The French royal finances had collapsed in 1786-1787. The Estates-General was called in May 1789 to authorise new taxes. By July the Third Estate had declared itself the National Assembly. Royal troop movements around Paris were perceived as a planned counter-coup.
The Bastille was a 14th-century fortress at the eastern edge of Paris. By 1789 it held seven prisoners — four forgers, two mentally ill aristocrats, and the Marquis de Sade (transferred ten days earlier). It also held the Paris arsenal — about 30,000 muskets and large gunpowder reserves.
The storming
A crowd of about 8,000 assembled at the Bastille on the morning of 14 July 1789, primarily looking for the gunpowder. The garrison commander Bernard-René de Launay had 80 invalided veterans and 30 Swiss Guards.
The outer courtyard fell to the crowd at about 1:30 p.m. Negotiations broke down. The crowd stormed the inner drawbridge at about 5 p.m. De Launay surrendered 30 minutes later.
The crowd killed seven of the garrison after the surrender, including de Launay. His head was paraded through Paris on a pike. The seven prisoners were released. Six returned to their families; the seventh — an Irish forger imprisoned 30 years — could not adjust to outdoor life and died within a month.
What followed
Louis XVI accepted the Paris municipal revolution within 72 hours. He visited the Hôtel de Ville on 17 July 1789 wearing the new tricolour cockade. The monarchy continued nominally for three more years before being abolished on 21 September 1792.
The date 14 July became the French national holiday by the 1880 Loi Raspail. It is still celebrated annually with the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Élysées.
The fortress was demolished by volunteer Parisian work crews between July 1789 and 1790. The stones were sold as souvenirs. The Place de la Bastille marks the site; the outline of the fortress walls is traced on the paving.