Storming of the Bastille

Taking of the Bastille
Source: mfr 88. 117

The Storming of the Bastille was an important moment of the French Revolution. The Bastille was an old medieval fortress and had become a symbol of royal authority. On July 14th, 1789, revolutionaries marched on the Bastille seeking ammunition due to a number of rumors that were circulating causing great alarm throughout the city. In the document “Dispatches from Paris” present in Baker, it was reported that “in the evening a large detachment with two pieces of cannon went to the Bastille to demand the ammunition that was there” (Baker, 1987,  p. 196). Soon after this the drawbridge of the Bastille was lowered and the citizens were fired upon. This caused fighting to break out between the citizens and the governor who had ordered that the citizens be fired upon. In the image above, the fighting has been depicted. The citizens are armed with muskets, and swords and pikes, it shows the citizens fighting against the royal soldiers. The fighting continued and eventually the Bastille fell. The storming of the Bastille was a military victory as well as a symbolic victory for the citizens of Paris as it symbolized the defeat of monarchy by the citizens.

Early on in Assassin’s Creed Unity, Arno Dorian is framed for murder and subsequently locked up in the Bastille. Arno experiences the Storming of the Bastille first hand and uses the opportunity it presents to escape. The Storming of the Bastille is depicted very similarly to both the description present in Baker and the image “Taking of the Bastille”. Arno looks out from the Bastille and sees that a large and restless crowd has gathered outside of the Bastille. Cannon fire is soon heard and fighting erupts. While the player (As Arno) escapes the Bastille, citizens can clearly be seen fighting with the soldiers stationed in the Bastille. Similar to the picture above, the citizens are visibly armed with muskets. As can be seen from the gameplay footage provided below, the Storming of the Bastille was depicted quite accurately in Assassin’s Creed Unity.