King Louis XVI ascended the throne in 1774 and reigned for about 15years. He inherited the ‘ancient regime’ with absolute and absurd powers. In France even at the latter stages of the 18th century, it turned out to be that the monarchy wasn’t bound by a constitution. Louis was a typical lazy, oblivious monarch. Although he took over at the eve of the revolution, he had sufficient time to prevent the revolution and the immense bloodshed. Louis failed to be the just ruler France required so badly and he wouldn’t make that extra effort to improve the living conditions of his people.
Let us examine the issues faced by the people during that time. The people were paying almost 50%-60% of their income as taxes to the government. The rich (clergy and the aristocracy) were exempt from taxation. They had to face taille , gabelle and capitation taxes. The peasants were forced to utilise the Wine mills and the wheat mills of the lord and pay a tax in return. The peasants paid taxes to the state, church and their feudal lord. It was oppressive and irrational. Foreign wars and bad financial management left the country in a state of bankruptcy. The ‘’lettres de cachet’’ was a major threat and the peasants weren’t granted human rights. They had no ownership to land and they were bound by feudal laws. The slogan of the revolution, ‘’liberty, equality and fraternity’’ were peaceful ideas . At first the estate general was to be called but this wasn’t a new idea, and France had a representative system which already existed, which was not at all unreasonable. The king promised to show up at the meeting, but instead he shut them out, thus provoking the revolutionaries to form a national assembly at a tennis court and prepared to form a constitution for France, had he not acted so decisively. Participating in the American war of independence did bring France victory and prestige,