During the summer of 1789, France faced a financial crisis, caused primarily by military expenditures and a parasitic aristocracy, which resisted any cuts in its returns from the treasury and any taxes on its wealth. Louis
XVI had succeeded his grandfather in 1774. The young king was intelligent but indolent and dominated by his frivolous wife, Marie Antoinette, whose limited political vision and influence over her husband increased his problems. The result of this lapse of leadership was a political near-breakdown, followed by a sudden explosion of popular unrest and agitation. Between Louis' succession and 1789, his finance ministers continuously struggled with a rapidly rising debt. It had increased by 400 million livres during French participation in the American Revolution and had reached a total of 4 billion livres in 1789 (equivalent to $5.6 billion in 1980 dollars), when interest payments absorbed half of the national revenues. Robert Turgot
(1727-1781), controller-general of finance, had proposed deep cuts in expenditure, but he was forced out by the nobles. His successor, Swiss banker
Jacques Necker (1732-1804), after resorting to more exhaustive borrowing, was dismissed in 1781, and two succeeding ministers failed to deal with the problem. In 1788, Louis called an assembly of nobles, hoping that they might accept taxation and economy measures. They flatly rejected his requests, insisting that he call the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. In this body, where the clergy and nobility traditionally voted separately, they hoped to dominate the Third Estate, including the middle-class majority of taxpayers. Within weeks, the king had completely lost control of the situation.
Although grudgingly accepting the National Assembly, he had 18,000 troops moved to the vicinity of Versailles. Middle-class members of the