For the living and fighting, a new morning on July 14 dawns. Under all the roofs of the seething city, the denouement of a drama is brewing, not devoid of tragedy. How many fuss and preparations, fears and threats, how many tears shed from aging eyes! On this day, my sons, be men. In memory of the suffering of your fathers, for the hope of the rights of your children! Tyranny threatens with raging malice, and nothing will help you but your own hands. Today you must die or win. At dawn, eyes that did not sleep, the Standing Committee heard a familiar cry, which grew to a furious, indignant: "Weapons! Weapons! Let Petty Officer Flessel and the other traitors you have there think of Charleville boxes. We are one hundred and fifty thousand, but only one in three armed with at least a lance! Weapons are the only thing we need: with weapons we are the invincible, formidable National Guard, without weapons we are the rabble that will be swept away by a volley of buckshot. "

Fortunately, there is a rumor - for there is nothing secret that would not become obvious - that muskets are lying in the House of Invalids. Hurry there! The Crown Prosecutor, Monsieur Eti de Corny, and anyone in power the Standing Committee can release will come with us. Bezanval is located there, perhaps he will not shoot at us, but if he kills us, we will die. Alas, poor Bezanval's troops are thinning and there is not the slightest desire to shoot! At five o'clock in the morning, when he is still dreaming in oblivion, at the Military School at his head a figure "with a rather beautiful face, burning eyes, quick and short speech, a daring look"; such a figure has pulled back the curtains from Priam's bed! The figure warned that resistance is useless, and if blood is shed, woe to those who are to blame. The figure said so and disappeared. "In all that was said there was a certain eloquence that amazed." Bezanval admits that he should have been arrested, but this was not done. Who could be this figure with glowing eyes, quick and short speech? Bezanval knows this, but does not reveal the secret. Camille Desmoulins? The Pythagorean Marquis Valadi, animated by the "stormy movement in the Palais Royal, which continued all night"? Rumor calls him "young Monsieur Maillard" but never mentions him again.

Be that as it may, at about nine o'clock in the morning, our national militia rolls south-west in a wide stream towards the House of Invalids in search of the only necessary things. The Crown Prosecutor, Monsieur Et de Corny, and other officials are already there; The priest of the parish of Saint-Etienne Dumont is by no means peacefully leading his warlike Paris. We see the marching judges in red coats, now the judges' militia; volunteers from the Palais Royal, united in spirit and thought, who have become national volunteers, whose number is in the tens of thousands. The royal guns must become the guns of the nation; think, Monsieur de Sombreuil, how in these circumstances you will refuse them!

Old Monsieur de Sombreuil is ready to begin negotiations, to send representatives, but this is useless: several people climb over the walls to open the gate, and not a single disabled person fires a bullet. Patriots noisily rush inside, spread throughout all rooms and corridors from basement to roof in search of weapons. Not a single cellar, not a single attic will escape the search. The weapon was found - all intact, packed in straw - not to be burned! The crowd rushes at him more violently than hungry lions at dead prey, with clangs and curses; crush, dump, fight to the extent that they crush, trample - perhaps even to death - the weakest patriots. And now, under this deafening roar and roar of the orchestra that has not yet been played, the stage changes, and 28 thousand good guns are lifted onto the shoulders of the same number of National Guardsmen, carried out of the darkness into a dazzling light.

Let Bezanval look at the sparkle of these guns as they float past him! It is said that the French guards aimed guns at him from the other side of the river in order to open fire if necessary. He is indecisive, "amazed," as they flatter themselves, "by the fearless look (fiere contenance) of the Parisians." And now to the Bastille, fearless Parisians! There is still a threat of grapeshot fires, thoughts and steps of all people rush there.

Old Delaunay, as we have already said, retired "to his chambers" after midnight on Sunday and has remained there ever since, like all the old military men, because of the uncertainty of the situation. The Hôtel de Ville "invites" him to let the soldiers of the nation in, which in a mild form means the surrender of the fortress. But on the other hand, he has firm orders from His Majesty. Of course, its garrison is only 92 disabled veterans and 32 young Swiss, but the walls are 9 feet thick; of course he has guns and gunpowder, but alas, only a day's supply of food. In addition, the city is inhabited by the French, and the garrison is predominantly French. Stern, old Delaunay, think what to do!

Starting at nine o'clock all morning, shouts of "To the Bastille!" It was visited by several "deputations of the townspeople", looking for weapons, from which Delaunay got off with soft speeches, uttered through the loopholes. Towards noon, the elector Thurio de la Rossier receives permission to enter and discovers that Delaunay does not intend to surrender and is ready to blow up the fortress as soon as possible. Thurio rises with him to the bastions: heaps of cobblestones, old iron and shells are gathered in heaps, the cannons are directed at the crowd, in each embrasure there is a cannon, only slightly pushed back! But outside, look, O Thurio, crowds flock down every street, the alarm bells are beating furiously, all the drums are beating the general gathering; The Saint-Antoine suburb all, as one person, rolls here! This vision (ghostly and nevertheless real) you contemplate, O Thurio, at this moment from your mountain of Visions: it prophesies other phantasmagorias and bright, but indistinct, ghostly realities that you are not yet aware of, but will soon see! "Que voulez vous?" (What do you want?) - asks Delaunay, turning pale at the sight of this spectacle, but with a reproachful, almost threat.

