Louis XVI, Ill -Fated King of France (1754-1793)
The Events Leading up to the French Revolution
Louis was born at Versailles on 23rd August 1754. In 1770 he married Marie- Antoinette, the daughter of the Emperor and Empress of Austria. The match was intended to consolidate the alliance between France and Austria.
In 1774 Louis succeeded his grandfather, Louis XV, as king of France. A thickset man with a puffy face and bulging myopic eyes, Louis XVI comes across now as a simple but honest man. He was also pious and chaste though this gained him little credit from his countrymen. He was indecisive, too indecisive to revive the authority of the monarchy
He would estrange public opinion by such moves as banning Voltaire as well as Beaumarchais' hugely popular Marriage of Figaro.
Justly or unjustly, Marie-Antoinette will always be renowned for her Habsburg extravagance. Whatever good things she did accomplish, they would be annulled by the Frenchman's ingrained hatred of the Austrian.
Beginnings of the Revolution
By 1789, there was widespread belief that a time of change was at hand. The cost of the American Civil War was more than the country could bear, but it was supported ardently by men like Lafayette. It set an attractive precedent of an overthrown monarchy.
France's costly foreign policy had saddled an already shaky economy with pondrous debts. The King had attempted to impose taxation, which was his prerogative, but had been overruled by both the Assembly of Notables (Nobles and Clergy) and the Parlement of Paris. He then abolished Parlement and the following January, Jacques Necker, (finance minister), persuaded him to convoke a meeting of the Estates-General that May. It was the first time the body had met since 1614.
Storming of the Bastille
Angered by Louis' refusal to allow the three Estates-the First (clergy),the Second (nobles) and Third (commons)- to meet simultaneously. The Third Estate proclaimed itself a National Assembly declaring that only it had the right to represent the nation.
Rumours that the King intended to supress the assembly, provoked the storming of the Bastille prison, a symbol of repressive royal power, on 14th July 1789.
In October, Louis and his family were forced by the mob to return to Paris from their palace at Versailles. In June 1791, Louis attempted to escape, this was considered proof of his treasonable dealings with foreign powers. He was forced to accept a new constitution, thereby establishing a constitutional monarchy.
In September 1792 the New National Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic.
Louis was found guilty of treason and executed at the guillotine on 21st January 1793. Marie-Antoinette was executed nine months later.
Louis XVI was an unfortunate King, he had inherited from his grandfather, not only the throne but the dissention of the people. Louis paid the ultimate price.
Source:
Horne Alistair Friend or Foe An Anglo-Saxon History of France,Orion Books,London,2004
Basille celebration in Paris
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