King Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette

Objective: Examine the role that King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette played in the French Revolution.

Essential Question: How did the actions of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette help to incite the French Revolution?

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In the years prior to the French Revolution, the French royalty were a study in corruption and excess. France had long subscribed to the idea of divine right, which maintained that kings were selected by God and thus perpetually entitled to the throne. This doctrine resulted in a system of absolute rule and provided the commoners with absolutely no input into the governance of their country.

Before we move on, let's review the lineage of Louis XIV. Remember the Sun King who built the extravagant Palace of Versailles?

Louis XVI was his grand-son. Unfortunately, he inherited an appetite for excess in spite of the growing hardships endured by the French commoners.

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Power Abuses and Unfair Taxation

The monarchs of the Bourbon dynasty, the French nobility, and the clergy became increasingly egregious (shockingly bad) in their abuses of power in the late 1700s. They bound the French peasantry into compromising feudal obligations and refused to contribute any tax revenue to the French government. This blatantly unfair taxation arrangement did little to endear the aristocracy to the common people.

France’s Debt Problems

A number of ill-advised financial maneuvers in the late 1700s worsened the financial situation of the already cash-strapped French government. France’s prolonged involvement in the Seven Years’ War of 1756–1763 drained the treasury, as did the country’s participation in the American Revolution of 1775–1783. Aggravating the situation was the fact that the government had a sizable army and navy to maintain, which was an expenditure of particular importance during those volatile times. Moreover, in the typical indulgent fashion that so bothered the common folk, gianted costs associated with the upkeep of King Louis XVI’s extravagant palace at Versailles and the frivolous spending of the queen, Marie-Antoinette, did little to relieve the growing debt. These decades of fiscal irresponsibility were one of the primary factors that led to the French Revolution. France had long been recognized as a prosperous country, and were it not for its involvement in costly wars and its aristocracy’s extravagant spending, it might have remained one.

The Bread Riots

Harvests in France were very bad in the 1780s which led to food prices soaring. Hunger was felt by the poor peasants and city dwellers. In towns, people began to riot for bread which were known as the "Bread Riots". In the country, peasants began to attack the houses of the nobles. Overall violence was beginning to erupt in France. The following are two primary sources (written at the time of the event by an eyewitness) about the Bread Riots. Read through these passages below:

O. Browning, about the excerpts: The British embassy in Paris sent regular reports to London. The excerpts below describe the effects of rising bread prices.

"November 27, 1788. The price of bread has again been raised...the consequence of which has already been felt in the instance of more than 40 bakers having been obliged to shut up shop. In the provinces these discontents have still risen higher...The public magazines of wheat have been broken open and pillaged.

December 11, 1788. Bread has again been raised...The distress of the poor is already very great as may be conceived, and the unusual severity of the weather is at this moment peculiarly unfortunate for them; nor on this account, is it very surprising that robberies should be frequent, which at present is the case in an alarming degree. It is by no means safe to walk the streets late in the evening."

-O. Browning, Dispatches from Paris

Arthur Young; about the excerpt: This account is from an English visitor to France during the Bread Riots.

"Everything conspires to render the present period in France critical: the [lack] of bread is terrible; accounts arrive every moment from the provinces of riots and disturbances, and calling in the military to preserve the peace of the markets."

- Arthur Young, Travels in France During the Years 1787-1789

Revolution on the Horizon

By the late 1780s, it was becoming increasingly clear that the system in place under the Old Regime in France simply could not last. It was too irresponsible and oppressed too many people. Furthermore, as the result of the Enlightenment, secularism was spreading in France, religious thought was becoming divided, and the religious justifications for rule—divine right and absolutism—were losing credibility. The aristocracy and royalty, however, ignored these progressive trends in French thought and society. Rather, the royals and nobles adhered even more firmly to tradition and archaic law. As it would turn out, their stubbornness would cost them everything that they were trying to preserve.

What happened to the French Monarchy?

Watch the video to find out...

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