Few lines on Bastille fort

What was the Bastille?

The Bastille was a fortress built in the late 1300s to protect Paris during the Hundred Years' War. By the late 1700s, the Bastille was mostly used as a state prison by King Louis XVI.
 

<i>Storming of the Bastille</i>

Who stormed the Bastille?

The revolutionaries who stormed the Bastille were mostly craftsmen and store owners who lived in Paris. They were members of a French social class called the Third Estate. There were around 1000 men who participated in the attack.

Why did they storm the Bastille?

The Third Estate had recently made demands of the king and had demanded that the commoners have more of a say in government. They were worried that he was preparing the French army for an attack. In order to arm themselves, they first took over the Hotel des Invalides in Paris where they were able to get muskets. However, they didn't have gun powder.

The Bastille was rumored to be full of political prisoners and was a symbol to many of the oppression of the king. It also had stores of gunpowder that the revolutionaries needed for their weapons.

Storming the Bastille

On the morning of July 14, the revolutionaries approached the Bastille. They demanded that the military leader of the Bastille, Governor de Launay, surrender the prison and hand over the gunpowder. He refused.

As negotiations drug on, the crowd became agitated. In the early afternoon, they managed to get into the courtyard. Once inside the courtyard, they began to try and break into the main fortress. The soldiers in the Bastille became scared and fired into the crowd. The fighting had began. The turning point in the fight came when some of the soldiers joined the side of the crowd.