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“Execution of Louis XVI” Contents 1 Louis XVI of France 1 1.1 Childhood ............................................... 1 1.2 Family life ............................................... 2 1.3 Absolute monarch of France, 1774–1789 ............................... 3 1.4 Foreign policy ............................................. 5 1.4.1 Concerning the American Revolution and Europe ...................... 5 1.4.2 Concerning Asia ....................................... 6 1.5 Revolutionary constitutional reign, 1789–1792 ............................ 6 1.5.1 Flight to Varennes (1791) ................................... 7 1.5.2 Intervention by foreign powers ................................ 7 1.6 Imprisonment and execution, 1792–1793 ............................... 8 1.7 Legacy ................................................. 10 1.7.1 In film and literature ..................................... 10 1.8 Ancestors ............................................... 11 1.9 Titles, styles, honours and arms .................................... 11 1.9.1 Titles and styles ........................................ 11 1.9.2 Arms ............................................. 11 1.10 Bibliography .............................................. 11 1.10.1 Historiography ........................................ 11 1.10.2 Primary sources ........................................ 12 1.11 References ............................................... 12 1.12 External links ............................................. 13 2 Georges Danton 14 2.1 Early life and the revolution ...................................... 14 2.2 Rise .................................................. 14 2.3 Fall of the Girondists ......................................... 15 2.4 Reign of Terror ............................................ 16 2.5 Financial corruption and accusations ................................. 17 2.6 Arrest, trial, and execution ...................................... 18 2.7 Character disputes ........................................... 18 2.8 Fictionalized accounts ......................................... 18 2.9 References ............................................... 19 i ii CONTENTS 2.10 Further reading ............................................ 20 2.11 External links ............................................. 20 3 Maximilien Robespierre 21 3.1 Early life ................................................ 21 3.2 Early politics .............................................. 22 3.3 Jacobin Club .............................................. 23 3.4 Opposition to war with Austria .................................... 23 3.5 The National Convention ....................................... 24 3.6 Execution of Louis XVI ........................................ 25 3.7 Destruction of the Girondists ..................................... 26 3.8 Reign of Terror ............................................ 27 3.9 Abolition of slavery .......................................... 28 3.10 Cult of the Supreme Being ...................................... 29 3.11 Downfall ................................................ 30 3.11.1 Arrest ............................................. 30 3.11.2 Execution ........................................... 31 3.12 Legacy and memory .......................................... 31 3.13 References ............................................... 32 3.14 Further reading ............................................ 35 3.15 External links ............................................. 36 3.16 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses .......................... 37 3.16.1 Text .............................................. 37 3.16.2 Images ............................................ 40 3.16.3 Content license ........................................ 42 Chapter 1 Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (French pronunciation:[lwi sɛːz]; 23 August In a context of civil and international war, Louis XVI was 1754 – 21 January 1793), born Louis-Auguste, also suspended and arrested at the time of the insurrection known as Louis Capet, was King of France from 1774 of 10 August 1792 one month before the constitutional until his deposition in 1792, although his formal title after monarchy was abolished and the First French Republic 1791 was King of the French. He was guillotined on 21 proclaimed on 21 September 1792. He was tried by the January 1793. His father, Louis, Dauphin of France, was National Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the the son and heir apparent of Louis XV of France, but his occasion), found guilty of high treason, and executed by father died in 1765, and Louis succeeded his grandfather guillotine on 21 January 1793, as a desacralized French as king in 1774. citizen known as “Citizen Louis Capet”, a nickname in The first part of Louis’ reign was marked by attempts to reference to Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian reform France in accordance with Enlightenment ideas. dynasty – which the revolutionaries interpreted as Louis’ These included efforts to abolish serfdom, remove the family name. Louis XVI was the only King of France ever taille, and increase tolerance toward non-Catholics. The to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than French nobility reacted to the proposed reforms with a thousand years of continuous French monarchy. hostility, and successfully opposed their implementation. Louis implemented deregulation of the grain market, ad- vocated by his liberal minister Turgot, but it resulted 1.1 Childhood in an increase in bread prices. In period of bad har- vests, it would lead to food scarcity which would prompt Louis-Auguste de France, who was given the title Duc the masses to revolt. From 1776 Louis XVI actively de Berry at birth, was born in the Palace of Versailles. supported the North American colonists, who were seek- Out of seven children, he was the second son of Louis, ing their independence from Great Britain, which was re- the Dauphin of France, and thus the grandson of Louis alized in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. XV of France and of his consort, Maria Leszczyńska. The ensuing debt and financial crisis contributed to the His mother was Marie-Josèphe of Saxony, the daughter unpopularity of the Ancien Régime which culminated of Frederick Augustus II of Saxony, Prince-Elector of at the Estates-General of 1789. Discontent among the Saxony and King of Poland. members of France’s middle and lower classes resulted Louis-Auguste had a difficult childhood because his par- in strengthened opposition to the French aristocracy and ents neglected him in favour of his, said to be, bright and to the absolute monarchy, of which Louis and his wife, handsome older brother, Louis, duc de Bourgogne, who queen Marie Antoinette, were viewed as representatives. died at the age of nine in 1761. A strong and healthy In 1789, the storming of the Bastille during riots in Paris boy, but very shy, Louis-Auguste excelled in his stud- marked the beginning of the French Revolution. ies and had a strong taste for Latin, history, geography, Louis’s indecisiveness and conservatism led some ele- and astronomy, and became fluent in Italian and English. ments of the people of France to view him as a sym- He enjoyed physical activities such as hunting with his bol of the perceived tyranny of the Ancien Régime, and grandfather, and rough-playing with his younger broth- his popularity deteriorated progressively. His disastrous ers, Louis-Stanislas, comte de Provence, and Charles- flight to Varennes in June 1791, four months before the Philippe, comte d'Artois. From an early age, Louis- constitutional monarchy was declared, seemed to justify Auguste had been encouraged in another of his hobbies: the rumors that the king tied his hopes of political salva- locksmithing, which was seen as a 'useful' pursuit for a tion to the prospects of foreign invasion. The credibility child.[1] of the king was deeply undermined and the abolition of Upon the death of his father, who died of tuberculosis on the monarchy and the establishment of a republic became 20 December 1765, the eleven-year-old Louis-Auguste an ever increasing possibility. became the new Dauphin. His mother never recovered from the loss of her husband, and died on 13 March 1767, 1 2 CHAPTER 1. LOUIS XVI OF FRANCE also from tuberculosis.[2] The strict and conservative ed- ucation he received from the Duc de La Vauguyon, “gou- verneur des Enfants de France” (governor of the Children of France), from 1760 until his marriage in 1770, did not prepare him for the throne that he was to inherit in 1774 after the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Through- out his education, Louis-Auguste received a mixture of studies particular to religion, morality, and humanities.[3] His instructors may have also had a good hand in shaping Louis-Auguste into the indecisive king that he became. Abbé Berthier, his instructor, taught him that timidity was a value in strong monarchs, and Abbé Soldini, his confes- sor, instructed him not to let people read his mind.[4] 1.2 Family life Louis XVI at the age of 20 Marie Antoinette Queen of France with her three eldest chil- dren, Marie-Thérèse, Louis-Charles and Louis-Joseph. By Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun On 16 May 1770, at the age of fifteen, Louis-Auguste married the fourteen-year-old Habsburg Archduchess Maria Antonia (better known by the French form of her Louis-Charles, the dauphin of France and future Louis XVII. By name, Marie Antoinette), his second cousin once removed Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. and the youngest daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I and his wife,
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