Louis XVI

Louis XVI was King of France from 1774 until his execution in 1793 during the French Revolution. His reign saw the monarchy collapse and France become a republic.

Louis XV: King of France from 1715 to 1774, whose reign preceded the French Revolution. Louis XVI inherited the crown and mounting fiscal problems from his grandfather.
French royal finances: The crown's revenues, borrowing, and expenditures under France's monarchy. Debt and revenue shortfalls constrained Louis XVI's government and drove calls for reform.
Insurrection of 10 August 1792: The uprising that overthrew the French monarchy and led to the king's imprisonment. It ended Louis XVI's effective rule and brought about his arrest.
Constitutional monarchy: A system in which a monarch's powers are limited by a constitution and representative institutions. Louis XVI formally accepted this system but secretly sought escape from its constraints.
House of Bourbon: A European royal dynasty that ruled France from 1589 to 1792. Louis XVI belonged to the dynasty whose French rule ended with his deposition.
Jacques Necker: A Genevan-born banker and French finance minister who served Louis XVI before and during the Revolution. His dismissal in 1789 intensified fears that the king would suppress reform.
National Convention: The assembly that governed revolutionary France from 1792 to 1795 and abolished the monarchy. It tried Louis XVI and voted to impose the death penalty.
Republicanism: A political tradition favoring government without a hereditary monarch. The republic that replaced Louis XVI's throne rejected hereditary kingship outright.
Marie Antoinette: Queen of France as the wife of Louis XVI, born an archduchess of Austria. Their marriage joined France and Austria and made her central to court politics.
Estates-General of 1789: An assembly of France's three estates convened in 1789 amid a fiscal and political crisis. Louis XVI summoned it to address the crown's financial deadlock; its members challenged royal authority.

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