In 1789, France was precariously balanced on the edge of chaos. King Louis XVI was ruling monarch of France. King Louis’ youth depicted him as reckless, thoughtless, and unwise. A series of bad financial and political decisions, lead to his unpopularity among the people of France. King Louis was young, distracted and misguided. He did make several bad decisions that endangered France and contributed to the beginning of the French Revolution. However, he is not entirely to blame due to several other highly contributing factors.
King Louis XVI’s youth and immaturity hindered his rule and forced him to make irrational decisions which contributed to the beginning French Revolution. King Louis XVI was only a young boy when his elder brother died in 1761 and his father who died in 1765, soon after his grandfather died leaving him as heir to France. In 1770 he married Marie-Antoinette daughter of the ruler of Austria Maria Theresa. This marriage didn’t help King Louis
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French society was defined by the the “Ancien Regime” the system of three estates (Clergy, Nobility, and Peasantry). The clergy and nobility were respected and had a higher position in society and the peasants were left to carry the country, by working farms, generating the wealth, and paying a large majority of taxes. This largely contributed to the tensions arising in 1780’s France. Meanwhile, France was engaged in the Age of Enlightenment people were demanding that church and state be separate, the King resigns and a new logic based system of government is to be established. This completely challenged Frances current system of an absolute monarchy. France also suffered through several years of poor harvests further increasing the gap between the rich and the poor. The years before the French Revolution would trouble both financially and socially, influenced by many more factors than the decisions of King Louis
Overall, the French Revolution occured because of horrendous treatment of the third estate. Unfair taxation, an obvious bias towards the upper classes, and an inadequacy of change for the better was what caused it to happen. Unfortunately, a vast amount of lives were lost to this hopeless
The king’s unwillingness to solve the starvation in the streets of France is what pushes France over the edge. When the women’s protest make him move to Paris, this success shows that the use of violence can influence the government. This then leads to his death and the turn of
The French Revolution was a major turning point in history. It was considered to be a true revolution considering that one government was removed and replaced with another. It occurred during the ruling of Louis XVI from 1789-1799. There were many reasons for which the revolution occurred, the main ones being: Absolutism, the legal system of France, and the Estates General.
Many reasons triggered the people’s general discontent, over taxing, inequality, years of feudal oppression, and corruption which led to eagerness of rebellion. Politically speaking, the autocratic monarchy, excessive spending and poor administration. On the social aspect, common people became rebellious after learning their rights and feeling treated unequal. Economically, the country was left in bankruptcy after poor administration and useless wars. All this contributed to a French society that was eagering for revolt, catapulting the french to a downward economic spiral in the late 1700’s.
France was led by a very arrogant and self-centered ruler. No other leader built a 17 acre, two billion dollar palace for themselves! His style of ruling led to a very problematic country. France faced a wide variety of problems whilst under Louis XIV’s rule. Going back to the very beginning, Louis wasn’t even old enough to run a country when he inherited the throne.
During the Eighteenth Century, France had an absolute monarchy with Louis XVI as king and Marie Antoinette as queen. In that time period, French society was based upon a system of Estates where the clergy made up the First Estate; the nobility comprised the Second Estate, and everyone else including professionals, peasants, and the bourgeoisie made up the Third Estate. The Third Estate was immensely unhappy with the old regime, the Estates General, and Louis XVI’s leadership. France was also in the midst of a fiscal crisis due to the American Revolution, Louis XVI’s lavish lifestyle, the Seven Years War, and the tax exemption of the First and Second Estate. Following the surge of new ideas and impactful philosophers from the Enlightenment,
Throughout his time, he faced many problems which he countered with solutions that sometimes is successful and other times not. Louis XIV left a large impact on the history of France. During Louis XIV’s
They began the French Revolution, which wouldn’t have been possible if Louis’ actions hadn’t been as drastic as they were. To a greater extent, King Louis XVI can be held accountable for the main causes of the French Revolution due to the wars that he refused to drop because of his stubborn personality and the National
The debt of King Louis XIV was very troublesome. It caused his once powerful and rich kingdom, to plummet. The article Memoir of the Reign of Louis XIV, by the Duke of Saint – Simon: Louis de Rouvry, states, “He wished to reign by himself. His jealousy on this point unceasingly became weakness . . . He liked nobody to be in any way superior to him.”
The actions taken against the oppression of the monarchy demonstrate that the French Revolution challenged the traditional value of social inequality to a near-full
An absolute monarch can be defined as a ruler who rules without any interference from the nobles, having complete, utter and unrestricted rule over his people. Louis XIV of France was a key model of an absolute monarch during the time seen as a man to whom there was no equal intellectually, militarily or physically. His absolute monarchy was one of the most successful during the Age of Absolution, having the longest rule of any monarch in Europe. The king's rule was extremely successful due to his control over both the nobility and his own people, the massive and powerful army that he embarked on creating for his nation as well as the revenue he attained through his taxation of his people and use of mercantilism. France has not since or prior
Before his son can take over he had to be old enough to be a king. Until then Louis the XII’s wife Anne took the power and some of the noble man and other people of the country were not happy with this and they rebelled but their rebellion was
King Louis XIV caused his country to go bankrupt because of his love of wars and the building of his palace in France gives absolute power to a divine being , the “Sun God”. Louis XIV son of King Louis III was a French monarch. He ruled over France in Versaille. He ruled in 1659 when he became 16 then ruled until 1715 when he died right before his 77th birthday. He became the King when his father died .
Louis XIV had control over everything after reconstructing the french government and he had all the decision making power. During his period of rule, which was from 1643 to 1715 he had brought his empire to the top of the chain. He made it very clear that he would hear everyone’s opinion but his decision would be his decision and wouldn’t be influenced by
In the 18th century, France was headed towards a serious revolution as it had been governed by a series of monarchs who exploited the middle and working classes greatly, almost drove the country into bankruptcy, and practically let thousands of citizens become unemployed and nearly starve. Louis XVI and his predecessors led highly extravagant lifestyles, which meant that they needed lots of money to fund their purchases. Unfortunately they thought that in order to get more spending money, they should increase taxes on lower and middle class citizens and use the extra money for personal purchases. A great deal of people lost even more of their already low incomes, which made them upset and led them to start wondering what was going on in the