The Bastille

The Bastille was constructed in the 1300s during the Hundred Years' War against the English to guard the eastern entrance to Paris. A wide moat and 100-foot-high walls, as well as more than 80 regular soldiers and 30 Swiss mercenaries, were among the formidable stone building's formidable defenses.

As a prison, it housed political dissidents (including the writer and philosopher Voltaire), many of whom were imprisoned without trial by the king's order. However, by 1789, it was scheduled to be demolished and replaced by a public square. Furthermore, there were only seven prisoners: four accused of forgery, two considered "lunatics," and one held at the request of his own family.

The notorious Marquis de Sade, who is the source of the word "sadist," had also been detained there. But earlier that summer, he was fired for falsely yelling out the window that the prisoners inside were being massacred.