Outbreak of the French Revolution in Paris

Background. France faced a fiscal crisis by 1788 as compounding interest on the national debt became unmanageable, and Jacques Necker, the Genevan banker serving as finance minister for Louis XVI, proved sympathetic to the Third Estate. By the summer of 1789 the population suffered from famine, sharpening unrest in the capital.

Dismissal and Mobilization. On 11 July 1789 Louis XVI, acting under the influence of conservative nobles of his privy council, dismissed and banished Necker and completely reconstituted the ministry. The next day, Camille Desmoulins delivered an impassioned call to arms to a crowd before the Palais-Royal, an address that inflamed Parisian opinion against the king's decision.

Storming of the Bastille. On 14 July 1789 revolutionary insurgents attempted to storm and seize control of the Bastille, the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison in Paris. The prison held only seven inmates at the time and by 1789 had little military significance, yet its fall became the defining act of the crisis.