according to a budget to conserve funds) and completely reconstructed the ministry. Much of Paris, presuming this to be the start of a royal coup, moved into open rebellion. Some of the military joined them, while others remained neutral.

On 14 July 1789, after hours of artillery combat, the insurgents seized the Bastille prison, killing the governor, Marquis Bernard de Launay, and several of his guards. Although the Parisians released only seven prisoners (four forgers, two lunatics, and a pedophile), the Bastille served as a potent symbol of everything hated under the ancien rÐ"©gime. Returning to the HÐ"Ò'tel de Ville (city hall), the mob accused the prÐ"©vÐ"Ò't des marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery; his assassination took place en route to an ostensible trial at the Palais Royal.

The king and his military supporters backed down, at least for the time being. Lafayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris. Jean-Sylvain Bailly, president of the National Assembly at the time of the Tennis Court Oath, became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the commune. The king visited Paris, where, on 27 July he accepted a tricolore cockade, as cries of vive la Nation "Long live the Nation" changed to vive le Roi "Long live the King".

Nonetheless, after this violence, nobles, little assured by the apparent and, as it proved, temporary reconciliation of king and people, started to flee the country as Ð"©migrÐ"©s, some of whom began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France. Necker, recalled to power, experienced but a short-lived triumph. An astute financier but a less astute politician, he overplayed his hand by demanding and obtaining a general amnesty, losing much of the people's favour in his moment of apparent triumph.

By late July insurrection and the spirit of popular sovereignty spread throughout France. In rural areas, many went beyond this: some burned title-deeds and no small number of chÐ"Ñžteaux, as part of a general agrarian