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Politics

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Taking of the Bastille

The "bravery of the citizens united against" the royal army, as the text suggests, enabled them to conquer in four hours a fortress that had defeated invasions since 1368.

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Taking of the Bastille

This painting emphasizes the populace’s participation in the storming of the Bastille, showing the urban population fighting under a red banner with muskets, swords, and pikes against the royal soldiers.

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The Third Incident of 14 July 1789

This engraving from the Berthault series depicts Stanislas Maillard bravely climbing on a plank over the dry moat surrounding the fortress to accept from one of the soldiers Launay’s "capitulation" of the Bastille.

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Photograph of Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Activist

This photograph of a powerful woman, Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi, shows her use of national dress in a Southeast Asian political context. Aung San Suu Kyi was educated overseas and married to an Englishman. Yet she always wears Burmese national dress complete with a flower in her hair.

Fundraising for Palestinian Families in Jerusalem image thumbnail
Methods

Analyzing Oral Histories

The modules in Methods present case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence in world history. This module is based on a series of oral history interviews conducted in the mid-1990s.

Gulhane Proclamation thumbnail image
Methods

Analyzing Official Documents

The modules in Methods present case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence in world history. In the video below, historian Dina Khoury analyzes two official proclamations by the government of the Ottoman Empire.

Taking of the Bastille thumbnail image
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Taking of the Bastille

This color print emphasizes the populace’s participation in the storming of the Bastille, showing the urban population fighting under a red banner with muskets, swords, and pikes against the royal soldiers.

Engraving of crowd gathered to sack royal hospital thumbnail image
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Taking of Weapons at the Invalides

From the City Hall, the crowd that had gathered on the morning of 14 July crossed the Seine River and sacked the royal veterans’ hospital known as the Invalides, where it hoped to capture arms. In Berthault’s engraving, the scene appears chaotic.

Thumbnail of drawing of man giving a speech for a crowd
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Speech in the Garden of the Palais-Royal

In this artistic rendition, on 12 July 1789 Camille Desmoulins stands on a table and encourages his listeners to rise against the threat to the Estates–General. He, and others of his ilk, would be successful in bringing about the fall of the Bastille on 14 July.

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Fraternity

Using a woman to represent "Fraternity" seems ironic at best, although theoretically the term might mean the community of humanity. In actuality, when the revolutionaries considered "community," they certainly thought of men far more than women.