"Dear sir," replies Thurio, ascending to the heights of courage, "what are you going to do? Think, because I can throw myself down with you from this height" - only a hundred feet, not counting the ditch under the wall! In response, Delaunay falls silent. Thurio shows up from a tower to calm the crowd, which worries and suspects something was wrong, then he goes down and leaves, expressing protest and warnings, addressed also to the disabled, on whom, however, it makes a vague, vague impression: after all, old heads are not easy perceive the new, and, they say, Delaunay was generous with drinks (prodigua des boissons). They think they will not shoot if they are not shot, and generally if they can do without it, but in general they will be guided by circumstances.

Woe to you, Delaunay, if at this hour you cannot, having made some firm decision, control the circumstances! Soft speeches are useless, hard grapeshot volleys are doubtful, but throwing between the one and the other is impossible. The waves of humanity roll in more and more, their endless rumble louder and louder, curses and the crackle of single shots that are harmless to nine-foot-thick walls. The outer drawbridge was lowered for Thurio, and this route was used by the third and most loud deputation, who penetrated into the outer courtyard; since soft speeches are unimpressive, Delaunay fires a volley and lifts the bridge. A weak spark, but it ignites flammable chaos and turns it into a roaring chaos of fire! At the sight of their own blood, the rebels rush forward (because this spark caused several deaths), rifle volleys, bursts of hatred and curses roll over endlessly. At this time, from the fortress above our heads, a volley of cannons fires with a crash and shows what we must do. The siege of the Bastille has begun!

Rise, every Frenchman with a soul! Sons of freedom, let your tinned throats scream, strain with all your might all the abilities of your souls, bodies and minds, for the time has come! Bey, Louis Tournai, coachman of Marais, veteran of the Dauphiné regiment, chain the outer drawbridge amidst the fiery hail whistling around you! Never before has your ax dealt such a blow to either the rims or the hubs of the wheels. To demolish the Bastille, to take it down to the kingdom of the Orc, let all this damned structure fall through there and swallow tyranny forever! Standing, as some say, on the roof of the guardhouse or, as others say, on bayonets stuck in the cracks of the wall, Louis Tournai hits the chain, and the brave Aubin Bonnemer, also a veteran, helps him, and the chain gives in, breaks, a huge outer bridge with a crash (avec fracas) falls. Sumptuously! And yet, alas, these are only external fortifications. Eight gloomy towers with armed invalids, cobblestones and cannon muzzles still rise intact; the stone-paved, gaping moat is insurmountable, the inner drawbridge turned its back to us; The Bastille has yet to be taken!

I think that describing the siege of the Bastille is one of the most important events in history, probably beyond the power of any mortal. Can anyone, even endlessly well-read, at least imagine the inner plan of the building! At the end of the rue Saint-Antoine is an open esplanade, a series of outer courtyards, vaulted gates (where Louis Tournai is now fighting), then new drawbridges, permanent bridges, fortified bastions and an ominous eight towers: a labyrinth of gloomy rooms, the first of which 420 was built years ago, and the last - only 20. And as we said, it was besieged in its last hour by revived chaos! Artillery pieces of all calibers, heart-rending cries of people with the most varied plans for the future, and each of them is his own head; never since the war between pygmies and cranes have seen such an unnatural situation. Eli, half-paid, goes home to put on his uniform: no one wants to obey him, dressed in civilian clothes. Yulen, also half-paid, delivers a speech to the French guards on the Place de Grève. Fanatical patriots pick up the bullets and carry them, still hot (or seemingly hot), to the Hôtel de Ville: you see, they want to burn Paris! Flessel's lips turn pale as the roar of the crowd grows threatening. All Paris has reached the height of its rage, a panic frenzy throwing it from side to side. On every street barricade, a boiling local whirlpool swirls, strengthening the barricade, because God knows what is coming, and all these local whirlpools merge into a huge fiery Maelstrom raging around the Bastille.

