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KF5JRV > TODAY 05.08.23 10:31l 27 Lines 1795 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 6131_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - Jul 14
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KF5JRV
Sent: 230714/0521Z 6131@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.23
Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress and prison that had come to sym
bolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs, on July 14, 1789. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolut
ion, a decade of political turmoil and terror in which King Louis XVI was overthrown and tens of thousands of people, including
the king and his wife Marie Antoinette, were executed.
By the summer of 1789, France was moving quickly toward revolution. Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, the military governor of the
Bastille, feared that his fortress would be a target for the revolutionaries and so requested reinforcements. On July 12, roya
l authorities transferred 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille, and Launay brought his men into the massive fortress and ra
ised its two drawbridges.
At dawn on July 14, a great crowd armed with muskets, swords, and various makeshift weapons began to gather around the Bastille
. Launay’s men were able to hold the mob back, but as more and more Parisians were converging on the Bastille, Launay raised a
white flag of surrender over the fortress. Launay and his men were taken into custody, the Bastille’s gunpowder and cannons wer
e seized, and the seven prisoners were freed. Upon arriving at the Hotel de Ville, where Launay was to be arrested and tried by
a revolutionary council, he was instead pulled away by a mob and murdered.
The capture of the Bastille symbolized the end of the ancien regime and provided the French revolutionary cause with an irresis
tible momentum. In 1792, the monarchy was abolished and Louis and his wife Marie-Antoinette were sent to the guillotine for tre
ason in 1793.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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