Bastille
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The Bastille was a prison in Paris, known formally as Bastille Saint-Antoine—Number 232, Rue Saint-Antoine—best known today because of the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, which is considered the beginning of the French Revolution. Bastille is a French word meaning "castle" or "stronghold"; used with a definite article (la Bastille in French, the Bastille in English), it refers to the prison. Most people believe that the reason for the storming of the Bastille by the peasants was to release the prisoners, but this was also where the French Army stored their weaponry. Its most famous prisoner was Sade, who spent 10 years of his life there. He wrote 120 Days of Sodom while imprisoned there.
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