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[[Image:Prise de la Bastille.jpg|thumb|300px|Capture of the Bastille.]]

[[Image:Liberty-1793.jpg|thumb|300px|Image of Liberty holding Phrygian cap as a symbol of liberty in one hand and new laws in the other]]

'''The French Revolution''' was a 1789 revolution which began the modern era.  In a sequence of upheavals, it saw the downfall of King [[Louis XVI]], rise of [[Robespierre]] and the [[Reign of Terror]], a chaos wherein thousands were [[guillotine|guillotined]] for political leanings and moderatism.  

'''The French Revolution''' was a 1789 revolution which began the modern era.  In a sequence of upheavals, it saw the downfall of King [[Louis XVI]], rise of [[Robespierre]] and the [[Reign of Terror]], a chaos wherein thousands were [[guillotine|guillotined]] for being politically incorrect.  

Radicals saw the Catholic Church as the enemy and promoted in its place a [[Cult of Reason]].  The Revolution emerged in part from the [[rationalism]] of the [[Enlightenment]] which distrusted all established institutions.  It inspired fear into European monarchs and aristocrats as well as conservative intellectuals like [[Edmund Burke]] in Britain, who mobilized to fight the Revolution, and finally succeeded in 1815.  

Radicals saw the Catholic Church as the enemy and promoted in its place a [[Cult of Reason]].  The Revolution emerged in part from the [[rationalism]] of the [[Enlightenment]] which distrusted all established institutions.  It inspired fear into European monarchs and aristocrats as well as conservative intellectuals like [[Edmund Burke]] in Britain, who mobilized to fight the Revolution, and finally succeeded in 1815.  

===Storming of the [[Bastille]]===

===Storming of the [[Bastille]]===

 

[[Image:Prise de la Bastille.jpg|thumb|300px|Capture of the Bastille]] With the militia formed to repel the royal troops, there was an urgent need for weapons. The royalist [[Swiss Guard]]s had stored 30,000 pounds in the Bastille, to be used against the National Assembly. On the morning of July 14, 1789 (“[[Bastille Day]]”), a crowd of about a thousand people made up predominantly of small tradesmen arrived at the prison to demand the gun powder be handed over. The prison Governor invited a delegation in for breakfast, which proceeded for three and a half hours. Meanwhile, rumours circulated that royalist troops were committing atrocities across Paris.

With the militia formed to repel the royal troops, there was an urgent need for weapons. The royalist [[Swiss Guard]]s had stored 30,000 pounds in the Bastille, to be used against the National Assembly. On the morning of July 14, 1789 (“[[Bastille Day]]”), a crowd of about a thousand people made up predominantly of small tradesmen arrived at the prison to demand the gun powder be handed over. The prison Governor invited a delegation in for breakfast, which proceeded for three and a half hours. Meanwhile, rumours circulated that royalist troops were committing atrocities across Paris.

A demonstrator outside the Bastille realized he would be able to get to the chains of the drawbridge by climbing from a nearby perfume shop. At this point the prison Governor, [[De Launay]], broke off negotiations and late in the afternoon cannon shots were aimed at the crowd. Two companies of French Guards were persuaded to the Bastille to the defend protesters being killed by cannon fire.

A demonstrator outside the Bastille realized he would be able to get to the chains of the drawbridge by climbing from a nearby perfume shop. At this point the prison Governor, [[De Launay]], broke off negotiations and late in the afternoon cannon shots were aimed at the crowd. Two companies of French Guards were persuaded to the Bastille to the defend protesters being killed by cannon fire.