So it rages, and so it roars. Vintner Shola has become an impromptu artilleryman. See how Jorge, who has just returned from Brest, where he served in the navy, controls the gun of the Siamese king. It is strange (if we were not used to such things): last night Jorge was quietly resting in his hotel, and the Siamese cannon had been standing for a hundred years, not knowing anything about his existence. And now, at the right moment, they connected and announce the surroundings with eloquent music, because Jorge, hearing what was happening here, jumped off the Brest coach and rushed here. The French Guards will also come here with real guns - if the walls weren't so thick! Up from the Esplanade, horizontally from all the nearby roofs and windows, an irregular shower of rifle fire pours down - but to no avail. The disabled are spread out behind stone covers and are shooting back from a relatively comfortable position, but the tip of the nose does not protrude from the loopholes. We fall shot, but nobody pays attention!

Let the flames rage and devour everything that burns! The guardhouses were burnt, and the canteens for the disabled too. The absent-minded "hairdresser with two lit torches" would have set fire to "saltpeter in the Arsenal" if it had not been for a woman who screeched out of there, and not one patriot, somewhat familiar with natural philosophy, who quickly knocked the spirit out of him (with the butt of a gun in the spoon), turned kegs and stopped the destructive element. The young beauty, mistaking her for Delaunay's daughter, was seized in the outer courtyards and almost burned in front of Delaunay; she fell dead on the straw, but again one patriot - the brave veteran Aubin Bonnemer - rushes in and rescues her. The straw is burning, the three carts brought here turn into white smoke that threatens to strangle the patriots themselves, so Eli has to, scorching his eyebrows, pull out one cart, and Reol, the "giant petty trader," the other. Smoke like hell, vanity like the Tower of Babel, noise like the end of the world!

Blood sheds and feeds new madness. The wounded are carried away to their homes on Serise Street, the dying say their last will: not to yield until the cursed fortress falls. And how will she, alas, fall? The walls are so thick! The delegations, three in all, come from the Hôtel de Ville, and Abbot Faucher, who is a member of one of them, can testify with what supernatural courage of philanthropy they acted. They raise their city flag over the vaulted gates and greet it with a drumbeat, but to no avail. How can Delaunay hear them in this repose, and even more so believe them? They return in righteous anger, with the whistle of bullets still ringing in their ears. What to do? Firefighters use their hoses to spray handicapped cannons to cool the igniters, but unfortunately they can't get the jet that high and only spread clouds of spray. Those familiar with ancient history suggest making catapults. Sunter, a resounding brewer from the Saint-Antoine suburb, advises setting the fort on fire with "a mixture of phosphorus and turpentine sprayed by injection pumps." Oh Spinola-Santer, do you have this mixture ready? Everyone is his own head! And yet the stream of shooting continues: even women and Turks are shooting, at least one woman (with her lover) and one Turk. The French guards came - real guns, real gunners. Maillard is very active; Eli and Yulen, who received half their salary, burn with anger among thousands of crowds.

The large clock of the Bastille in the courtyard ticks silently, measuring hour after hour, as if nothing significant is happening to them or to the world! They struck the hour when the shooting began; now the arrows are moving towards five, and the fire is not abating. Deep below, in the basements, the seven prisoners hear a dull roar, like an earthquake; the jailers shy away from answering.

Woe to you, Delaunay, and your hundred unfortunate invalids! Broglie is far away and his ears are blocked; Bezanval hears, but cannot send help. One pathetic detachment of hussars, sent out for reconnaissance, cautiously made their way along the embankments up to the New Bridge. “We want to join you,” the captain said when he saw that the crowd was endless. A large-headed, dwarf-like subject, pale and smoky, comes out, shuffling, forward and croaking through blue lips, not without meaning: "If so, dismount and give us your weapon!" The hussar captain is happy when he is taken to the outpost and released on parole. Who was this little man? They say it was Monsieur Marat, the author of the magnificent and peaceful Appeal to the People. Truly great for you, oh wonderful veterinarian, this day of your appearance and new birth, and, however, on the same day in four years ... But let the veils of the future be drawn still.

What is Delaunay doing? The only thing that Delaunay can do and, in his words, wanted to do. Imagine him sitting with a lit candle at arm's length from a gunpowder store, motionless, like a Roman senator or a bronze candelabrum, coldly, with one movement of his eyes warning Thurio and everyone else what his decision is. As long as he sits there without harming anyone, and he is not harmed. But the royal fortress cannot, has no right, should not and will not be surrendered to anyone except the king's messenger. The life of an old soldier is worthless, but it must be lost with honor. But just think, roaring rabble, what will happen when the whole Bastille flies up to the sky! In such a frozen state, like a statue in a church holding a candle, it would be better for Delaunay to leave the Thurio, the red judges, the priest of the Church of Saint Stephen and all this rabble of the world to do what they want.

