Storming of the Bastille Storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille ( ) occurred in Paris, France, on the afternoon of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress, armory, and political prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. The prison contained just seven inmates at the time of its storming, but was seen by the revolutionaries as a symbol of the monarchy's abuses of power; its fall was the flashpoint of the French Revolution. In France, "Le quatorze juillet" (14 July) is a public holiday, usually called Bastille Day in English. During the reign of
French emigration (1789–1815) In Alsace, minorities such as the Jews and Protestants were pro-revolution, while the Catholic majority was not. Despite these facts, as Zosa Szajkowski states in the text "Jews and the French Revolutions of 1789, 1830, and 1848" it was still a widely held belief that "the Jews wanted to bring about a counter-revolution with all its destruction and death". Thus, the Jews were continuously unfairly suspected of fraud, although rarely ever convicted for it. Also, their correspondence in Hebrew with those living outside France was restricted. August Mauger, the leader of the terror in Nancy, refused to give Jews passports.