– Maintaining supplies in Paris has been difficult for weeks now, and hunger is starting to spread through the poorest neighbourhoods of the city.
– At dawn, a group of women from the Halle make their way to the Town Hall.
– A few men from the Halle sneak into the group.
– On their way, other women join them.
– Once at the Town Hall, the crowd breaks the doors open and forces its way in the offices.
– The group steals the coffers of the Town Hall and the weapons in the armoury.
– The bustle makes the crowd grow larger.
– A group of women from Faubourg Saint-Antoine join those from the Halle.
– A man from Saint-Antoine takes the head of the gathering and suggests they go to Versailles to be heard by the King.
– The crowd walks through the Tuileries Gardens towards Louis XV Square (Concorde).
– The leader prevents the women from looting the arm depot at the Arsenal.
– On the Champs-Elysées, many detachments join the crowd.
– The group amounts to 5-6,000 women.
– On the way to Versailles, in Auteuil and Sevres, they loot bakeries and cabarets to steal bread.
– The leader manages to convince the troops to lay down their arms so that the King’s guards do not feel threatened.
– In the meantime, the commanding officer of the Parisian militias arrives at the Town Hall.
– The militiamen force the commanding officer to go to Versailles to reinforce the women.
– 15,000 militiamen leave and are joined by several thousand Parisians.
– In Versailles, the King, returning from the hunt, is warned by the National Assembly that a crowd of women is approaching the castle.
– The King’s counsel hesitates between attacking before they reach the castle or waiting fearlessly.
– The King has nothing to fear from that crowd of women and he makes up his mind simply to have the King’s guards and two popular regiments set on the Place d’Armes, in front of the castle.
– Night falls as the women reach Versailles.
– The women surround the National Assembly in session at the Hôtel des Menus.
– The leader manages to prevent them from invading the Assembly and comes in with a delegation of fifteen women.
– They complain about the lack of supplies in Paris and accuse the royalists of plotting a famine.
– The President of the Assembly heads for the castle with a few women to speak to the King.
– The crowd of the women, which had remained outside, forces its way in to invade the National Assembly.
– There they create an uproar.
– The President of the Assembly and his delegation get a good reception by the King, who promises to ensure supplies in Paris are maintained.
– The leader and forty or so women take the King’s written promise back to Paris.
– The crowd stands on the Place d’Armes and convinces the popular regiments to side with them.
– Some provocations lead to a clash between the popular regiments and the King’s guards.
– 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 before the King’s guard.
– The King, in spite of his counsel’s advice, refuses to flee.
– Five conveyances try to escape the castle and are stopped by the crowd.
– The crowd camps on the Place d’Armes.
– As the King remains impressed by the confrontation, the President of the Assembly convinces him to ratify two texts towards which he had remained reserved: the Constitution and the Declaration of Human Rights.
– The President brings back the news to the Assembly, which is still occupied by the women.
– At 11 a.m. the Parisian militias – 25,000 men – arrive at the Assembly.
– Their commanding officer, in order to pacify the crowd and have the sovereign respected, makes the King’s guards stand inside the castle and the people’s militias outside.
– The crowd and the people’s militias camp wherever they can – in public places, on the Place d’Armes, in churches, in cafés.
– Groups awake as early as 5 a.m.
– Certain agitators harangue the crowd and unrest soon flares up again.
– At six, during the sentry relief, some rebels enter the castle courtyard.
– The King’s guards open fire.
– The crowd break through the gates and enter the castle.
– Rebels enter the Palace, head for the Queen’s apartments and fight against the King’s guards, who barricade themselves room after room.
– Once at the Palace, the rebels, who are only looking for the royal family, do not loot anything.
– Queen and King find shelter in the so-called “bull’s-eye” room.
– When the rebels reach the bull’s-eye room, the Parisian militias meet them up and evacuate them.
– As the Parisian militiamen regain control of the most restive, the Palace is emptied of the assailants.
– Only a few guards have been killed and a few doors broken.
– The commanding officer of the Parisian militias meets the King and persuades him to show up at the window to satisfy the crowd.
– The King, standing at the balcony, is acclaimed.
– The crowd asks for the Queen.
– The Queen and her children, shielded by the commanding officer of the Parisian militias, appear at the balcony.
– The Queen is acclaimed.
– The crowd asks for the King to come back to Paris.
– The King accepts.
– At one p.m., the crowd, the Parisian militias and the King’s guards escort the royal family back to Paris.
– A little after seven, the procession reaches Paris.
– The procession arrives at the Town Hall.
– The King is acclaimed by the Parisians.
– At ten, the royal family enters the Tuileries Palace to settle there for good.
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