The Women's March on Versailles And Why It Was So Important

Women march towards Versailles as an effort to try and change things
 (https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/womens-march-versailles.htm)


On October 5th and 6th of 1789 thousands of Parisians, most of which were women, marched to Versailles where the royal family lived, and demanded many things. Some where hungry and wanted the king to help with the severe shortage in bread they were having. Others wanted for the king and his family to leave Versailles and go to Paris with them. However the march was brought about mainly because of rumors such as ones of drunken soldiers insulting the revolution, and a few more. This outraged the Parisians and led them to revolt and storm Versailles.

The revolt started on October 5th and was large and messy. Reportedly many people were armed with pitchforks and scythes. They marched 12 miles from Paris to Versailles in the rain and arrived shortly after it became dark. For hours they revolted and protested until finally the king listened to them and promised that he would help with the shortage of food. However a part of the crowd thought that wasn't enough and attempted to hunt down and kill Marie Antoinette, Louis's wife. After this, on October 6th Louis decided to go with the Parisians to Paris to satisfy them.

This march was very important not only in history in general, but especially in the history of the French Revolution. Because of this march and the persistence of those who marched Louis XVI moved away from Versailles and to Paris, where he would spend his final years. This march also paved the way a bit for future women's marches, such as the Women's Suffrage Parade in 1913, and the more recent 2017 and 2018 Women's Marches, which are both thankfully less violent the the Women's March on Versailles, but still just as persistent.