Storming of the Bastille - How accurate is the storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution depicted in the video game: Assassins Creed Unity’s Cinematic Trailer?

by Heartfeltzero

Was it as Chaotic as depicted, as deadly? Did the crowd just mercilessly charge through the gates with pitchforks and slaughter everyone inside? Or was there more of a diplomatic aspect to it?

HistoryofHowWePlay

The basic layout of events to breaching the Bastille are covered in this post from a few years ago by u/herpasaurus. Long and short of it, yes it was more than just a mob somehow managing to open the gates. They had armed garrisons supporting them and the governor opened it up to eventually be ransacked and burned.

One detail in the intro based on history is that the naked guy, the Marquis de Sade, was stoking the fires of people's want to free the prisoners in the Bastille by claiming torture and killing was taking place. In truth, the Bastille was pretty cushy as far as prisons go, maintained for noble kids who had gotten a little too wild for their shoes.