October 5, 1789: “Thousands of Parisians, many of them women, marched 12 miles to Versailles, the residence of Louis XVI and the location of the National Constituent Assembly. The aims of this crowd varied. Some were desperately hungry and wanted to petition the king and his government to alleviate bread shortages.
Some had more violent intentions, seeking retribution against the king’s soldiers or his wife, the much despised Marie Antoinette. Others wanted the king to leave Versailles and relocate to Paris, away from the corrupting influences of the aristocracy and closer to the people.
After 24 hours of tension, intimidation and some violence, the king and the Assembly agreed to accompany the mob back to Paris. The October Days, as these events have become known, brought a century of royal government at Versailles to an end. Not for the first time or the last, the threat of violence produced a significant shift in the course of the revolution, which now focused on Paris.”
