10 August (French Revolution)

On 10 August 1792, during the French Revolution, revolutionary Fédéré militias — with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the "insurrectionary" Paris Commune and ultimately supported by the National Guard — besieged the Tuileries palace. King Louis XVI and the royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly. This proved to be the effective end of the French Bourbon Monarchy (until it was restored in 1814, the monarchical system of an empire had been introduced ten years earlier). The formal end of the monarchy occurred six weeks later, as one of the first acts of business of the new Convention.

This insurrection and its outcome are most commonly referred to by historians of the Revolution simply as "the 10 August"; other common designations include "the journée of the 10 August'" (), "the insurrection of the 10 August", or even "the revolution of the 10 August".

The context

Through the first part of 1792, France had been moving slowly toward the first of the French Revolutionary Wars. In April, the king had taken the unprecedented step of forming a cabinet of revolutionary Girondins. On 20 April, war was declared against Austria.

The initial battles were a disaster for the French, and Prussia joined Austria in active alliance against France (see First Coalition). However, a delay in their preparations gave France an opportunity to improve its army.

The Revolution at this...
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