Women’s March on Versailles

Women’s March on Versailles IMG

On 5 October 1789 more than 6,000 Parisian market women marched on Versailles to confront King Louis XVI (1754–1793) about the high prices for bread. They were supported by at least 15,000 national guards. The king was pressed to accept the demands of the crowd and the royal family were forced to return to Paris the following day. The women's march became a signal event of the French Revolution as it marked the end of the king's resistance to reforms.

A Versailles, à Versailles du 5 Octobre 1789, print, 18cm x 23cm, 1789, artist unknown; source:  gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8410839z, public domain.