Around 10:00am on August 10, 1792 a mob of nearly 30,000 French citizens advanced toward the Tuileries Palace to capture King Louis XVI. Louis had been given information that told him an angry mob was headed for the palace, so he decided to move himself and his family to the Legislative Assembly building.

Before the king fled along with his 300 volunteer soldiers, he left no orders for the Swiss Guard who defended the palace. The guards saw the crowds coming and counted upon an order from the king to surrender the palace as he had in an earlier attack, but the order never came. When the mob approached the palace, the guards scampered to the top walls and tried to fight off the attack with single-shot muskets. After firing a few rounds into the crowd the guards realized their efforts were worthless and quickly chose to surrender the palace in the hopes of saving their lives. The mob searched the palace with vengeance in their hearts, leaving only 300 of the 900 Swiss guards alive. The people found no king inside the palace, but murdered anyone within the walls that might have been associated with the king: cooks, servants, maids, etc., no one was spared.

Many events occurred in the months prior to the Storming of the Tuileries Palace that led up to this violent episode. As early as June 20, 1792 several crowds of French citizens traveled to the Tuileries Palace in an attempt to convince the king that the government, economy, and society of France needed to change. At this original meeting the king met with the people and assured them that he was on their side. Luckily for the king, the crowd retreated without hurting anyone, having gotten the impression that things would change.

By late July however, the people of Paris began to panic as the war with Austria and Prussia drew nearer to home. Both Austrian and Prussian troops were moving ever closer to the city of Paris. Believing that the king or his wife was giving information to these foreign powers, the Paris Commune, a group of local representatives, decided to lead an attack on the Tuileries Palace once again. This decision was made on August 9, 1792 and overnight nearly 30,000 French citizens came together and hosted the attack the very next day.

After killing numerous Swiss guards and other staff present at the Tuileries Palace, the Paris mob moved to the Legislative Assembly building and claimed their prize. King Louis XVI and his family, who had been hiding, were found and arrested. This event signified the end of the monarchy in France and started the official trial of the king.