– October 1st, during a banquet in Versailles, the King’s guards take away the Parisian cockades they had worn on their hats since the storming of the Bastille and replace them with the King’s colours, thus insulting the Parisian people.
– On the eve of October 5, a delegation of female workers from the Halle heads for the Town Hall.
– Soon, they are joined by workers from the Halle and other patriots.
– On their way, they convince other female Parisians to join them.
– Once at the Town Hall, the rebels demand arms and bred and enter the offices.
– A group, for lack of bread, takes the money from the coffers of the Town Hall.
– The Parisian women take control of the armoury and threaten to hang its manager, an abbot.
– Bell towers across the city sound the assembly; people come running from all over, adding to the crowd.
– The Parisian women are joined by the column of the Bastille victors.
– Their leader takes the lead of the gathering and suggests they go to Versailles to demand a punishment for the King’s guards and an acceleration of the acknowledgement of the National Assembly.
– From every neighbourhood, Parisian women and men join the procession.
– The first wave of people leaving Paris amounts to 5-6,000 rebels.
– The starving Parisians steal bread on their way to Versailles.
– Before reaching Versailles, the troops lay down their arms in order not to seem threatening to the National Assembly.
– In the meantime, the regiments of Parisian patriots arrive at the Town Hall.
– The patriots force the commanding officer to head for Versailles to back up the women.
– 1,500 patriots leave and are joined by thousands of Parisians.
– In Versailles, the National Assembly is upset by the King’s refusal to ratify the Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights.
– The progressive deputies are waiting for the Parisian women, expecting that they will put the King under pressure.
– The news of a crowd of Parisian women coming to the castle reaches the King as he returns from the hunt.
– Night is falling as the women reach Versailles.
– The rain, usually rather disheartening, only adds to the people’s determination.
– The King’s Counsel has taken a long time to make up its mind to attack, partly because it does not fear a troop of women.
– The King’s guards and two people’s regiments deploy on the Place d’Armes, in front of the castle.
– The Parisian women reach the National Assembly at the Hôtel des Menus.
– A delegation of Parisian women complains to the Assembly about royalist oppositions, accuse the King’s Party and the Paris clergymen of plotting a famine, and demand that the King’s guards be punished.
– The Parisian women, accompanied by the President of the Assembly, send a delegation to the castle in order to speak to the King.
– Some of the people enter the National Assembly to attend the debates and voice their support for the Party of Progress.
– The King is forced to promise the delegation that he will see that supplies be maintained in Paris.
– The King’s written undertaking is brought back to Paris.
– On the Place d’Armes, the crowd asks the King’s regiments to side with them.
– Witnessing the scene, the King’s guards fire at the people’s regiments and at the crowd.
– The people fight back: several casualties on both sides.
– The commanding officer of the King’s Guard orders the people’s regiments to withdraw.
– The people’s soldiers refuse to withdraw.
– Five vehicles try to escape the castle to test whether fleeing is possible.
– The Parisian women and the patriots stop the vehicles.
– The crowd besieges the castle from the Place d’Armes.
– As the King remains impressed by the confrontation and the people’s refusal to scatter, the Assembly delegation forces him to ratify the Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights.
– The President brings back the news to the Assembly and is acclaimed by the Parisian women.
– At 11 a.m. the Parisian patriots – 25,000 men – arrive at the Assembly.
– Their commanding officer convinces the King’s guards to stand inside the castle while he has the people’s regiments stand outside.
– The people spend the night wherever they can – in public places, taken in by the inhabitants, directly on the Place d’Armes, in cafés.
– The patriots keep awake and as early as 5 a.m., the people are back on the Place d’Armes.
– At six, the people enter the castle’s courtyard.
– The King’s guards fire into the crowd.
– The rebels enter the Palace, head for the Queen’s apartments and fight against the King’s guards who barricade themselves room after room.
– Queen and King find shelter in the so-called “bull’s-eye” room.
– The rebels reach the bull’s-eye room and are joined by the Parisian patriots.
– The battle won, the patriots’ commanding officer negotiates with the King.
– The commanding officer persuades the King to show up at the window to face the crowd.
– Once he is standing at the balcony, the crowd demands that he come back to Paris.
– The crowd demands to see the Queen.
– Feeling threatened, the Queen appears at the balcony behind her children, protected by the commanding officer of the Parisian patriots.
– The King is forced by the crowd to agree to come back to Paris.
– At 1 p.m., the Parisian women, the patriots and the disarmed King’s guards escort the royal family back to Paris.
– A little after seven, the procession reaches Paris.
– The procession comes to a halt at the Town Hall.
– The Parisians have gathered to witness the King’s return in the unsubdued city.
– At ten o’clock, the royal family is summoned to dwell in the Tuileries Palace.
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