On July 14, 1789, Parisian revolutionaries stormed the Bastille, a medieval fortress and state prison that symbolized royal authority. The attack began when crowds sought weapons and gunpowder amid rising tensions over King Louis XVI's dismissal of reform-minded Finance Minister Jacques Necker and the concentration of royal troops around Paris. After four hours of fighting that killed 94 people, the insurgents breached the fortress, which held only seven prisoners at the time. Governor Bernard-R