The Réveillon riots between 26 and 29 April 1789[1] centered in the St. Antoine district of Paris where a factory which produced luxury wallpaper was owned by Jean-Baptiste Réveillon. The factory employed around 300 people.[2]
Protests began after rumors spread that the owner had made a speech stating that workers, many of whom were highly skilled, were to be paid lower wages and, as a result, there would be lower prices. Workers were concerned with food shortages, high unemployment, and low wages after a difficult winter in 1788. However, Réveillon was known for his benevolence towards the poor.[3]
While the protesters did not manage to destroy the factory, which was being guarded by a group of around fifty troops, a factory owned by the saltpetre manufacturer Henriot was destroyed after he made similar comments. However Réveillon's factory was destroyed a day later as was his home.[4] The riot killed 25 people.[4]
See also
References
- 'The Oxford History of the French Revolution' by William Doyle ISBN 0-19-285221-3
- ↑ SafariX Textbooks Online – SafariX is now CourseSmart Archived 9 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ Sir Archibald Alison (1848). History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in M.DCC.LXXXIX. to the Restoration of the Bourbons in M.DCCC.XV. Vol. 1 (7 ed.). W. Blackwood and sons. p. 357 – via Google Books, Ghent University.
- ↑ Sir Archibald Alison (1848). History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution in M.DCC.LXXXIX. to the Restoration of the Bourbons in M.DCCC.XV. Vol. 1 (7 ed.). W. Blackwood and sons. p. 358 – via Google Books, Ghent University.
- 1 2 Chronology of the French Revolution: 1789–1790 Archived 17 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- Micah Alpaugh, "The Politics of Escalation in French Revolutionary Protest: Political Demonstrations, Nonviolence and Violence in the Grandes journées of 1789," French History 23, no. 3 (Fall 2009), 336–359.