But for all that, he could not afford it. Have you ever wondered how the heart of any person is quiveringly in tune with the hearts of all people? Have you ever noticed how omnipotent the very voice of the mass of people is? How do their indignant screams paralyze a strong soul, how their angry roar awakens unheard-of horror? Cavalier Gluck confesses that the leitmotif of one of his best passages in one of his best operas was the voice of the mob, which he heard in Vienna when she shouted to her Kaiser: "Bread! Bread!" The Great is the united voice of people, the expression of their instincts, which are truer than their thoughts; this is the most grandiose thing that a person can face among the sounds and shadows that form this world of times. The one who can resist him stands somewhere above time. Delaunay could not do this. Confused, he rushes between two decisions, hope does not leave him in the abyss of despair. His fortress will not surrender - he announces that he will blow it up, grabs torches to blow it up, and ... does not blow it up. Unhappy Delaunay, this is the death agony of your Bastille, and your own! Jail, imprisonment and jailer - all three, whatever they may be, must perish.

For four hours now the world chaos has been roaring, which can be called a world chimera that spews fire. Poor handicapped people have taken refuge under their walls or are climbing up with their guns overturned: they have made white flags from handkerchiefs and are hitting the lights, or it seems that they are hitting the lights because you can’t hear anything. Even the Swiss at the aisles look tired from the shooting, discouraged by the barrage of fire. At the drawbridge, one loophole is open, as if they want to speak from there. Look at Bailiff Maillard: a clever man! He walks along a board swinging over the abyss of a stone ditch: the board rests on the parapet, held by the weight of the bodies of the patriots; he soars dangerously like a dove striving for such an ark! Careful, clever bailiff! One man has already fallen and crashed far below, there, on the stones! But the bailiff Maillard does not fall: he walks carefully, with precise steps, with outstretched arms. The Swiss holds the piece of paper through the loophole, the clever bailiff grabs it and returns. Terms of surrender - forgiveness and safety for everyone! Are they accepted? "Foi d" officier "(On the officer's word of honor), replies Yulen or Eli (people say different things). The conditions are accepted! The drawbridge is slowly lowering, the bailiff Maillard fixes it, a live stream rushes inside. The Bastille has fallen! Victory! The Bastille is taken!"

Every year, France celebrates a magnificent national holiday - Bastille Day. Why did the spontaneous assault on the fortress that had lost its former significance in the minds of the French become perhaps the most important event of their revolution?

The choice of July 14 as the date of the national holiday was made almost a hundred years after the revolution - in 1880. Today, perhaps, only historians remember what actually happened on that day. And why? “The darkness of low truths is dearer to me than the elevating deception…” After all, by and large, the taking of the Bastille was nothing more than one of the many excesses that accompanied the phenomenon that would later be called the French Revolution.

However, what actually happened in the middle of the summer of 1789?

The shortsighted act of the king

On July 12, Paris learned that the day before, Louis XVI had dismissed Jacques Necker, who headed his government. The king had every reason to be dissatisfied with the minister. The States General, convened on the advice of Necker, not only did nothing to overcome the financial crisis for two months of work, for which, in fact, they were collected, but also made unfounded, from the point of view of the monarch, claims to supreme power, proclaiming themselves National, and then and the Constituent Assembly (that is, constituting the Constitution). However, the decision to resign the minister - a rather routine act in itself - was taken in a far from better situation, which entailed grave and unforeseen consequences.

Necker had a reputation - not too much, however, deserved - of a real financial genius, and therefore his removal from business was not very pleasant to the holders of government securities, who were afraid that this act would bring the bankruptcy of the monarchy closer. The bourgeoisie became agitated. The urban lower classes had their own reason for dissatisfaction: the grain harvested in the previous, not to say a favorable year, was coming to an end and the prices of bread on the eve of the new harvest reached a maximum. In those days, the young Russian Count Pavel Stroganov wrote to his father from the capital of France: "Now in Paris there are a lot of troops gathered in order to keep the people, who are terribly poor everywhere, from indignation."

However, public opinion in Paris itself linked the concentration of troops in the city and its environs not so much with the threat of a hunger riot as with the possible dissolution of the National Assembly. Fantastic rumors circulated about an "aristocratic conspiracy" against the "patriots," which the supporters of the Assembly considered themselves to be, and about the court's intention to starve the capital to death. In the Palais Royal, self-styled orators warmed up the audience with incendiary speeches all day. In the late afternoon in the Tuileries Gardens, a skirmish between the royal cavalry patrolling the city and an aggressive mob further added fuel to the fire. Although in reality there were no casualties, word was spread that the commander of the cavalry, Prince de Lambesc, personally hacked to death a certain venerable old man with a saber.

In the absence of Bonaparte

The city was seething. On the night of the 13th, customs outposts at the entrances to Paris were burned and the monastery of Saint-Lazare was plundered. The capital was gradually seized by anarchy. Panic was spreading: the Parisians were afraid of both the introduction of troops into the city and the atrocities of the marginalized. In the morning, the electors (second-tier voters) gathered in the Town Hall, led by Jacques de Flessel, the merchant provost of Paris (analogous to the post of mayor), and if necessary - to protect people from the royal army.

