Birth: Palace of Versailles, August 23rd 1754 Death: Place de la Concorde, Paris, France. January 21st, 1793 Vocation: King of France
Allegiance: French Crown
Louis XVI of France was born on August 23rd, 1754. He was the son of dauphin Louis Ferdinand. Dauphin is French for dolphin. The dauphin was the first in line for the French throne. He was the grandson of Louis XV of France. When his father died in 1765 he became the dauphin. In 1770, at the age of fifteen he married Marie Antoinette, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I. He became the king in 1774 when his grandfather died.
Louis XVI was very popular at first but inherited huge national debt and a weak economic system. There was also a lot of anger at the absolute power of the king and the rights of the nobility. Louis XVI went through a number of ministers and advisors that tried to bring the economy under control. First with market reform and tax changes, then by having the government borrow money which increased the national debt, and finally by increasing government spending. As these solutions made things worse, Louis had more difficulty taking action.
A meeting of the three estates was called, in 1789 to deal with the problems. The commoners, or third estate convinced some nobles and some clergy to join them and made themselves the National Assembly. From this point on Louis XVI began losing power to the assembly. He and his family were placed under arrest while the revolution went on throughout France. The revolution became very bloody and many people were put to death. Louis XVI and his family escaped in 1791 but were recaptured. Surrounding countries tried to help the king and his family and to take advantage of France's problems by threatening and finally going to war with France, but this enraged the National Assembly. In December 1792 and January 1793 Louis was tried as a traitor. On January 21st, 1793 Louis XVI of France bravely faced his fate. He was executed by guillotine resulting in his head being cut off or beheaded.
