Analysis Of King Louis Xvi And The Royal Family

In June 1791, King Louis XVI and his family snuck out of Paris during the night, hoping to escape from the French Revolution and its violence. He planned to escape the country and return with foreign assistance to reclaim control of France, but the people of Varennes stopped and detained him until authorities arrived and sent him back to Paris. Louis’ attempted escape, in addition to the letter he left behind denouncing the Revolution, “profoundly influenced the political and social climate of France” (223). His escape outraged many people and left the administration in shambles, and this caused tensions to break out. To control the situation, the people of France quickly organized

It is often debated whether or not the reign of King Louis XIV had a positive or negative effect on France. Although there were improvements during his reign in transportation, culture, and national defense, there were far more negative aspects. He depleted the national treasury with his liberal spending on personal luxuries and massive monuments. His extreme fear of the loss of power led to poor decision making, which caused the court to be of lower quality. King Louis XIV’s disastrous rule brought about a series of effects that influenced the French Revolution in the following century.

Louis XIV followed many Machiavellian teachings but conspicuously disregarded others, due to some of his fiscal policies (or lack of them) and personal tendencies. Louis XIV is the longest reigning monarch in European history, and during his impressive reign, France enjoyed a Golden Age of arts and commerce. He expanded its territories and shifted the balance of power to France becoming one of the most powerful European countries in the 17th century.

The French revolution was a very rough patch of history where people had a struggle to live because of the struggle to find food. Louis the sixteenths note described France as, “authority ignored, personal property violated, people’s safety everywhere in danger, crimes remaining unpunished, and a complete anarchy established above the law”. King louis did his very best to make the peoples actions seem absurd in order to hopefully make them reconsider what they had done, however, it would have very little effect on their actions. Finally, the note concludes by King louis the sixteenth offering himself back to the people as a king. The note quotes, “Come back to your king; he will always be your father, your best friend.”

Brief Summary- Dr. Munro Price, Modern European Historian at the University of Bradford, wanted to find out the truth of what the true actions and feelings of the King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette were in those years before the collapse. After being dragged back to Paris from Versailles, they were then held prisoner in the capital. Concerned for their own safety, the King and Queen forced to agree with the revolution and its agenda. However, in secret, they both began devising a strategy and took the utmost precautions to hide their real policy. The Road from Versailles reconstructs much of what had been speculated until now as to the King and Queen’s clandestine diplomacy from 1789 until their executions. Dr. Price focuses on a small portion of history that has generally been unknown to the public, but could hold the key to the final days of the Old Regime and the mindset of the King. This book could give insight into the economic and social status

King Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638 in a place called Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, France (Louis XIV Biography). Louis XIV became King of France in 1643 and he began to reform France and make changes to France. Louis XIV ideology was the ideology of an absolute monarch. Louis XIV believed that all kings ruled by divine right. He believed that God gave him the authority to rule France. He believed he was the French state and that he should be in complete control. Cardinal Richelieu was a man who helped guide Louis XIV when he became king. Richelieu pushed for absolutism and Catholicism when Louis was King. Richelieu also made sure that Catholicism remained strong in France. Cardinal Jules Mazarin was a man who took over after Richelieu and one who Louis listened to very dearly. Mazarin told Louis to “Distrust everyone”. Mazarin told Louis to keep his ideas to himself and to keep everything secret. King Louis XIV had a group of people or a “Cabinet” that Louis trusted. Mazarin told Louis that there were two ways to achieve glory. One was to build a large and expensive palace and another way was to increase your countries territory. King Louis XIV built a huge palace called “The Palace of Versailles”. Louis’ palace was very beautiful inside and outside and he spent millions of dollars of this palace. Inside, gold was everywhere, gorgeous pictures and paintings were on the walls. Louis XIV was referred to as the “Sun King” because Louis stated “I am the state”. Louis said

