Storming the Bastille
By Amy Gilstrap
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Last updated over 2 years ago
13 Questions
The Storming of the Bastille was a major event at the start of the French Revolution. In France, it is now celebrated like we celebrate the 4th of July.
In this activity you will need to read the sections, answer the questions, and choose the fate of your character as the events of July, 1789 unfold.
You may need to look back at the notes/terms from the Enlightenment and French Revolution assignments to answer some questions if you do not remember the answers.
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1.
You are a young French person of the middle class. You feel sorry for the common people in France who are not as lucky as you are. They are taxed too much. They are treated unfairly in the courts. Some of them can't find jobs. It seems as though all the good jobs go to the people in the upper classes.
"The nobility enjoys the good life here and the common people suffer," you tell your friend.
"Well, that's the way it has always been," your friend says with a shrug. You have read John Locke's books on government. You also read popular French writers like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. They all say that people can do something about improving life in a country. "I say we should get rid of the king, "you mutter.
Match the French social classes to the correct definition.
| arrow_right_alt | clergy/church - paid no taxes | |
| arrow_right_alt | nobles -paid little taxes | |
| arrow_right_alt | everyone else, paid all the taxes, had little rights |
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2.
Match up the philosophe with his primary focus
| arrow_right_alt | freedom of speech and religion | |
| arrow_right_alt | government should protect the general will | |
| arrow_right_alt | government should be divided into separate branches for check and balances to power |
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3.
"Wait now," your friend says, "Once the fires of revolution are lit, who knows where it will all end? Remember, we are bourgeoisie. We have a nice life. If the revolution comes, will we get burned, maybe?"
You think about your friend's words. You would like to join other angry young people working for the overthrow of the king. On the other hand, you don't want to see a bloody revolution. You want France to be a fairer place to live, but you don't want violence and suffering.
"I'll tell you where a wonderful new experiment is happening right now," says your friend. "The United States is voting on a new Constitution. Let's take a trip over there and see how it's working."
What was the first official government of the independent United States called?
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4.
You find the idea thrilling. Your own French Marquis de Lafayette helped the Americans with their revolution. Now he is trying to bring constitutional government to France.
"I cannot leave France just when great things are about to happen," you say. "I have some skill as a writer. I could write pamphlets promoting justice."
Find a picture of the Marquis de Lafayette.
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5.
The following week a dramatic thing happens. A mob of people storm the Bastille. The Bastille is a fortress-like prison in Paris. Everybody believes the king has stored a considerable amountof ammunition there. You have heard that hundreds of poor people are locked awaybehind those grim walls, too. The Bastille seems to stand for all that is hated about royal authority in France.
You join the crowd of angry people moving toward the prison. The sight of the great stone fortress fills you with dread and rage. The Bastille has turrets. It looks like an ugly castle of injustice.
Insert a piture of the Bastille.
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6.
"What a thrill to be part of this," a friend cries. Her face is flushed with excitement.
"Boldness! Courage!" everyone is shouting. You are all encouraging one another. Your heart pounds madly.Perhaps the king's soldiers will fire at you from the Bastille. Maybe you are about to die for the cause of justice!
But, to your surprise, the defenders of the Bastille don't put up much of a fight. The large mob has frightened the cowardly king's men into fleeing for their lives. You are happy you are part of this great action. You are making history. What a wonderful moment lies ahead! All the poor prisoners will come out.
The cell doors swing open. But only seven men come out. Four are thieves, two are mentally ill, and one is an old man!
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7.
Still, there is wild hate in the eyes of the crowd. Will there soon be blood running in the streets? Later your fears are realized, the governor and some of the guards of the Bastille are killed (the governor stabbed to death) under chaotic circumstances, despite having surrendered under a flag of truce, and their heads paraded on pikes.
You wonder if you should spend a few weeks with your cousin in England. It would give you a chance to see how things are going from a distance. But then you might miss the excitement of the revolution
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8.
f you stay in France,
You must remain in France as history unfolds. The insurrection at the Bastille and thisnewspirit of popular sovereignty spread throughout France. You too want to see justice done, so you join the people who roam the countryside in July and Augustof 1789. You are with a mob thatburnsa wealthy man's mansion. Being part of such an act of destruction bothers you. But the man has been unjust. You are convinced that such actions are necessary. This hysteria, known as the Great Fear, spread across the country but gradually burned itselfout. By 1792 you find yourself in a Paris throng of people when King Louis XVI loses his power. Everybody says he will take the queen, Marie Antoinette, and flee the country. But events move swiftly into violence. There are rumors that the king is plotting with other countries against France. He is arrested and put in prison. Then the king of France is executed for treason. He is put to death by the guillotine in January of 1793. The guillotine is a new device which cuts off heads more quickly and efficiently than the old way of using an axe. In less than a year the same thing happens to Marie Antoinette.
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9.
f you stay in France,
France is now ruled by a Committee of Public Safety. You are a little worried about the men who run this new governing body. They are violent revolutionaries. Ones named Maximilien Robespierre. He labels anybody who criticizes him an "enemy of the people." You know what happens to enemies of the people. The guillotine waits for them! "It's a reign of terror we are seeing now," you whisper to a friend. You both supported the revolution, but neither of youwanted all this bloodshed!One day you watch the guillotine at work. The huge knife comes down, again and again, chopping off the heads of priests and nobles. Suddenly you see your old friend, the baker, guillotined. Somebody accused him! You are horror-struck. The guillotine is cutting down the innocent and the guilty alike!
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10.
France
in 1794 Robespierre himself is accused of being an enemy of the people. He is guillotined. Now the reign of terror ends at last. A few weeks later you and a friend, the baker’s brother, sit down at a café and discuss the tremulous year that just passed. You hear other news being discussed in the café about how an artillery commander in the French forces repelled a besieging revolt and saved the young French Republic.Your friend wants togo off and join the army and be part of this dynamic young general’s army. He wants to you join him
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11.
England
You travel to England and stay with your cousin. Your cousin supports the revolution in France as you do. "The revolution in France is overdue," your cousin says as you drink tea together. "There must be constitutional government in France like we have in England.""Yes," you heartily agree. You find you like life in England very much. You are hired to do a series of articles about France. The English newspaper pays you well. You had planned to stay in England just a few weeks, but now you have been here for almost four years. Events have moved swiftlyin France. King Louis XVI has been overthrown. The revolution has turned violent. Feelings against the French revolution are rising in England. It is time for you to go home.
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12.
England
Soon after you arrive in Paris, France and England are at war. King Louis XVI, accused of treason, had his head chopped off by the efficient new head-chopping machine-the guillotine. His wife, Marie Antoinette, follows in several months. You shudder at the idea of the woman being beheaded. There is a reign of terror in France that frightens you. If anyone criticizes the new government-called the Committee of Safety-he is accused of being an "enemy of the people." Such an unlucky person will soon go to the guillotine.
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13.
england
One day a friend criticizes you for an article you wrote. "You seem to like tyrannical kings," he says."No, no," you stammer nervously. But your former friend's eyes glow with anger. "I accuse you of being an enemy of the people!" he cries. You are arrested at your home. Your trial is swift. You are one or a hundred who must march to the guillotine that day. You try to be brave. But you tremble when you glance up at the great knife that will soon fall on your neck. Fortunately, death is without pain.