---
title: "October March on Versailles — AP Euro Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "October 1789 march of Parisian women demanding bread who forced Louis XVI back to Paris. Key AP Euro example of popular participation in the liberal phase of the French Revolution."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-euro/key-terms/october-march-on-versailles"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP European History"
unit: "Unit 5"
---

# October March on Versailles — AP Euro Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

The October March on Versailles (October 1789) was a march of thousands of Parisian women (joined by men) to the royal palace demanding bread, which forced Louis XVI and the royal family to relocate to Paris, putting the monarchy under the watch of the revolutionary crowd.

## What It Is

In October 1789, bread prices in Paris were brutal, and the people who felt it first were the women who bought the bread. Thousands of market women, armed with whatever they could grab, marched roughly 12 miles to the palace at Versailles. They demanded food and forced King [Louis XVI](/ap-euro/key-terms/louis-xvi "fv-autolink") and his family to come back to Paris with them. From that point on, the king lived in the Tuileries Palace under the eyes of the Parisian crowd, not in his gilded bubble at Versailles.

For [AP Euro](/ap-euro "fv-autolink"), this event matters as a piece of the liberal phase of the Revolution (KC-2.1.IV.B). It shows two things the CED cares about. First, popular participation surged. Revolution wasn't just lawyers in the [National Assembly](/ap-euro/key-terms/national-assembly "fv-autolink") writing documents; ordinary people, especially women, drove events. Second, it shifted power physically. Once the king sat in Paris, the crowd could pressure him directly, which made every later radical turn easier. It also pushed Louis to finally accept the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

## Why It Matters

This term lives in Topic 5.4 (The French Revolution) in [Unit 5](/ap-euro/unit-5 "fv-autolink"): Conflict, Crisis, and Reaction in the Late 18th Century, supporting learning objective 5.4.A, which asks you to explain the causes, events, and consequences of the Revolution. The march hits the cause side (short-term economic crisis, here bread prices, layered on top of long-term grievances, per KC-2.1.IV.A) and the events side (increased popular participation during the liberal phase, per KC-2.1.IV.B). It's also one of your best go-to examples for women's roles in the Revolution, a favorite AP angle, because it pairs perfectly with [Olympe de Gouges](/ap-euro/key-terms/olympe-de-gouges "fv-autolink") and the later exclusion of women from political life.

## Connections

### [Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (Unit 5)](/ap-euro/key-terms/declaration-of-the-rights-of-man-and-citizen)

Louis XVI had been stalling on approving the Declaration. The march ended the stalling. It's a clean example of crowd pressure turning paper ideals into political reality.

### [Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (Unit 5)](/ap-euro/key-terms/declaration-of-the-rights-of-woman-and-the-female-citizen)

Women marched in 1789, Olympe de Gouges demanded female [citizenship](/ap-euro/key-terms/citizenship "fv-autolink") in 1791, and by 1795 women were banned from political clubs. Together these make a powerful pattern argument about revolutions mobilizing women and then shutting them out.

### [Constitution of 1791 (Unit 5)](/ap-euro/key-terms/constitution-of-1791)

The [constitutional monarchy](/ap-euro/key-terms/constitutional-monarchy "fv-autolink") that document created only worked because the king was already in Paris, within reach of the people. The march set the stage for a monarch who answered to the nation, not the other way around.

### [American Revolution (Unit 5)](/ap-euro/key-terms/american-revolution)

Both revolutions drew on [Enlightenment ideas](/ap-euro/key-terms/enlightenment-ideas "fv-autolink"), but the October March highlights what made France different. Urban crowds and food prices drove French events in a way colonial America never experienced.

## On the AP Exam

Multiple-choice questions tend to test three things about this event: who led it (Parisian women, often paired with a stimulus about women's revolutionary roles), what they wanted (bread, i.e., relief from the economic crisis), and what it changed (the royal family's forced move to Paris and growing popular control over the Revolution). On FRQs, no released prompt has required this term by name, but it's high-value evidence for LEQs and DBQs on causes of the French Revolution, popular participation, or women in revolutionary politics. A classic move is using the march plus de Gouges's 1791 Declaration plus the 1795 ban on women's political clubs to argue that revolutionary gains for women were real but temporary.

## October March on Versailles vs Storming of the Bastille

Both are 1789 Parisian crowd actions, so they blur together. The Bastille (July 14) was an attack on a fortress-prison, a symbolic strike against royal tyranny led by a mixed urban crowd. The October March (October 5-6) was led by women, driven by bread prices, and aimed at the king himself. The Bastille destroyed a symbol; the march captured the monarch. If the question mentions women or moving the royal family to Paris, it's the October March.

## Key Takeaways

- The October March on Versailles happened in October 1789, when thousands of Parisian women marched to the palace demanding bread.
- The marchers forced Louis XVI and the royal family to move to Paris, placing the monarchy under direct popular pressure for the rest of the Revolution.
- The march shows the CED's point that the liberal phase of the Revolution increased popular participation (KC-2.1.IV.B).
- It connects economic crisis to revolutionary action, since high bread prices were the short-term spark on top of long-term grievances (KC-2.1.IV.A).
- It pressured Louis XVI into accepting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
- Paired with Olympe de Gouges and the 1795 ban on women's political clubs, it supports the argument that women's revolutionary gains were rolled back.

## FAQs

### What was the October March on Versailles?

It was an October 1789 march of thousands of Parisian women (and men) to the royal palace at Versailles, demanding bread amid an economic crisis and forcing Louis XVI and his family to relocate to Paris.

### Who led the October March on Versailles?

Parisian market women led it. That's exactly why AP Euro loves this event; it's the clearest example of women driving a major revolutionary action in 1789.

### Did the October March on Versailles overthrow the monarchy?

No. The monarchy survived until 1792, and the Constitution of 1791 still created a constitutional monarchy. The march weakened the king by putting him under Parisian watch, but it didn't end his reign.

### How is the October March on Versailles different from the Storming of the Bastille?

The Bastille (July 14, 1789) was an attack on a prison-fortress symbolizing royal tyranny; the October March (October 1789) was a women-led march demanding bread that brought the king back to Paris. Same year, different leaders, different targets, different outcomes.

### Why did the women march to Versailles in 1789?

Bread prices had spiked and Paris was hungry. The women wanted food and a king who would actually respond to the people, so they brought him back to Paris where the crowd could hold him accountable.

## Related Study Guides

- [5.4 The French Revolution](/ap-euro/unit-5/french-revolution/study-guide/frij9HoCniCphxzDRMZM)

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