During 1789 and decades prior, peasants toil in the fields and reap the diminishing wheat stalks. Bound by the law set by the king, they suffered paying the nobility’s and clergy’s expenses with whatever income they had. When not in desperate poverty, the Third Estate would muster any energy to exert disdain to their king, indifferent behind palace walls. With Voltaire's and Rousseau's conceptions, commoners imagined a government where the nation was in potency, not the monarch. Yet, King Louis XVI taunts this bubbling tension by claiming these privileges were well-deserved, insinuating that his people were literal breadwinners, obligated to pay tribute. With high tax rates, a radical government where the people were free of ridicule circulated

After suppressing revolts by the Fronde in 17th century France, King Louis XIV had become the supreme ruler of the country. Without any challenges to his power, he was able to practice absolutism, which is the concentration of power and symbolic authority in royal hands. With this power Louis XIV had many great achievements in France. He improved the tax system, religion, trading, and court life.1 Jean Domat was a juror who was supported by the king himself. He dedicated his life to explain and justify the importance of the role of absolutism in French society. The culmination of this work can be found in his legal digest, On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy. Many interesting ideas about the theory of absolutism can be found in his writings. It explains the essential environment for absolutism, defines the origin and necessity of government, and demonstrates the duties of the sovereign.

The revolution resulted, among other things, in the overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in France and in the establishment of the First Republic. It was generated by a vast complex of causes, the most important of which were the inability of the ruling classes of nobility, clergy, and bourgeoisie to come to grips with the problems of state, the indecisive nature of the monarch, impoverishment of the workers, the intellectual ferment of the Age of Enlightenment, and the example of the American Revolution. Recent scholarship tends to downplay the social class struggle and emphasize political, cultural, ideological, and personality factors in the advent and unfolding of the conflict. The Revolution itself produced an equally vast complex of

Louis XIV had a passion for glory and used it to fight four wars because he was motivated by personal and dynastic considerations.

The 17th century of European history, colloquially known as the “Age of Crisis”, gave rise to a new form of government: absolutism. Religious wars, economic troubles, inflation, and new agricultural challenges such as the Little Ice Age wracked the nations of Europe and caused tremendous fear and uncertainty among the masses. Thus, as many felt that life itself was endangered, they were willing to accept the rise of a strong, independent ruler who might lead them from the darkness. In this way, absolutism emerged- a new form of monarchy based on a hereditary ruler with complete authority. Perhaps the most well known example of an absolute monarch in European history is Louis XIV, the ruler of France from 1643 to 1715.

In the introduction to The Fabrication of Louis XIV, Peter Burke expresses his ambition to write a study of Louis XIV 's public image as a whole and the changes it underwent throughout Louis 's reign. This book examines the relation between art and power and the official structures responsible for making – fabricating – the image, or more appropriately, the images of Louis XIV, as well as their contemporary reception. As the title suggests and as Burke himself reminds the reader, the book as a whole focuses on the ideas of royal myth and royal narrative, and the manipulation of information.

Louis XIV, France’s Sun King, had the longest reign in European history (1643-1715). During this time he brought absolute monarchy to its height, established a glittering court at Versailles, and fought most of the other European countries in four wars. Although his reign had some negative aspects; on balance, Louis’ reign was primarily a benefit to France.

To satisfy the wants of the revolutionaries, Louis XVI stepped down from the throne. He

Louis XIV turned France around from an unorganized feuding country to one of the most organized, powerful, innovative monarchies in Europe. In addition, he managed to advance civil equality among the people by turning all the people into his loyal subjects (Norton, p.175). How did he do all this? The armed forces that had formerly been a private enterprise who had been fighting against each other or had hired themselves out for payment, was taken over and consolidated into one entity fighting, by the king for the king. He made war an activity of the state which produced peace and order in France while strengthening the fighting power of France against other states (Norton, p.175). In addition, he put soldiers in uniform, taught them how to march in step and housed them in barracks which assisted them in becoming more susceptible to discipline and control (Norton, p.175). There was now a hierarchy in place and was able to get a greater degree of government control that put him on the top as the commander in chief of the army due to his power and the creation of the first large civilian administration (Norton, p.176). This was the first time that ministers of war consisted of civilians and this grew the armies power exponentially. Louis XIV also overhauled the grandeur of France when he took an old village Versailles and turned it into the palace of Versailles that became known as one of the most splendid marvels in Europe so much so, that it became the envy of lessor kings.