Meanwhile, the government itself showed no signs of life. The troops stationed on the Champ de Mars did not receive orders from Versailles and felt abandoned. In fact, all responsibility for making decisions fell on the shoulders of the military commandant of the capital, Baron de Bezenval, who was clearly not ready for such a burden. A military officer in his distant youth, he had long ago turned into a courtesan weary of life, concerned only with finding the favor of the monarch couple. Lately out of favor with the queen, the baron avoided any harsh actions that could aggravate the precariousness of his position at court.

The situation that had developed in Paris required him to take decisive steps - the same steps that General Bonaparte took in similar circumstances six years later when he shot the rebels with grapeshot. But Bezenval was not Bonaparte. On the morning of July 14, when crowds of Parisians, demanding weapons, surrounded the House of Invalids, he withdrew the royal troops from the capital, leaving those who guarded the military installations to the mercy of fate. Upon learning of this, the garrison of the House of Invalids surrendered, handing over tens of thousands of rifles and 20 cannons to the besiegers. However, there was little gunpowder, and the crowd went after him to the Bastille.

Taking of the Bastille

Built in the 14th century, the Bastille fortress was once an important part of the fortifications of Paris, and then was a political prison. But by 1789 it had lost both of these functions. The government even decided to demolish it, but the treasury did not find money for this. Now there was a small garrison of 82 veterans and 32 Swiss guards, guarding military depots and seven convicted under criminal charges. The garrison was headed by the Marquis de Launay. A purely peaceful man, he held only administrative posts all his life and had no combat experience. Nevertheless, the Marquis chose the latter between surrender and discharge of duty. Having kindly received the delegation from the Town Hall, he refused to issue ammunition, promising, however, not to shoot at the armed crowd surrounding the Bastille. Indeed, if the guns of the fortress opened fire, they would completely sweep away not only the discordant ranks of the rebels, but also a good half of St. Antoine's suburb.

Subsequent delegations from the Standing Committee received an equally polite but firm refusal. Long negotiations have exhausted the patience of the besiegers. The more adventurous of them broke the chains that held the drawbridge, it sank - and the crowd rushed over it into the outer courtyard of the fortress. The soldiers of the garrison reacted exactly as the charters of all the armies of the world prescribe to react in the event of unauthorized intrusion of strangers into the guarded object, that is, they issued a warning and opened fire. About a hundred people were killed and several dozen were injured.

The so-called "assault" of the Bastille began, which consisted of indiscriminate shelling of its stone walls from guns. Only with the arrival of soldiers of the French Guard and five cannons from the House of Invalids did the actions of the rebels become more or less organized.

The "assault" lasted about six hours in total. All this time, the commandant waited in vain for reinforcements or at least an order on what to do next: surrender or provide full resistance. Avoiding more bloodshed, de Launay never used artillery. Finally, at 17 o'clock, he agreed to lay down his arms in exchange for the promise of the besiegers to keep the defenders of the Bastille alive. However, the six veterans were lynched on the spot as soon as the crowd broke into the fortress. The commandant was stabbed to death on the way to the Town Hall. His head was put on a pike and worn throughout the city. On another peak was the head of de Flessel, who was killed when they found a note from the merchant provost with de Launay asking him to hold out until the evening in the hope of reinforcements coming ...

The symbol of the unity of the nation

There was nothing extraordinary about the taking of the Bastille. The Parisians, who rebelled against the authorities, had to seize it before, when it was still really a fortified castle and a political prison.

But the reaction of the authorities to what happened on July 14, 1789 was unprecedented. Louis XVI not only withdrew the troops from the outskirts of the capital and returned Necker to the government, but three days later visited the Paris City Hall, accepting from the members of the Standing Committee the red and blue cockade - the symbol of the rebellious Paris. Thus, he actually sanctioned the killing of people whose only fault was in the performance of state and military duties.

From now on, none of the servants of the state could be sure of their safety. Having demonstrated its absolute powerlessness in maintaining public order, the monarchy entered a period of steadily accelerating disintegration. Thus, a rather local event - the seizure by a crowd of the old castle intended for demolition, the garrison of which did not really resist - turned out to be that pebble that entailed an unstoppable avalanche. This was the beginning of the end of the Old Order.

It is not surprising that the revolutionaries immediately mythologized the story of the fall of the Bastille, giving it a symbolic meaning. Everything that happened began to be interpreted as the result of the purposeful actions of the "French people", which, being filled with the "idea of \u200b\u200bfreedom", took "by storm" the "political prison" and "stronghold of despotism" that they hated.

The symbolic meaning of the events of July 14, 1789 was expanded and consolidated a year later, when the Federation Day was held in Paris in memory of the capture of the Bastille on the Champ de Mars. Representatives of the National Guard from all departments of the country, deputies of the Constituent Assembly and the king himself took a solemn oath of allegiance to the future Constitution, which was later interpreted as an act of creating a single French nation by merging the peoples of many provinces, each of which had its own separate history, traditions and even your own dialect.

