446 Ch. 12 • The French Revolution

The taking of the Bastille, July 14, 1789.

and a municipal defense force or National Guard (commanded by the Mar­

quis de Lafayette), and capitulated to the popular demand that he recall

Necker to office.

On July 17, 1789, the king came to Paris to be received by the municipal

council at the town hall, accepting and wearing an emblem of three colors,

red and blue for the city of Paris, and white for the Bourbons. By doing so,

Louis XVI seemed to be recognizing what became the tricolor symbol of

the French Revolution.

The Great Fear and the Night of August 4

News of the convocation of the Estates-General had brought hope to many

rural people that the king would relieve their crushing fiscal burdens. They

had expressed such hopes in the grievances they sent with their third

estate delegates to Versailles. Now, upon news of the fall of the Bastille,

between July 19 and August 3 peasants attacked chateaux. In some places

they burned title deeds specifying obligations owed to lords. These peasant

rebellions helped cause a subsequent panic known as the “Great Fear.”

Fueled by the rumor of an aristocratic “famine plot” to starve or burn out

the population, peasants and townspeople mobilized in many regions of

France. To repel the rumored approach of brigands sent to destroy crops,