Contents:
1.) Why did he become King?
- when was he King
2.) His family
- when did he live
- how did he live
- where did he live
3.) What did he change during his time as King?
4.) Tuileries Palace
5.) The escape
6.) His death
1.)Why did Louis XVI. become King of France?
-He became King because his older brother died at the age of 10 years in 1761
and so Louis was the oldest son.
-He became King in 1774 and was it until his end (death) in 1793.
2.) His family: (Transparency with family tree)
- When did he live/ how did he live:
Louis was born at the Royal Palace of Versailles on 23rd August 1754.
His father was Louis dauphin de France and his mother, Marie Joséphe of
Saxony. Louis had one older brother who died at the age of ten years and seven
younger brothers or sisters. His parents had ignored him until his older brother
died.
He was a quiet and shy child. Louis was often working with his grandfather:
King Louis XV or he played with two of his younger brothers.
Louis’s father died on 20th December 1765 and his mother two years later on
13th March 1767.
After the death of his parents Louis was dominated by his aunt and tutors; they
were extremely anti-Austrian.
 so it gave some troubles before his marriage with Marie Antoinette, because
he was brought up to hate Austria.
-Where did he live?
Louis married his wife Marie Antoinette (daughter of Francis I of Austria) in
1770, when he was 15 and she 14 years old. They married for stopping the hate
between the families and having no “war“. They had four children:
- Marie Thérèse-Charlotte (19th December 1778 - 19th October 1851)
- Louis-Joseph-Xavier-Francois (22nd October 1781 - 4th June 1789)
- Louis-Charles, the future Louis the XVII of France
(27th March 1785 - 8th June 1795)
- Sophie-Beatrix (9th July 1786 – 19th June 1787)
He and his family lived in the huge luxury of the Royal Palace at Versailles.
The palace is about 16 km south of Paris.
Many noble people lived in this area.
At the huge palace there was a theatre, an opera house and many stables.
Louis’s wife wanted to know how it was to live as a poor peasant’s wife, so she
let built a country village and a farm for playing living like a poor peasant’s
wife. She wanted to know all this because she had a better life and perhaps she
wanted to stop the poor life or help the poor people.
Louis and his wife:
3.) What did he do during his time as King?
1786: Louis run out of money, so he asked his finance minister for help.
But his idea that everyone must pay tax was recejted at a meeting in 1787
and so the finance minister was dismissed.
1789: He called the Estates General for a meeting for the first time since 1614
(, he thought that the meeting perhaps could help him.)
(National AssemblyTennis Court Oath)
4.) Tuileries Palace:
Storming the Bastille:
- 5th October 1789 there were rumours about foreign invasions to help Louis.
- food shortage (one woman asked Louis for some bread)
Louis made arrangements for the transport of flour to Paris.
- but there were also a lot of other women who went to Versailles to protest
Louis and his family had to leave Versailles and from now on they lived in the
Tuileries Palace in Paris.
5.)The Escape:
Midnight on 20th June 1791 Louis and his family attempted to escape from the
Tuileries Palace.
WHY? :
Between 1790 and 1791 a lot of things happened which the King didn't like:
Church: All land was sold (>more money for the government and more land for
peasants.)
Nobility: June 1790 the nobility was abolished. Family titles could no longer be
handed through generations.
- idea of equality
- many aristocrats flew to England and Austria
Louis was very sad to lose them.
Politics: the National Assembly was working on drawing up a new system of
government in France.The plan was to take all the King's power.
With any new laws, it was Louis' job to agree and sign it, whether he wanted or
not.
(Escape was organized by Axel von Kersey, a Sweedish friend of the queen).
- King escaped to Varennes (230 km way)
6.) His death:
In the beginning of the revolution only a few people wanted to get rid of the
King. Most people just wanted some reforms.
But on 17.01.1793 Louis was sentenced to death and on 21.01 he then was led to
the guillotine.
Reasons why:
The Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia knew about the possible danger
Louis was in.
They were frightened that this kind of revolution would spread and wanted to
stop it. They were prepared to invade France if they thought that things were
going too far. The revolutionaries wanted to spread the ideas of freedom and
democracy they had.
-They declared war on Austria and Prussia.
Also a lot of people believed that the royal family was secretly on the Austrian
site and against the French because Marie Antoinnette, the queen, was Austrian.
And also the revolution was under threat because there were still a lot of people
supporting Louis. In August 1792, alarmed by the troops on France's borders,
the people of Paris took matters into their own hands.
They stormed the Tuileries Palace, home of the royal family.
In September 1792 a new parliament was elected by the people.
Two days later France was declared a republic (= country without a King).
From now on France was to be ruled by the people`s elections.
 King was King in name only(> danger because he was no longer part of the
French parliament)
Louis was sentenced to death by 380 votes to 310.
He then was executed at 10.22 on 21st January 1793.
The place he was killed is now called La Place de la Concorde.
1.) Why did Louis become King?
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2.) Who and where was his wife from?
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3.) Why was it difficult to marry her?
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4.) Why did he have to move to the Tuileries Palace?
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5.) Where did he escape?
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6.) What was France declared to be after Louis`s death?
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