Women’s March to Versailles

Thousands of prints broadcast the events of the French Revolution to the public in France and elsewhere. This colored engraving shows a crowd of armed women marching to Versailles on October 5, 1789, to confront the king. The sight of armed women frightened many observers and demonstrated that the Revolution was not only a men’s affair. Note the middle-class woman on the left being forced to join with the others. (The Granger Collection, NYC—All rights reserved.)