Why did the Paris crowd storm the Bastille on July 14, 1789?

The storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, was driven by a convergence of political anxiety and a desperate need for military supplies. Following the dismissal of the popular finance minister Jacques Necker on July 11, Parisians feared that the King was preparing a counterrevolutionary military crackdown to dissolve the National Assembly and starve the populace into submission.123

In response, the people of Paris began arming themselves. After seizing thousands of rifles from the Hôtel des Invalides, a large crowd advanced on the Bastille with the primary intention of confiscating the gunpowder and cannons stored within the fortress.12

The situation escalated due to the evasiveness of the prison governor, Bernard-René Jordan de Launay, and a series of misunderstandings that led the crowd to believe they were being lured into a trap. The resulting battle became a defining moment of the French Revolution, as the fortress—a symbol of the Bourbon monarchy's despotic power—fell to the Parisian people.412