Louis XVI (2024)

Louis XVI’s downfall was also caused by the economic crisis that faced France throughout the late 1700’s. For example, during the American War of Independence against Britain, France allied itself with the United States and helped support the American war efforts. Louis XVI’s support of the war was expensive and caused the country to push itself into bankruptcy. This action by Louis XVI proved costly, as his decision to assist in the war would eventually cause him to face a financial crisis in his own country as the treasury of France was drained. As France slipped into crisis, Louis XVI tried to solve the country’s financial woes by forcing increased tax rates on the citizens, including new taxes for the nobility. However, he did not anticipate the consequences of this decision as the French nobility worked to block his plans and the third estate’s anger with the absolute monarchy of the king grew more intense.

The peasants of the third estate resented the wealth and privilege of the king and queen and viewed the cost of the monarchy as expensive and wasteful, while they suffered under the estates system. As well, rumors of the expenses of the royal family, especially Marie Antoinette, created anger among the working class and helped spark the violence of the revolution.

In order to try to solve the crisis, Louis XVI called the Estates-General in May of 1789. The Estates-General was a meeting of the three estates within French society which included the clergy, nobility and the peasant classes. Louis XVI’s ministers, including the popular Jacques Necker, spoke about the financial situation facing the country but the meeting was doomed as the representatives of the three estates could not decide how to carry out the vote. Eventually, the members of the third estate left the Estates-General and took the Tennis Court Oath. Next, angry Parisians stormed the Bastille, a prison fortress that, for the working class, represented the authority of the king. Louis did not recognize the significance of the storming of the Bastille and failed to respond to the early stages of the French Revolution. In fact, he and his family left Paris at this time and went to the Palace of Versailles, which led to the next major event of the French Revolution.

On the 5th of October 1789, the group of working class women were protesting the price of bread and on the 6th of October they marched from Paris to Versailles to confront the king. Upon arriving, the women killed several of the king’s guards, putting their severed heads on pikes, and forced the royal family to return to Paris with them. In particular, the women were angered with the king’s failure to respond to the financial hardships facing the citizens of the third estate.