Alexander Chudinov, Doctor of Historical Sciences

There is a turning point in the history of the Great Bourgeois French Revolution - the capture of the Bastille. It was this event that marked the beginning of a new era in the history of France and the fall of the monarchy, the fall of the centuries-old order and stability.

Initially, the Bastille was built as a fortified fortress that guarded the approaches to Paris on the outskirts of Saint-Antoine. Later, the fortress turned into a prison for prisoners. As you may have guessed, today we will talk about the history of the Bastille and the capture of it during the revolution.

Le nom de la Bastille

The word "Bastille" means "strengthening." The name of the fortress speaks for itself. The Bastille was built by order of King Charles V the Wise of the Valois dynasty and under the leadership of the Parisian provost (chief of police) South Aubry. At that time, the building received the status of a fortified castle, in which kings took refuge during popular disturbances and civil strife. Since the Bastille guarded the Saint-Antoine suburb, its full name is la Bastille Saint-Antoine or the tower of Saint Anthony. Bastille fortress

In addition, this is the territory of a rich monastery. In 1471, King Louis XI of Valois grants great privileges to the monastery lands and issues a decree that the artisans who settled here will not obey the guild laws. This is the beginning of the flourishing and intensive development of the Saint-Antoine suburb in Paris. Craftsmen and craftsmen flock here from all over France, attracted by favorable and convenient working conditions.

What did this fortified fortress look like? It was a long massive quadrangular building, which turned one side to the city, and the other to the suburb. The building had eight towers, a vast courtyard, the fortress was surrounded by a wide and deep moat, through which a suspension bridge was thrown. This entire structure was still surrounded by a wall, which had only one gate on the side of the Saint-Antoine suburb. Each tower had rooms of three types: at the very bottom - a dark and gloomy cellar, where restless prisoners or those who were caught trying to escape were kept; the length of stay here depended on the commandant of the fortress. The next floor consisted of one room with a triple door and a window with three bars. In addition to the bed, the room had a table and two chairs. These conditions of detention of prisoners were not as harsh as at the very bottom. At the very top of the tower there was another room under the roof ( calotte), which also served as a place of punishment for prisoners. The commandant's house and the soldiers' barracks were in the second, outer courtyard.

La prison de la Bastille

Of course, the Bastille is better known as a place of imprisonment than as a fortified royal fortress. It should be noted that many famous Frenchmen of the Middle Ages and Modern Times were its prisoners.

A strange irony of fate, but the first prisoner of the Bastille was its architect - South Aubrey. He was accused of a vicious relationship and desecration of religious sites. After serving four years, he was released during the riots.

Famous people of France from different centuries who managed to serve in the Bastille were: philosopher-educator Voltaire, Marquis de Sade, philosopher-essayist Michel de Montaigne, quartermaster of finance under Louis XIV, Nicolas Fouquet, Cardinal de Rohan and Countess de LaMotte, who participated in the swindle with a necklace for Queen Marie Antoinette, playwright Pierre Augustin Beaumarchais.

Even the famous "Encyclopedia" of d'Alembert and Diderot was awarded the imprisonment in the Bastille.

L'homme au masque de fer

There are many mysteries and legends in the history of the Bastille. One such story is the legend of a man in an iron mask, a prisoner who was serving his sentence in this prison.

In the 17th century, around 1660-70, there was a prisoner in the Bastille wearing a silk mask who never took it off. He was given some privileges, unlike other prisoners, such as walking in the courtyards of the fortress, subject to complete silence. The conditions of his detention in prison were relatively mild. Indeed, no one has ever seen the face or heard the voice of this prisoner.

Voltaire suggests that this could be the illegitimate son of Queen Anne of Austria, and therefore the brother of Louis XIV. The king was afraid of his claims to the throne, so he hid him in the Bastille.

Alexandre Dumas in his novel "The Viscount de Bragelon or ten years later" describes everything much more romantic. The man in the iron mask was the twin brother of the king, whom the latter did not even know about. He was hidden in the Bastille in early childhood to avoid problems. The Musketeers are trying to free the prisoner and still put him on the throne. They fail. But the novel is full of adventure and historical romanticism, which is so inherent in everyone's beloved Dumas, which is why it is read in one breath.

La prise de la Bastille et la révolution

Plans to demolish the fortress appeared in 1784, as over the centuries the Bastille was pretty dilapidated and lost its original formidable appearance. In its place, it was planned to establish the Place Louis XVI. So the revolutionaries simply stole the idea from royalty.

The revolutionaries decided to take the Bastille, because they considered it a stronghold and a symbol of absolutism, cruelty, arbitrariness, etc.

