Editing Bastille (section)

====Storming of the Bastille====
{{main|Storming of the Bastille}}
[[File:Siege of the Bastille (Claude Cholat).jpg|thumb|250px|[[Siege of the Bastille (Cholat)|An eyewitness painting]] of the siege of the Bastille by [[Claude Cholat]]{{refn|Claude Cholat was a [[wine|wine merchant]] living in Paris on the rue Noyer at the start of 1789. Cholat fought on the side of the Revolutionaries during the storming of the Bastille, manning one of their cannon during the battle. Afterwards, Cholat produced a famous amateur [[gouache]] painting showing the events of the day; produced in primitive, naïve style, it combines all the events of the day into a single graphical representation.<ref>Schama, p. 340-2, fig.6.</ref>|group=upper-alpha}}]]

By July 1789, [[French Revolution|revolutionary]] sentiment was rising in Paris. The [[Estates-General of 1789|Estates-General]] was convened in May and members of the Third Estate proclaimed the [[Tennis Court Oath]] in June, calling for the king to grant a written constitution. Violence between loyal royal forces, mutinous members of the royal [[Gardes Françaises]] and local crowds broke out at [[Vendôme]] on 12 July, leading to widespread fighting and the withdrawal of royal forces from the centre of Paris.<ref name=SchamaP327>Schama, p. 327.</ref> Revolutionary crowds began to arm themselves during 13 July, looting royal stores, gunsmiths and armourers' shops for weapons and gunpowder.<ref name=SchamaP327/>

The commander of the Bastille at the time was [[Bernard-René de Launay]], a conscientious but minor military officer.<ref name=SchamaP339>Schama, p. 339.</ref> Tensions surrounding the Bastille had been rising for several weeks. Only seven prisoners remained in the fortress, – the [[Marquis de Sade]] had been transferred to the [[Charenton (asylum)|asylum of Charenton]], after addressing the public from his walks on top of the towers and, once this was forbidden, shouting from the window of his cell.<ref>Schama, p. 339</ref>  Sade had claimed that the authorities planned to massacre the prisoners in the castle, which resulted in the governor removing him to an alternative site in early July.<ref name=SchamaP339/>

At de Launay's request, an additional force of 32 soldiers from the Swiss Salis-Samade regiment had been assigned to the Bastille on 7 July, adding to the existing 82 invalides pensioners who formed the regular garrison.<ref name=SchamaP339/> De Launay had taken various precautions, raising the drawbridge in the Comté tower and destroying the stone [[abutment]] that linked the Bastille to its bastion to prevent anyone from gaining access from that side of the fortress.<ref>Coueret, p. 57.</ref> The shops in the entranceway to the Bastille had been closed and the gates locked. The Bastille was defended by 30 small artillery pieces, but nonetheless, by 14 July de Launay was very concerned about the Bastille's situation.<ref name=SchamaP339/> The Bastille, already hugely unpopular with the revolutionary crowds, was now the only remaining royalist stronghold in central Paris, in addition to which he was protecting a recently arrived stock of 250 barrels of valuable gunpowder.<ref name=SchamaP339/> To make matters worse, the Bastille had only two days' supply of food and no source of water, making it impossible to withstand a long siege.<ref name=SchamaP339/>{{refn|It is unclear why the Bastille's well was not functioning at this time.|group=upper-alpha}}

[[File:Attack on Bastille plan.png|thumb|left|A plan of the Bastille and surrounding buildings made immediately after 1789; the red dot marks the perspective of Claude Cholat's painting of the siege.]]

On the morning of 14 July around 900 people formed outside the Bastille, primarily working-class members of the nearby faubourg Saint-Antoine, but also including some mutinous soldiers and local traders.<ref>Schama, p. 340.</ref> The crowd had gathered in an attempt to commandeer the gunpowder stocks known to be held in the Bastille, and at 10:00&nbsp;am de Launay let in two of their leaders to negotiate with him.<ref>Schama, p. 340; Lüsebrink and Reichardt, p. 58.</ref> Just after midday, another negotiator was let in to discuss the situation, but no compromise could be reached: the revolutionary representatives now wanted both the guns and the gunpowder in the Bastille to be handed over, but de Launay refused to do so unless he received authorisation from his leadership in [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]].<ref>Schama, p. 340-1.</ref> By this point it was clear that the governor lacked the experience or the skills to defuse the situation.<ref>Lüsebrink and Reichardt, p. 42.</ref>

Just as negotiations were about to recommence at around 1:30&nbsp;pm, chaos broke out as the impatient and angry crowd stormed the outer courtyard of the Bastille, pushing toward the main gate.<ref>Schama, p. 341.</ref> Confused firing broke out in the confined space and chaotic fighting began in earnest between de Launay's forces and the revolutionary crowd as the two sides exchanged fire.<ref>Schama, p. 341; Lüsebrink and Reichardt, p. 43.</ref> At around 3:30&nbsp;pm, more mutinous royal forces arrived to reinforce the crowd, bringing with them trained infantry officers and several cannons.<ref>Schama, p. 341-2.</ref> After discovering that their weapons were too light to damage the main walls of the fortress, the revolutionary crowd began to fire their cannons at the wooden gate of the Bastille.<ref name=SchamaP342>Schama, p. 342.</ref> By now around 83 of the crowd had been killed and another 15 mortally wounded; only one of the Invalides had been killed in return.<ref name=SchamaP343>Schama, p. 343.</ref>

De Launay had limited options: if he allowed the Revolutionaries to destroy his main gate, he would have to turn the cannon directly inside the Bastille's courtyard on the crowds, causing great loss of life and preventing any peaceful resolution of the episode.<ref name=SchamaP342/> De Launay could not withstand a long siege, and he was dissuaded by his officers from committing mass suicide by detonating his supplies of powder.<ref>Schama, p. 342; Lüsebrink and Reichardt, p. 43.</ref> Instead, de Launay attempted to negotiate a surrender, threatening to blow up the Bastille if his demands were not met.<ref name=SchamaP343/> In the midst of this attempt, the Bastille's drawbridge suddenly came down and the revolutionary crowd stormed in. Popular myth believes [[Stanislas-Marie Maillard]] was the first revolutionary to enter the fortress.<ref>Schama, pp. 342–3.</ref> De Launay was dragged outside into the streets and killed by the crowd, and three officers and three soldiers were killed during the course of the afternoon by the crowd.<ref>Lüsebrink and Reichardt, p. 44.</ref> The soldiers of the Swiss Salis-Samade Regiment, however, were not wearing their uniform coats and were mistaken for Bastille prisoners; they were left unharmed by the crowds until they were escorted away by French Guards and other regular soldiers among the attackers.<ref>Schama, p. 343; Crowdy, p. 8.</ref> The valuable powder and guns were seized and a search begun for the other prisoners in the Bastille.<ref name=SchamaP343/>