How far was the monarchy responsible for its own downfall in September 1792? Explain your Answer.

The monarchy cannot be held responsible for the deleterious political impact of the enlightenment; however Louis’s attempt at censorship simply exacerbated the situation. The age of enlightenment came about in the 18th century. The inadequacies of Ancien Regime France were blatant and it had become obvious that nothing was being done to resolve these problems.  It was at this time of discontentment scholars began to question the fundamentals of society. As ideas were passed and discussed the movement picked up momentum and soon everybody was questioning things that had previously been accepted. Voltaire, the deist and a philosophe, criticised French society and in particular the church. He felt that the church played a major role in the stagnation of France and fought against strict standardized religion. He actively fought against the injustices of Ancien Regime France. Diderot composed the Encyclopédie, its purpose as written by Diderot in the introduction ‘to collect all the knowledge scattered over the face of the earth…..so that the work of past centuries may be useful to the following centuries, that our children by becoming more educated, may at the same time become more virtuous and happier’ The King attempted to censor this, however much of the Encyclopédie escaped censorship and remained popular. Malesherbes attributes his failure to stifle the production of banned print to the fact ‘people are set on obtaining them at any price. And who? The very people who, given their birth, their faith and their learning, and their zeal for religion, ought to be the first to condemn them’. As people became to understand that there suffering was not inevitable then of course they wanted things to be changed for the better, however the rigid and archaic nature of the governing state could not allow for these changes. The circulation of innovative scientific ideas and criticisms of the church lent itself to criticisms of the hierarchical society of Ancien Regime France. Louis’s poor attempt at censorship only encouraged this circulation.

Louis’s decision to fight in the American War of Independence was extremely ill advised. The war went directly against what the French monarchy stood for, and the great expense made the financial crisis worse. French foreign policy was rather too ambitious for a country with extreme socio-economic problems. France saw itself as a ‘Great Power’ and saw the war in 1778 as a way to assert its ‘power’; giving the impression of greatness even if that was not a true representation. They also saw it as an opportunity to gain revenge for their humiliation of the Seven Years War. The Americans were revolting against a taxation system which they perceived as unfair and wanted America to become an Independent Nation; this contradicted the French Government’s values making Louis look foolish. Although the American colonies eventually won the war, France did not achieve what it had set out to; Britain retained command of the seas and France spent a vast amount of money that it could ill afford.

The clumsiness with which Louis attempted to deal with the financial crisis and the consequent decision to call the estates general showed the monarchy to be ineffective and weak. The financial crisis was largely due to an expensive foreign policy and poor administration. Many attempts were made to solve the Financial Crisis. In 1783 Calonne was employed as the King’s financial minister he encouraged money to be spent on the court as he thought this made France look prosperous and thus would encourage people to lend money. In 1787 Calonne produced ‘Plan for the Improvements of the Finances’ the plan called for fiscal and administrative reforms, stimulation of economy and creating economic confidence. The plan was taken to the Assembly of Notables, showing the King’s lack of confidence in his decision by seeking approval. The Assembly rejected the plan on 22nd February 1787 as they were reluctant to sacrifice their privilege and Calonne was promptly sacked. Brienne was appointed in 1787 and attempted to pass a modified reform plan by the Assembly of Notables however the plan is again rejected. The King dismissed the Assembly and in June 1787 started to introduce reforms without their support, people resented the King’s despotic actions. The Paris parlement opposed these reforms and demand that the Estate General, which had last been called in 1614, be summoned to approve new taxes. Louis ignored their opposition and on 6th August 1787 used a Lis de Justice to enact new taxes, the parlement say they will not recognise the King’s Lis de Justice without approval of the Estates General, undermining the Kings authority; a debate of what role privilege should play becomes a political question of Louis’s authority. In an attempt to remove opposition, on 14th August 1787, the King exiled the Paris parlement to Troyes, politically emasculating them, showing his inability to deal with the situation. As the feud continued loans became increasingly expensive and support for the parlement grew. In late 1787 the Paris Parlement started to assert its power, in an attempt to suppress their influence, the parlement’s powers were stripped on 8th May 1788. The May Edicts saw much opposition and the cry for the Estates General spread across the country, Brienne realized it was impossible to resist the public demand for the  and on July 5th, 1788, Louis XVI promised to summon them.

The calling of the Estates General to seek approval of law changes saw the real demise of the King’s power; he no longer had absolute power, he required approval from the people.  The estates General thought of themselves as a body to bring about reform not to approve the King’s. In July 1788Louis announced that the Estates General would be called on 1st May 1789, the intermediate months saw the French state de facto became bankrupt and the resignation of Brienne in favour of Necker. Due to Louis incompetence the reforms came far too late for France and there were stirrings of popular revolt, by the time the Estates General met the problems that France faced were abundantly clear. There was also much debate as to what role privilege should play in the Estates General and which method of voting should be used. The third estate felt by voting by order they were not being properly represented, on 17th June 1789 the third estate declared itself the National Assembly and proposed its on reforms instead of approving the King’s. The National Assembly did not only gain support from the third estate many radical priests were also in support, a radical clergyman published propaganda in endorsement of the third estate ‘What is the third estate? EVERYTHING. What has it been in the political order until now? NOTHING. What is it asking for? To become SOMETHING.’ On the 19th June 1789 the first estate officially joined the National estate. The third estate declaring themselves the National Assembly and gaining support form the first estate is a key turning point in the revolution but Louis chose to ignore it and capitulated to their previous demands of voting by head.

