The Storming of the Bastille
Today is, as I’m sure you’re all well aware, Bastille Day in France. According to our site statistics, we do actually have a number of regular visitors from France, most of whom likely stumbled in accidentally, due to the well-known French affection for all things atomic. Nevertheless, in their honour, we wish them a happy Bastille Day, and marvel that the rise of the French Republic can be attributed to a simple process known as “corning”.
Corning is a procedure wherein moisture is introduced into the process of creating gunpowder. This causes the mixture to clump together, dramatically reducing the amount of dust, and allowing gunpowder to be manufactured in far greater quantities due to an enormously decreased level of risk for the powdermaker. Those clumps are then broken up into kernels of a fairly uniform size, depending on the type of gun they are intended for, and baked or dried as a final preparation for use. This process not only decreases the dust, but also decreases the tendency for gunpowder to absorb moisture, which means that gunpowder could be safely stored almost anywhere. The absence of dust decreased the possibility of an accidental explosion, and its reduced tendency to absorb moisture meant that it didn’t require specific conditions to house it.
Kernels of Gunpowder
As a result of this, large quantities of gunpowder were stored in many military installations around the city of Paris in the late 1700′s, as a level of preparedness should the military garrisons stationed near the city need to mobilize quickly. One such installation was the now-famous Bastille fortress-prison, which had largely been decommissioned, and served only to hold a very few malcontents, guarded by a small garrison of retired soldiers. In the days leading up to the storming of the Bastille, the populist forces had managed to acquire quite a large number of small arms, mostly muskets, but had no powder with which to fire them. As a large stockpile was kept at the Bastille, and it was a very lightly-defended fortress, it became an ideal choice for a supply to pillage.
The symbolism that was later assigned to the act of storming the fortress was almost certainly not considered by the individuals who first marched on the prison. And had the commander of the forces stationed there simply realized he was outnumbered and capitulated to their demands, the whole event would likely have become a footnote in history. But through a series of strange decisions, and thanks to the fact that the French corning process was the best in Europe, allowing gunpowder to be kept quite literally anywhere, the stockpile kept at the Bastille was far larger than most realized — over 13,000 kg or 30,000 lbs — and as such was worth defending. That much gunpowder could supply a very large force, and would be enough to allow the populist uprising to stand firm against the French military, should it come to that.
The garrison commander, de Launay, thus decided to attempt to resist the oncoming hordes, and the confrontation escalated from something trivial to the very symbolic powderkeg that sparked the French Revolution. Combine the strategic importance with the Bastille’s reputation as a political prison, housing enemies of the Crown, and suddenly a bit of looting becomes the birth of a new nation.
So as Bastille Day celebrations continue around the globe, keep in mind that the fireworks exploding above are of the very same stuff that sparked a revolution. Pretty neat, when you think about it.
Oh, wonderful. I learned something new today which means my day is done at 9:13 am. Now who is going to finish the work I have left to do?
Very interesting read.
I misread the last word of the first paragraph, interpreting the "r" and "n" to be combined into an "m".
Deartháir's article was certainly an interesting read, but not as interesting as one that would have followed my misinterpretation.
Suddenly I am seeing it also. A whole new meaning to "hot load"?
Interestingly, I could have written an article along those lines as well. Shortly after the Storming of the Bastille, I think it was in celebration of the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, there was an almost carnival — or carnal — atmosphere. When the Declaration passed, people celebrated their new freedom by dancing naked in the streets. Well… figure it out from there…
Hmph. Since it's Bastille Day, I won't say anything about the French today. It's just as well, I've been up all night tinkering and I'm ready to fall over. Once I get everything bandaged up, I'm off to bed.
After Canada Day and USA day, it's nice to see France's National Holiday acknowledged.
I can't wait for the article on August 1st…
I just figured this post was some sort of misguided attempt to comply with an "equal time for Québec's heritage" requirement that had been imposed upon the Canadian contingent.
Nah. I just like anything involving gunpowder and things that go boom.
Planning a move to Texas sometime soon?
No… why, is someone planning to blow it up? God, it's about damned time!
I thought that was banned in Canada.
Actually, things like classic and collector's weapons, or black-powder, fireworks, anything of that nature… they're quite easy to obtain, register, own, use, whatever. You have to be 18, you have to pinky-swear that you'll be good, but other than that, it's not bad. Because, really, if you're using a muzzle-loading black-powder flint-lock pistol to hold up a 7-Eleven… you deserve the money, just as a tribute to your chutzpah. Bonus points for doing it with a Zorro mask.
I'm pretty sure it is easier to buy fireworks than cigarettes here in the US. It varies by state. Where I live, in Georgia, they recently relaxed the fireworks ban. Before was a total ban, now you can get the really lame ones, so long as they don't go boom or shoot up in the air. However, all the neighboring states, which are less than a 2hr drive away from any part of the state allow pretty much anything so there are still lots of real fireworks around. I'm pretty sure Alabama allows you to buy fireworks if you are taller than the counter.
As for the flintlock story, reminds me of a story about a guy that used a pistol he inherited from his grandpa to rob a store of about $100. The pistol he used was a rare Colt worth about $3,000.
This is way off-topic, but you guys still don't have a link where I can drop an email to you, so it goes here.
I was just reading a post on another site regarding ISPs and how some, like Comcast, can cut off your internet for a year if you exceed their arbitrary data cap of 250GB a month, that includes both uploads and downloads. I had this happen to me several years ago, and I had to scramble to find other ISPs. Is this a fit topic for our little home on the internet? Or is it not techie enough? It'll definitely turn into a bitch session, but useful information may result. Or not.
Anyway, it's just a suggestion. Do as thou wilt, because thou wilt do what thou wants, regardless. (I almost typed 'irregardless' just to annoy you, but I caved.)
Hm. Thanks for the reminder, a page on how to contact us and who the hell we are has been on my to-do list for quite some time. Maybe I'll see if I can get that done this weekend.
In the meantime, tips@atomictoasters.com is our tips line, or of course my own address at dearthair@atomictoasters.com will work as well.