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
The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 mid-wives of modern European history, and – through the connections of colonialism and imperialism – world history. The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789–1848 The Age of Revolution: Europe: 1789–1848 is a book by Eric Hobsbawm, first published in 1962. It is the first in a trilogy of books about "the long 19th century" (coined by Hobsbawm), followed by "", and "". A fourth book, "The Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century, 1914–1991", acts as a sequel to the trilogy. Hobsbawm analysed the early 19th century, and indeed the whole process of modernisation thereafter, using what he calls the "twin