A week later, with pressure quickly mounting on him from the general public, King Louis XVI relented to the National Assembly, ordering the nobility and clergy to join them. But the king also stationed several of his army’s regiments throughout Paris, instilling fear into the assembly. On the 11th of July, the king dismissed his only non-noble minister, Jacques Necker, who had been in favour of national reform. This ignited protest within the French public, with angry crowds storming various posts across Paris throughout the coming days, searching for food and weapons – including the Bastille on the day of the fête de la Saint-Jean.
The Revolution quickly escalated into a full-scale civil war, with the nobility and the clergy pitted against the commoners and their allies, the Jacobins. The Jacobins, led by Maximilien Robespierre, eventually emerged victorious, and instituted a period of radical political and social reform known as the ‘Reign of Terror’. This period was characterised by mass executions, as the Jacobins sought to purge France of anyone they deemed to be an enemy of the Revolution.
The ‘Reign of Terror’ eventually came to an end, and the Jacobins were overthrown. The Revolution then entered a more moderate phase, culminating in the establishment of the French Republic. Although the Revolution did not achieve all of its goals, it did fundamentally change the social and political landscape of France and had a lasting impact on the world.