Bastille

:For Bastille Linux, a hardening application, see Bastille Linux.

Historical assessment

Many historians believe that the storming of the Bastille was more important as a rallying point and symbolic act of rebellion than any practical act of defiance. No less important in the history of France, it was not the image typically conjured up of courageous French patriots storming a towering fortress and freeing hundreds of oppressed peasants. This myth-making began on July 17 1789 with the publication of the Révolutions de Paris with a colourful description of the attack and an entirely false description of the many prisoners freed.

Related Topics:
July 17 - 1789

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