Originally posted on History Is Sexy.
July 14, 1789
French revolutionaries storm Bastille
Parisian revolutionaries and mutinous troops storm and dismantle the Bastille, a royal fortress that had come to symbolize the tyranny of the Bourbon monarchs. This dramatic action signaled the beginning of the French Revolution, 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.
The Bastille was originally constructed in 1370 as a bastide, or “fortification,” to protect the walled city of Paris from English attack. It was later made into an independent stronghold, and its name–bastide–was corrupted to Bastille. The Bastille was first used as a state prison in the 17th century, and its cells were reserved for upper-class felons, political troublemakers, and spies. Most prisoners there were imprisoned without…
First Night History 
A timely reminder of one of the significant events in European history.
It signalled the start of the Napoleonic Wars, the downfall of empires, and rearranged the map of the world.
Justly celebrated by the French perhaps, but a ‘day of infamy’ to many others.
Best wishes, Pete.
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