The Fall of the Bastille equated to a complete loss of power for the monarchy. Although Louis took measures to stop this from happening his actions came far too late. Louis began to realise the seriousness of the situation in 1789, the recognised that he could loose power over Paris and his position would be greatly compromised, however at this stage the National assembly had gained too much power to be dismissed by the King. Under much pressure from his ministers and Marie Antoinette Louis ordered 20,000 troops to surround Paris, the people feared that the troops were instated to shut down the National Assembly however Louis insisted that they were simply there to stop riots. Fear grew for the survival of the Assembly when Necker was dismissed, in favour for a reactionary who was very opposed to the third estate. In an act to protect themselves the National assembly set up the National Guard, coined the People’s army. This army had no weapons so they stormed a military hospital and seized guns and weapons; however the National Guard still lacked gunpowder and shoot. The Bastille had been used a prison for recipients of the lettre de cachet, the decision to storm it to obtain gunpowder was representative of overcoming despotism. The storming of the Bastille took place on 14th July and by evening control had paced to the National Guard. Louis ordered his royal troops to fire but they refused, Louis had not only lost control of Paris but also of the military; he was at the mercy of the revolution. The power of Paris passed to elected representatives. In a ripple like effect, stories of what had happened in Paris spread out to the provences, similar ideas were adopted passing authority to local figures. Peasants started to take action, ransacking estates and stealing grain stores from landlords. As the revolution spread into the country the National Assembly could no longer control the ensuing chaos. Due to Louis’s indecisive character and failure to reform earlier by the summer of 1789 Louis had lost his power over France.

The constitutional experiment required a certain degree of compromise from the National Assembly and the monarchy, its failure is intrinsically linked to Louis’s inability to do exactly that. The failure of the constitutional experiment and attitude of the King made it impossible for the French Nation and the French monarchy to co-exist, leading to the downfall of the monarchy. Although Louis had lost much of his power in 1789, his symbolic power remained; he had sufficient power and support to reign until 1792. The National assembly were reluctant to abolish the monarchy in 1789 as it would have left France vulnerable to invasion. However the monarchy’s separation from the constitution was continuously exposed. The civil Constitution of the Clergy and the opposition of the pope to the revolution, declared the revolution sinful, splitting the nation. In August 1791 the Declaration of Pillnitz again highlighted the separation; although intended to be a  gesture of support to Louis, it rendered the idea of a constitutional monarchy hopeless. The constitutional experiment sought to legitimise both the monarchy and the National Assembly, benefiting both parties; however Louis’s support could not be relied upon. On 21st July 1791 the monarchy attempted to leave France, they were arrested and sent back to Paris, but Louis’s actions showed his unwillingness to reform and proved he was not to be trusted. Louis refused to pass laws to deport priests who had not sworn the oath of allegiance to the Civil Constitution and to take steps to protect Paris. By the time the constitution had failed there was very little that the King could do to regain his authority

The war was intended to unite France in a common cause, however French over ambition saw the war end badly and major radicals come to power ruling with terror, Louis could have no control of growing radicalism but overstretching resources in war made the failings of the monarchy abundantly clear. The declaration of war was ill advised, Louis believed that if he could win his previous failings would be forgotten and if Austria won they would reinstate him as an absolute monarch. Marie Antoinette sent details of French military plans to Austria, proving that the Queen did not stand united with France. Furthermore, people questioned where the Kings allegiances lay, on the 20th June 1792 people poured into the Tuileries demanding the King wear the tricolour in support for the republic. Louis stated that he was in favour of the constitution  and would uphold it, however due to his previous actions people did not believe him; he had not only lost control of France but over his own person. The Brunswick Manifesto issued by the Prussian army threatened revolutionaries, although designed to help the King it reopened the issue of separation between the monarchy and the people; the idea of declaring war was to reunite the people and the King however the Brunswick Manifesto declared war on the revolution not the France. In the Summer 1792 the war was going badly for France and it seemed as if the revolution would be crushed, however at the Battle of Valmy the Austrian’s were defeated, restoring faith in France but not in the King, contrary to Louis’s hopes.

The failure of the Absolute monarchy was largely due to intrinsic problems that were present before Louis’s reign and the monarchy’s lack of skill to deal with them, however the enlightenment contributed to its failure and the monarchy could not be held responsible for the deleterious impact. The constitutional monarchy largely failed because of Louis’s unwillingness to compromise, Marie Antoinette’s unhelpful roll and growing radicalism that Louis could have no. Louis and Marie Antoinette wore a great deal of responsibility for their own downfall; however there were factors that they could have had no influence over.