The storming of the Bastille is celebrated July 14 in France every year as the French version for the 4th of July. The Bastille is the symbol of French royal oppression, and overthrowing it an act of liberation. In fact, the last king was the first king to use the castle as a prison, and storming of the Bastille did in fact release the prisoners, all seven of them: 2 forgers, 4 lunatics and the son of an aristocrat who disobeyed his father. What the 8800 people who stormed the Bastille wanted was weapons and powder to defend themselves against rumored invaders. No such invasion. The story of the Bastille got better with ever telling.
Within a year or so the revolutionaries slaughtered some 1500 people held in prison one day, although this is usually told as an aberration in the history books. Simon Schama demonstrates is was a necessary development in the revolution. I'll review the book CITIZENS more fully when I finish it, but an interesting moment in the revolution is when the French organized a group of 1200 special assassins to kill every king and aristocrat in Europe, a sort of pre-emptive strike on any counter-revolution.
Did the French revolution introduce international terrorism?
Friday, January 21, 2011
Revolution
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