The Bastille was taken on July 14, 1789 (it is still a national holiday in France). The rebels were mainly interested in the arsenal of the Bastille, which could arm the revolutionaries. An interesting fact is that at that time there were only seven prisoners in the Bastille: four counterfeiters, two mentally ill and one murderer. The Bastille contained the royal archives, which were plundered, only a small part of it survived.

Work on the destruction and demolition of the Bastille was carried out until 1791. Most of its blocks served as building material for the Bridge of Concord. The rest of its stones were used to make models of the Bastille and sold as souvenirs.

The Marquis de Lafayette sent one key of the Bastille to George Washington, the first President of the United States of America. Today, this key is kept in the former presidential residence of Mount Vernon, which has been converted into a museum.

After the July Revolution of 1830, it was decided to build a July column on the site of the Bastille. This column is made of bronze, almost 80 meters high, has the work of the master Dunon at the top of the genius of freedom, and Bari bas-reliefs at the base.

La Place de la Bastille aujourd'hui

Today in Paris there is no Bastille, but the memory of its capture remains, because France has been celebrating July 14, Bastille Day, since 1880.
Bastille square

Currently, on the site of the fortress there is Place de la Bastille - this is the intersection of dozens of boulevards, there is an underground hub of the Parisian metro of three lines and the new Paris Opera.

The outline of the fortress, lined with paving stones of a different color on the pavement, reminds of its past existence.

So, friends, this was our little journey into the historical past of France. Until next time!

On the morning of July 14, 1789, countless crowds of people, armed in part with guns, as well as pikes, hammers, axes and clubs, flooded the streets adjacent to the Bastille, a military fortress and the main political prison of Paris. Traditionally, it is believed that the assault was undertaken with the aim of freeing the prisoners of the Bastille. However, only seven prisoners were found in the fortress (including the notorious Marquis da Sade), and the Bastille garrison, which consisted of 82 disabled veterans and 32 Swiss with thirteen guns, soon realized that resistance was pointless, and surrendered around five o'clock in the afternoon. The fortress was destroyed to the ground, in its place is now a square.

Prise de la Bastille.
Jean-Pierre Houelle (1735 - 1813)

It would seem, what does the events of another's history two hundred years ago have to do with us? However, the trace of the Great French Revolution in Russian history is much deeper than it seems at first glance. The massive emigration of the French to Russia, caused by the revolutionary terror, had a significant impact on the life of the Russian nobility:

These Griboyedov lines perfectly describe the area of \u200b\u200binfluence of French immigration. Teachers and governesses, confectioners and jewelers, perfumers and tailors - what would now be called a consumer market (by the way, it is interesting to compare the influence of French and German immigration: Germans were mainly employed in the civil service and in the engineering and technical sphere).

It was the Great French Revolution that Russia owes the acquisition of the wonderful dynasty of Russian entrepreneurs, the Armands: Jean-Louis Armand, along with his father Paul Armand and mother Angelica Karlova, appeared in Moscow at the end of the 18th century, fleeing revolutionary terror.

The revolution resulted in enormous casualties. It is estimated that from 1789 to 1815. only from the revolutionary terror in France, up to 2 million civilians died, and up to 2 million soldiers and officers died in the fighting. Thus, only in revolutionary battles and wars, 7.5% of the population of France died, not counting those who died over the years from hunger and epidemics. By the end of the Napoleonic era, there were almost no adult men left in France who could fight.

Could our compatriots, in those years when the Russian Cossacks gave names to the Parisian bistro, even in a nightmare, could see that in the next century it was Russian emigrants, beggars and homeless, who would fill the streets of Paris, saving their lives from the Red Terror?

Bastille Day on July 14, 1789 marked the beginning of the Great French Revolution. Two centuries have passed since then, and now the French celebrate this day simply as a day of national unity. Maybe the day will come when in Russia it will be possible to reconcile the reds and whites, just like Russians and Russians. How long did it take for the French? Well, we have everything ahead.

But back to the Bastille: after the capture it was destroyed, and on the vacant lot they put a sign "D`sormais ici dansent", which means "From now on they dance here".

And in Russia this day is now celebrated alongside the Old New Year and March 8: after the release of the film "Love and Doves", Bastille Day has become an important date in the life of a Russian.

This is a symbolic date, the anniversary of which has become a national holiday since the time of the III Republic.

Let's briefly consider the course of events.

Driven by the financial crisis and not having received the consent of the privileged estates - the clergy and nobility - to participate in the replenishment of the state treasury in accordance with their capabilities, the king was forced in the summer 1788 to convene the states general.

In medieval France, the states-general represented the subjects of the king and included representatives of three estates: the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate (unprivileged). Their task was to approve taxes. The states-general were not convened after 1614, since they were not needed by the king, who had absolute power.

