Louis XVI

King Louis XVI, or Louis Auguste de France reigned France from 10 May 1774 21
September 1792. He was the last king of France of the Bourbon family line. He was born on
August 23, 1754 in France, in Palace of Versailles. He was the third son between Maria
Josepha of Saxony and Louis, the Dauphin of France. He was given the title of Du de Berry.
During his childhood, he was a healthy kid, however, was very shy. He had an education
about religion, morality, and humanities. Out of all the subjects that he learned, Latin, history,
geography, and astronomy were his strongest subjects that he excelled in. Aside from Latin,
he was also fluent in Italian and English. Hunting, wrestling, and all those physical activities
were also included in his courses. He especially enjoyed blacksmithing, which he ends up
having it as his life-long hobby.

His childhood was the gleeful and merry time for him. His parents paid all the
attention on his brother, who was the next heir and the owner of the crown, Louis duc de
Bourgogne and paying almost none of the attention on him. However, his brother died at the
young age of 9, in a year of 1761. His father died on December 20, 1765, of tuberculosis,
with Louis receiving the place of Dauphin. By that time, he was only 11 years old. Her
mother couldnt overcome the sorrow of the loss of her family, and eventually died after
gaining same sickness as her husband. Louis didnt receive any good education and
instruction on his leadership skills from his tutors. They taught him poor interpersonal skills
and they encouraged his shyness by delivering that austerity is actually one of the signs of a
strong character in monarchs. Eventually, this lack of practice and education, led to his lack
of good leadership skills and abilities, and mainly, on his indeterminate and inconclusive
decisions and ambivalent characteristic.

He was arranged to be engaged to Maria Antonia, who later becomes Marie
Antoinette at the age of 15 for the alliance between France and Austria. Their relationship at
the beginning of their marriage was decent enough, but with distances between two of them.
They did not feel intimidated with each other. One of the reasons was their contrasting
personalities. Louis was a shy person when Marie was totally the opposite. He was afraid that
hell be used as a tool and a mannequin for her want and power in political. They had their
first child after 8 years of marriage, and eventually had total in 4 children during the marriage
time.

After the death of his grandfather, on May 10, 1774, he became the owner of the
crown at the age of 20. He was not prepared for his tasks and quests, and faced countless
numbers of failures and consequences from it. He carried heavy debt with receiving
resentment from every single person from his people. He practically ruined Frances
economic and financial status, with his enormous debt with his wife spending money
presumptuously.

He invoked an edict that allowed Non-Catholics legal status and their freedom to
carry on their own religious activities. This decision had aroused the protests from them and
grew their resentment. This decision also actually increased his loans and nearly drove the
country to the bankruptcy, and this situation didnt soothe peoples anger and hatred toward
him. The effect of hiis involvement and decision about the incidents of the taxes and the
voting right between estate didnt favor the people, especially the Third estate. The Third
Estate convinced nobles to agree on their side and formed the group for Revolution, to throw
the king away, for the better life. He was hated by his people for not only these reasons, but
also with his lack of leadership skills, that he is not qualified for his place, and his attitude
toward the advisors. He shut his ears toward the professional and good advisors, and instead,
he listened to bad advises, especially from his wife, Marie Antoinette.

After his constant failure and faults, the Legislative Assemble proclaimed the First
French Republic after the Revolution from the people. Louis was found guilty and was
sentenced to death. He was guillotined in the palace de la revolution. The date he was
executed was January 21, 1793. After 9 months later, his wife followed his fate.





Bibliography

Louis-Auguste de France. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 10:05, Oct. 20,
2014, from http://www.biography.com/people.louis-xvi-9386943.