French Revolution - Womens’ March to Versailles

On 5th and 6th October 1789, thousands of people marched from Paris to the Palace of Versailles. Since the storming of the Bastille in July the same year, things had not improved much for the lives of commoners who were still starving...

Women witnessed firsthand the price of flour sky rocketing and therefore could not afford it to bake bread which was one crucial element of poor people's food.

This explains the presence of a great number of women marching to Versailles and therefore the name of the event. The crowds "invited" the Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette to return to Paris, chanting they were bringing back "the baker, his wife and the baker's boy", referring to the King, the Queen and the Dauphin.

Life at Versailles was over for the royal couple who were now supposed to remain at the Tuileries Palace in Paris...