Claiming that the third estate constitutes the vast majority of the nation, the "patriots" who opposed the "aristocrats", the supporters of the "old order", demanded and achieved dual representation (as much as the clergy and nobility together). The patriots also demanded joint discussion of issues by all estates and roll-call voting. If they discussed and voted, as in 1614, word by word, the privileged would have inevitably won (2: 1). If all the deputies get together and the vote is by roll-call, then the third estate with the advanced representatives of other estates who have joined it will receive the majority of votes.

The king wanted only one thing from the states-general - that they help him restore finances. The third estate, however, demanded immeasurably more: an end to royal "despotism" and give France a constitution.

The deputies from the third estate finally achieved joint meetings and a roll-call vote. Then the states general were proclaimed The National Assembly, and soon - Constituent (Constitutional) Assembly.

At first it seemed that the king was reconciled to this, but in early July he began to gather troops, mainly foreign mercenaries, in the Paris area. On July 11, he dismissed Minister Necker, who enjoyed the confidence of the people.

To repulse the impending attack, the Parisians created a revolutionary municipality and a militia, soon called the "National Guard" (July 13, 1789).

July 14, when Louis XVI writes in his diary: "Today - nothing" (since he did not hunt that day), the Parisians are looking for weapons. They find him in the House of Invalids, then go to the Bastille castle, where, according to rumors, it is also there. The Bastille was a state prison where people were thrown on unmotivated orders signed by the king. Or, more accurately, it was once a prison, but now there are only a few people. After four hours of struggle, the Bastille was taken, its commandant, like the merchant head, who served as mayor of Paris, was accused of treason and torn to pieces by the crowd.

Now the king is making concessions: he withdraws his troops from the city, and on July 17 he returns to Paris from Versailles. He is greeted by the head of the revolutionary municipality of Bailly and the commander of the National Guard, Lafayette. They give the king a three-color cockade, symbolizing the union of the Parisians (blue and red are the colors of Paris) with the king (white is the color of the Bourbons).

Commenting on the events of that day, the British Ambassador wrote:

"This is how the greatest revolution, which history has preserved its memory, was realized ... From this moment we can consider France a free country, the king - a monarch whose power is limited, and the nobility - reduced to the level of the common people."

The English revolution of 1688 did not produce such an explosion: it retained the previous order (titles of nobility, the House of Lords, etc.).

This happened because feudalism and privileges had already disappeared by that time, only their appearance remained. In particular, there were no insurmountable barriers between the bourgeoisie and the nobility. Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, wrote at the beginning of the 18th century:

“Trade in England is not an occupation incompatible with the position of a nobleman; on the contrary, it creates nobles. After one or two generations, the sons of merchants, or at least their grandchildren, become just as good parliamentarians, statesmen - members of the Privy Council - or judges, bishops and other worthy people, just like those who come from old families. " ...

In France, on the contrary, the nobility was closed and held only those positions that “do not humiliate” and which are closed to people of simple origin: the positions of the highest clergy or army officers. It stubbornly defends its tax privileges.

The bourgeoisie, for its part, would like to reach a compromise according to the English model, but the privileged and the king stubbornly resist this. The king is also accused of hypocrisy, since he either agreed with the changes or retracted his words.

The Constitutional Assembly abolished privileges (on the night of August 4, 1789), adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (August 26, 1789), as well as the Constitution of 1791, which established the regime of a constitutional monarchy.

The king again tried to turn the tide by gathering troops at the beginning of October 1789 to disperse the Assembly, but the people moved to Versailles and returned the king to Paris. Then, on the night of June 20-21, 1791, he tried to hide abroad. Detained in Varenne, he was reinstated in his rights by the Assembly, which did not want to abandon the monarchical principle and announced that the king had been "forcibly kidnapped."

In 1792, when war broke out with Austria and Prussia, the commander of the invading armies, the Duke of Braunschweig, demanded that the revolutionaries restore the king to his former power; it became clear that this was done with the knowledge and participation of the king. His connections with abroad were confirmed by the correspondence found in the "iron cabinet" (now they would say in the "safe") in the Tuileries. This palace was taken by storm on August 10, 1792, the king was stripped of his power, then imprisoned. The new constitutional assembly - the Convention - abolished the monarchy, established a republic (September 22, 1792), brought the king to justice. Sentenced to death he was executed on January 21, 1793.

So the French Revolution ended the "old order" forever.

In 1793 and 1794. in the face of foreign intervention and internal rebellions (in the Vendée), the most determined revolutionaries montagnards (so named because they sat on the uppermost benches of the Convention), led by Robespierre, cemented the alliance of the bourgeoisie with the people to defend the revolution from internal and external enemies. The instruments of revolutionary policy were economic and social measures in the interests of the people, as well as terror. But as soon as the invasion was repelled, the Montagnards were overthrown (9 Thermidor II - 27 July 1794).

Cleared of Montagnards, the Convention adopted a constitution of the third year, which established the bourgeois system in its classical form.