Biography of Louis XVI

A little boy who would later be known as the last king of France was born on August
23, 1754, in the Palace of Versailles. Named Louis Auguste de France, he was the
grandson of Louis XV of France. Louis grew up strong and health but he was a shy boy. He
was educated by French Noble and studied religion, morality, and humanities. He was good
in Latin, history, geography, astronomy and knew how to speak Italian and English.
Louis family was full of tragedy, Louiss parents paid little attention to him but
focused on his older brother, which was the heir at that time, Louis duc de Bourgogne. But he
died at the age of 9 in 1761. Then on December 20, 1765, his father died of tuberculosis
followed by his mother too with the same disease. At the age of 15, in May 1770, Louis
married the 14 year-old Hapsburg Archduchess Maria Antoinette. Their marriage life wasnt
so great; Louis and Marie were awkward and distant. His shyness kept him away from her in
private and he feared Maria which made him cold to her in public. They did have a child
eventually, which was eight years after their wedding and soon they had four children, but
they all died in their childhood.
On May 10 1774, Louis Auguste became Louis XVI, with the death of his
grandfather Louis XV. Young 20-years old king Louis XVI was immature and lacked self-
confidence, he wanted to be a good king and help the country, but he faced huge debt and
rising hatred towards the French Monarchy. Louis lacked sufficient power of character and
decisiveness to fight back the influence of court factions and to improve Frances government.
This made him focus on religious uniformity and foreign policy. Louis declared an edict that
granted French non-Catholics legal stats and the right to openly practice their religion.
Louiss early foreign policy supported the American colonies fight for their independence
from Great Britain. But still, Louis didnt know what to do with the enormous debt and in
theend; he drove the country to near bankruptcy by the mid-1780s. When pressure was finally
reaching its peak, Louis XVI went back to his earlier teaching of standing alone, with no
answers to the problem and not responding to others who offered help. His failure to address
Frances trouble gave a rise to the Revolution that would eventually throw him away from his
throne. He made things worse by escaping the problems by hunting and lock-smiting.
By 1789, the situation was finally at the peak. In May of that same year, Louis XVI
called the Estates General for the meeting. The meeting didnt go well and it made the Third
Estates to declare themselves as the National Assembly. Initially, Louis XVI resisted,
declared the Assembly wrong and non-existential, and called out the army to restore order.
Hatred towards Louis XVI grew more and the National Guard formed to resist the Kings
actions. By July 1789, he was forced to acknowledge the National Assemblys authority and
then on July 14 the same year, riots broke out in Paris and they stormed the Bastille prison to
show their defiance towards the King. Still, Louis XVI accepted bad advices from the
nobility and his wife, Marie Antoinette. He talked of reform but didnt accept the demands
for it. And on 1791, he and his family were brought back to Paris, and he lost all credibility as
a monarch.
In the final two years of his reign, events happened rapidly. In the fall of 1791, Louis
XVI made an alliance with Austria hoping that a military defeat would restore his authority.
The War eventually broke out in April 1792 and led to capture of the royal palace and the
temporary suspension of the kings powers. On September 21, 1792, the Legislative
Assembly declared the Frist French Republic. Louis was soon found guilty by the National
Assembly and was sentenced to death. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was killed on the
guillotine in the Palace de la Revolution.
Biography of Louis XVI
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XVI_of_France
http://www.biography.com/people/louis-xvi-9386943#synopsis