On the 14th of July in 1789, a crowd of nearly one thousand protesters stormed the Bastille in Paris, France, a major event in the French Revolution, commemorated annually as "Bastille Day".

In the months running up to the uprising, the people of France were facing a dire economic crisis, food shortage, and increased militarization of Paris on orders of King Louis XVI. The Bastille was an armory and prison, perceived by many as a symbol of royal authority in the city.

On the morning of July 14th, a crowd of approximately one thousand people surrounded the Bastille, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of its cannon, and the release of the arms and gunpowder stored there.

After negotiations stalled, the crowd surged into the courtyard of the Bastille and were fired upon by troops in the garrison. In the carnage that followed, ninety-eight protesters and one defender of the Bastille were killed.

Governor Marquis de Launay, fearing his troops could not hold out, capitulated to the crowd and opened up the Bastille doors. He was captured and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. While the crowd debated his fate, the badly beaten Launay shouted "Enough! Let me die!", kicked a pastry cook in the groin, and was then promptly stabbed to death.

As news of the successful seizure of the Bastille spread throughout the country, revolutionaries established parallel structures of power for government and militias for civic protection, burned deeds of property, and in some cases attacked wealthy landlords.

King Louis XVI first learned of the storming the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. "Is it a revolt?" asked the King. The duke replied: "No sire, it's not a revolt; it's a revolution."

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
    ·
    6 months ago

    Older dude customer at work today stopped by the window to say I'm really good at my job and he got distracted by watching me work (we have a semi open kitchen) just being impressed. I was soloing a medium rush so the other guys could finish prep which was running late and also cause it can just be nice to do the whole thing yourself instead of calling stuff and making sure timing works between 3 different people and instead having like 7 mental timers going at once and working between them can be a bit relaxing when you're gonna be doing calls all night after. Anyway, it felt cool. We get a decent amount of swing by compliments, usually older folks, we also get parents with really young kids scoop their kids up to see what we're doing, and between the big fiery oven and the cool looking dough tossing (which some of us have some fun trick throws for when kids are watching), you are for a bit, the coolest thing ever to this kid. If a restaurant has an open kitchen or it's not too busy to reasonably give a quick shout to the guy working the window, directly telling the kitchen they did good feels nice, don't do it if it's busy, tell the server in that case. But speaking in my case, if someone comes by the window to say the food ruled, that brings everyone up, we do like it when you like the food and also I will remember you next time and you'll get a slightly better than standard version of your meal. If we can't see you, let it be known, we want to play favorites, you get slightly worse food and smaller portions, well just burn it a bit or over salt it, no one spits in food and it swings the other way, if you're a regular with a good rep we want to hook you up and wish wait staff would mention it