Hundreds of hungry people stormed the prison in search of gunpowder; symbolic start of the revolution.

• A. Reign of Terror
• B. Great Fear
• C. Fall of the Bastille
• D. March on Versailles

Answer: (C)

This question tests recognizing a landmark moment that signals the beginning of a mass political upheaval. The storming of the Bastille became the emblem of popular action against royal authority. On that day, a crowd attacked the fortress—partly in search of gunpowder, but more importantly to strike at a symbol of despotism. Its dramatic success and the images that spread afterward showed that the people were willing to take matters into their own hands, inspiring widespread support for revolutionary change.

Other events happened later or carry different significance: the Great Fear refers to widespread rural anxieties and uprisings in the countryside; the March on Versailles happened after, when the royal family was pressured to move to Paris; and the Reign of Terror describes the radical phase in the early 1790s. Among these, the Bastille’s fall is treated as the symbolic start of the revolution.