Women's March on Versailles

Background. The march began among women in the marketplaces of Paris who, on the morning of 5 October 1789, were nearly rioting over the high price of bread. Earlier in 1789, mere rumors of food shortages had led to the Réveillon riots in April, and rumors of a plot to destroy wheat crops in order to starve the population provoked the Great Fear in the summer. Meanwhile the king's court and the deputies of the National Constituent Assembly resided in the royal city of Versailles, where they were considering momentous changes to the French political system.

Mobilization in Paris. On the morning of 5 October, a young woman struck a marching drum at the edge of a group of market-women infuriated by the chronic shortage and high price of bread. Driven by a variety of agitators, the crowd converged on the Hôtel de Ville, Paris's city hall, where they demanded not only bread but also arms. Encouraged by revolutionary agitators, they ransacked the city armory for weapons and marched on the Palace of Versailles.

At Versailles. Members of the assembly greeted the marchers and invited Maillard into their hall, where he fulminated about the Flanders Regiment and the people's need for bread. The unprotected deputies had no choice but to receive the marchers, who shouted down most speakers and demanded to hear the reformist deputy Mirabeau. That night was uneasy, as Parisian guardsmen mingled with the marchers and the two groups sounded each other out.

Return to Paris and Significance. At about one o'clock in the afternoon of 6 October 1789, the vast throng escorted the royal family and a complement of one hundred deputies back to the capital, with armed National Guards leading the way. Celebratory gunshots flew over the royal carriage, and some marchers carried pikes bearing the heads of slaughtered Versailles guards. By bringing together the Revolution's sources in their largest numbers yet, the march proved a defining moment, with an effect on par with the fall of the Bastille.