Image of the Attack of 20 June 1792

By the spring of 1792, the Revolution was in crisis on several fronts—in April, war had been declared on the Habsburg Empire, uprisings were taking place in provincial cities, and the Legislative Assembly was increasingly divided over whether to consolidate gains already made or press forward with more changes. On 20 June crowds of people in Paris took matters into their own hands, invading first the Assembly and then the Tuileries Palace, where they forced the King to don a Phrygian cap and drink a toast to the health of the nation.