Louis xvi french revolution biography definition
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Causes of the French Revolution
As the 18th century drew to a close, France’s costly involvement in the American Revolution, combined with extravagant spending by King Louis XVI, had left France on the brink of bankruptcy.
Origins of the French Revolution
Not only were the royal coffers depleted, but several years of poor harvests, drought, cattle disease and skyrocketing bread prices had kindled unrest among peasants and the urban poor. Many expressed their desperation and resentment toward a regime that imposed heavy taxes—yet failed to provide any relief—by rioting, looting and striking.
In the fall of 1786, Louis XVI’s controller general, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, proposed a financial reform package that included a universal land tax from which the aristocratic classes would no longer be exempt.
Estates General
To garner support for these measures and forestall a growing aristocratic revolt, the king summoned the Estates General (les états généraux) – an assembly r
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Louis XVI (1754-1793)
Louis XVI, 1781 ©Louis was king of France when the monarchy was overthrown during the French Revolution. He was guillotined in 1793.
Louis was born at Versailles on 23 August 1754. In 1770, he married Marie Antoinette, daughter of the emperor and empress of Austria, a match intended to consolidate an alliance between France and Austria. In 1774, Louis succeeded his grandfather Louis XV as king of France.
Louis initially supported attempts by his ministers Jacques Turgot and later Jacques Necker to relieve France's financial problems. French support for the colonists in the American War of Independence had brought the country to the gräns of bankruptcy. Meanwhile, accusations of frivolity, extravagance and scandalous behaviour against the queen, Marie Antoinette, further discredited the monarchy.
In 1789, to avert the deepening crisis, Louis agreed to summon the 'estates-general' (a form of parliament, but without real power) in order to try and rai
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Louis XVI
(1754–93)
The last King of France (1774–92) before the French Revolution. Weak and vacillating, unwisely advised by his Austrian wife, Marie Antoinette, he could neither avert the Revolution by supporting the economic and social reforms proposed by Necker and Turgot, nor, lacking all understanding of popular demands, become its popular leader. To meet the situation he summoned the largely aristocratic Assembly of Notables (1787), which achieved nothing, and then (1789) the States‐General, which had not been called for 175 years. This marked the start of the Revolution. The royal family was forcibly brought back from Versailles to Paris (October 1789) and their attempt to flee the country ended when they reached Varennes (1791). Thereafter they were virtually prisoners in the Tuileries Palace. The monarchy was abolished (September 1792) and Louis was guillotined in January 1793. His wife was executed six months later.