On July 14, 1789, Parisian revolutionaries stormed the Bastille fortress-prison, a symbol of royal authority. This event is considered the flashpoint of the French Revolution, which overthrew the monarchy, established a republic, and fundamentally altered the course of modern history. The Revolution's ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity inspired democratic movements around the world, though the Revolution itself descended into the Reign of Terror before Napoleon's rise to power.
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