French Revolution trivia question
The Bastille in central Paris was a fortress that had towered over the Paris skyline since as early as the 1300s. By the late 1700s it was used as a state prison. It was, by all accounts from the time, a symbol of the monarch's tyranny.
The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 is one of the defining moments of the French Revolution. In the storming, 98 of the attackers and 1 defender were killed. Subsequent to the fighting, reports indicate that several more defenders were killed, including the Governor of the Bastille. All told over 100 people died in the battle that day.
So, the trivia question is this. How many prisoners were freed during the storming?
A. 0
B. 7
C. 57
D. 117
Bonus question: Can you name which one of the Bastille's most famous prisoners was moved to another prison 10 days before the storming?
A. Voltaire (satirist, philosopher, writer)
B. King Louis XVI (the then King of France)
C. Marquis de Lafayette (yup, the guy who fought alongside George Washington in the American Revolutionary War)
D. Marquis de Sade (yeah, you know the name)
Replies to: French Revolution trivia question
b and d
they were in the process of closing the bastille as a prison and had already removed all but 7 of the prisoners when it was "captured".
Marquis, the kinkster, was sad to leave. Unfortunately, he got tied up in the other prison.
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I'm impressed.
I had no idea it was only 7 prisoners that were freed until this week. I guess in my head I'd assumed it was in the hundreds because of the significance of the event. Good on you guys for knowing this.
Awwww, shucks.
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i have to confess.
i live in a retirement community with a lot of very erudite residents. one is a good friend, fellow golfer (and not bad for a nonagenarian!), and a Francophile who lived for some time in both France and Belgium. he is an expert in French history and gave an excellent lecture to the community last month on this very topic. were it not for his generosity with time and knowledge, i would have known neither answer.
please don’t ask how i remembered them this long….. :)
Good stuff, both of you. I found your comment of how the Bastille towered over the skyline and what
it came to represent over time to be particularly interesting.
B, D
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