Women's+March+on+Versailles

=Women's March on Versailles=

In the midst of the French Revolution, the Women’s March to Versailles was an event that was a turning point in the French Revolution. On the 5th of October, 1789, a crowd of nearly 7,000 working class women marched from the city of Paris to Versailles. Versailles was the home to the king and queen of France, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Both the queen and the king were hated by the majority of the French people. Despite the very fertile soil, the working class families in Paris were starving. What angered the French people is that the king and queen knew that their people were starving, but they did nothing about it. Instead, they continued to feast and ignored the needs of their people.

The French people finally reached a breaking point. Their problem was growing and together they realized that something needed to change. The people who were first to act on the problem surprised many; the women of Paris were the first to act. Together with pitchforks, pikes, and muskets they marched. They chanted “Bread! Bread!” to the beat of a drum. Together, the women were not seen as weak. The king, realizing the intent of the women, ordered 20,000 guards to protect the castle. When the mob reached the castle, they focused their anger on the queen. Despite the amount of guards, women still managed to break into the castle. Marie Antoinette barely escaped from the crowd by running into a secret passageway in the castle.

It was apparent that the women had no intent of showing mercy to the royal family. They were violent and killed many of the guards. Multiple guards’ heads were severed and displayed on pikes and pitchforks. This was the first time that the women of France were able to see the power that they had as a group. No longer were the women seen as incapable of making an impact on the Revolution. Despite being the “weaker sex,” the mob of women changed the path of the French Revolution and the future of the monarchy.

In the end, the mob demanded that the king distributed all of the bread that the castle was hoarding. They also demanded that the king give approval to the August Decrees and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, two laws that gave more power to the commonfolk of France and took power away from the monarchy. Lastly, they demanded that the king and queen personally accompanied them in the march back to Paris. They wanted the king and queen to see for themselves the damage that they had done to the people. The king was forced to agree out of fear for his life. Once returning to Paris, the queen and king became prisoners of the common people until their executions two year later.

The Women’s March on Versailles transformed the role of the common people, and especially the role of women in the French Revolution. It was the turning point in the Revolution that brought an end to the harmful monarchy and brought power the common people of France.

