Preview

Ap Euro Chapter 19 the French Revolution

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3816 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ap Euro Chapter 19 the French Revolution
Chapter 19 Name: Matt
AP French Revolution

The Crisis of the French Monarchy

1. Problem of debt- during this time the French monarchy was deeply in debt after the seven years war. Because France lost a majority of their colonies with the addition of a fragile economic system because of their lack of faith in banks it fell to the Royal government to tap into their own finances to solve the problem

The Monarchy seeks new taxes

2. Parlement and Parlements- there was a standoff between numerous royal ministers one after another that attempted to devise new taxation that would tap the wealth of the nobility but they were usually shot down by the Parliament of Paris and the provincial parliaments of King Louis XV and XVI who both lacked the character and the resolution to carry this dispute to a solution

3. Rene Maupeou- in 1770, King Louis XV appointed him as Chancellor. René was determined to break the parliaments and increased taxation on the nobility. When he abolished the parliaments and exiled their members to different parts of the country he then began an ambitious program of reform but after the death of King Louis XV, King Louis XVI destroyed all of his progress

4. Louis XV- died with ambitious plans that went to waste

5. Louis XVI- well-meaning but we and vacillating, stumbled from concession to concession until he finally lost all power to save his throne

6. Jacques Necker- became the new director general of finances and produced a report to the French public that said the financial situation was not so bad and was not to be feared. In his report he suggested that a large portion of Royal expenditures went to pensions for aristocrats. This Necker to soon leave office. His actions made it difficult for government officials to claim a need to raise taxes

7. Charles de Calonne- became the minister of finance and encouraged internal trade. He lowered taxes such as the Gabelle on salt, and to transform

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1781, the widely respected and trusted Jacques Necker released his much awaited account on the financial position of the Kingdom of France, the ‘Compte Rendu'. Translated literally to ‘account rendered', the assessment was a clear fabrication of the financial state of France – claiming incorrectly that government had $10 million livres in surplus - when in fact it was on the brink of bankruptcy. The release of the document sparked a chain of events that would eventually lead to the start of the revolution in 1789.…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louis XIV increased his revenue by taxing, improving trade and commerce, and gave favors to the middle class for money. First, he appointed Colbert as his Minister of Finance. There were taxes such as taille (land tax), aides and douanes (customs duties), and gabelle (salt tax). Louis spent this money on his wars. Colbert used this money for strengthening the country of France. Second, he abolished corrupt ways of collecting taxes and removed useless offices to increase the king's revenue. Furthermore, Colbert improved trade and commerce using the mercantile system, which was a method of commercial warfare. Colbert also established French trading companies. He thought that France did not need to buy things from other countries by making colonies of its own. Furthermore, he regulated guilds by checking the quality of the products that they make. Another way Louis increased his revenue was by giving titles, appointing offices, and arranging marriages to the middle class. They were willing to pay for all of these rewards.…

    • 797 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louis realised the amount of debt France had was spiralling out of control. Louis as a result sold tens of thousands of official juridical and administrative post. This shows how dire the situation…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The outbreak of the French Revolution can be explained through various causes. One such causes concerned the economic aspect of the country. Louis XVI was not a king who cared for his people, neither its wellbeing nor the problems they faced. Foreign wars of Louis XIV and the seven…

    • 537 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louis XIV strove vigorously for supremacy in foreign affairs. He was to use his foreign policy to establish a universal monarchy for himself or alternatively to use it to secure natural frontiers for France thus improving its defenses. He worked successfully to create an absolutist and centralized state. During his reign Louis was involved in four major wars, some of which Louis may be accountable as the provocateur; however, I believe that mainly his motives were purely defensive. The war of Devolution served as a pretext which nettled him part of Flanders, although the Dutch then moved against him with the Triple Alliance. Louis was determined to crush Holland and this began the third of the Dutch wars, which depleted his treasury. Louis proved an incredibly extravagant spender, dispensing huge sums of money to finance the royal court. The following ten years the king limited his policies to diplomacy. Louis continued the nobility's exemption from taxes but forced its member into financial dependence to the crown and the provincial nobles also lost political power. Louis does have a genuine concern for his country and despite his dubious methods he does manage to secure the territories that he wishes to secure. He curtailed local authorities and created specialized ministries. Louis's grandson retained the Spanish throne but the war of Spanish Succession left France in great debt and a weakened military. Louis used the bourgeoisie to build his centralized bureaucracy. He illustrated new administrative methods to make him more in control. Louis's general Colbert worked to improve the French economy. Colbert worked to create a favorable balance of trade and increase France's colonial holdings. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. He reduced the national debt through more efficient taxation. His principal taxation devices included the aides, the douanes, the…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The French Revolution started in 1789 and concluded in 1799; the war lasted ten years for numerous reasons caused by the hierarchy. There were social, political and economical causes that Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI made irrational and poor decisions that lead to the French Revolution. Majority of the reason all associate with having power. Power is the ability to direct or influence others; however, the person behind the power is who determines if it will affect the situation negatively or positively. The French hierarchy had a vast amount of negative, selfish power within their kingdom. The three main causes of French Revolution were Marie and Louis greediness and carelessness of the hierarchy, they were too young to rule, and France…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    George Grenville - the highly disliked (by the Americans at least) prime minister of Britain 1763-1765; ended salutary neglect in the colonies by ordering the increased enforcement of the Navigation Laws and pushed through the infamous Sugar Act, Stamp, and…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Louis Xiv of France

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Louis XIV managed to improve France’s disorganized system of taxation and limit formerly haphazard borrowing practices.…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louis XVI was one of the most incompetent and frankly idiotic rulers in the history of France. He would have absolutely nothing to do with his official duties as king, and his horribly decadent lifestyle contributed greatly to the economic plight France was in. The fact that he was married to Marie Antoinette, a native of Austria, France's sworn enemy, was very detrimental as well. Louis XVI inherited debt from previous rulers, but he made no move of any kind toward paying it off. In fact, he borrowed vast sums of money in order to give aid to the Americans in their revolution, which only worsened France's already outstanding deficit. In 1786, bankers refused to lend the government any more money, and Louis XVI was in serious trouble. Of course, all of this put Louis in a highly unfavorable position with the people of France, who absolutely despised him and his wife. Marie Antoinette was a major problem for Louis as well. She gave him poor advice on governing matters, spent large amounts of money on her own vanity, and was generally hated by the people the moment she set foot…

    • 1094 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prior to the revolution, France was going into turmoil due to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette's spending habits. King…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    France was in a state of a very unstable economy before and during the Revolution. There was an inequality in taxation and economic deflation. So, naturally, the goals of the Revolution were to develop equal taxation and inflation in the economy. When Napoleon came to power, his first order of business was to get the economy on a solid footing. In order to do so, he set up a well-organized tax-collecting system. Under his leadership, the first -ever national bank in France was also opened. This led to a better control in managing the financial problems and resulted in a better, more stabilized economy.…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The king was not a good monarch in the eyes of the common people. He was not looking over France and making sure it runs well. He was too isolated to notice the bad state of the country. The poverty of France was on such a bad level that the common people…

    • 1610 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    French Revolution Essay

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The French people were already overtaxed. Knowing the French was stuck in a hole and must find a way to get money Louis had to talk to his advisors. Many of King Louis financial advisors told him the…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She had been holding the positon for around one hundred and fifty years, because of her fertile land, any resources and large population. The French government had under gone economic crisis and which resulted a long war, losses occurring in the French and Indian war. While Louis XIV was the king the governmental system was fabulous bur when his successors took it over is when the Frenches governmental system fell apart. Under the governments system there was a lot of overlaps and great inefficiency in the governments, only people who could block the royal government and try to save the country was the parliament of Paris. However, members were only worried about their own health and safety. In the government came nearly close to bankruptcy, this condition led to the political discontent of the French…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    AP EURO SEMESTER FINAL REVIEW

    • 13928 Words
    • 37 Pages

    1) Niccolo Machiavelli: Italian politician, historian, and writer. Wrote The Prince, a book on how to control nations with fear…

    • 13928 Words
    • 37 Pages
    Powerful Essays