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Louis was tried by the National Convention (self-instituted as a tribunal for the occasion), found guilty of high treason and executed by guillotine on 21 January 1793. Louis XVI was the only king of France ever to be executed, and his death brought an end to more than a thousand years of continuous French monarchy.
- Overview
- Early life and accession
- Louis’s reaction to the Revolution
- Attempt to flee the country
- Condemnation to death
Louis XVI’s father was the dauphin (heir apparent) Louis, and his mother was Maria Josepha of Saxony. Although Louis was his father’s third son, he was the eldest male child to survive to adulthood.
What were Louis XVI’s siblings’ names?
All of Louis’s elder siblings died when they were children. His younger brothers would succeed him as Louis XVIII and Charles X. His sister Elizabeth would follow him to the guillotine.
How did Louis XVI change the world?
Louis XVI approved French military support for the American colonies in their successful struggle against the British, but the expense nearly bankrupted the country. Louis convened the Estates-General in an effort to solve his budget crisis, but by doing so he unwittingly sparked the French Revolution.
How did Louis XVI die?
Louis was the third son of the dauphin Louis and his consort Maria Josepha of Saxony. At first known as the duc de Berry, he became the heir to the throne on his father’s death in 1765. His education was entrusted to the duc de La Vauguyon (Antoine de Quélen de Caussade). He was taught to avoid letting others know his thoughts, which has led to sharp disagreement about his intelligence. Louis nevertheless possessed an excellent memory, acquired a sound knowledge of Latin and English, and took an interest in history and geography. In 1770 he married the Austrian archduchess Marie-Antoinette, daughter of Maria Theresa and the Holy Roman emperor Francis I.
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On the death of his grandfather Louis XV, Louis succeeded to the French throne on May 10, 1774. At that time he was still immature, lacking in self-confidence, austere in manner, and, because of a physical defect (later remedied by an operation), unable to consummate his marriage. Well-disposed toward his subjects and interested in the conduct of foreign policy, Louis had not sufficient strength of character or power of decision to combat the influence of court factions or to give the necessary support to reforming ministers, such as Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot or Jacques Necker, in their efforts to shore up the tottering finances of the ancien régime.
After 1789 Louis XVI’s incapacity to rule, his irresolution, and his surrender to reactionary influences at court were partially responsible for the failure to establish in France the forms of a limited constitutional monarchy. He allowed himself to be persuaded that royal dignity required him to avoid communication with the deputies assembled at Versailles, and he made no attempt to lay out a program that might have attracted their support. At critical moments, he was distracted by the illness and death of his eldest son, the dauphin (June 4, 1789).
By this time the fundamental weakness of the king’s character had become evident. Lethargic in temperament, lacking political insight, and therefore incapable of appreciating the need to compromise, Louis continued to divert himself by hunting and with his personal hobbies of making locks and doing masonry. His dismissal of Necker in early July 1789 set off popular demonstrations culminating in the storming of the Bastille, which forced the king to accept the authority of the newly proclaimed National Assembly. Despite his reluctance, he had to endorse its "destruction" of the feudal regime and its Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in August. The king privately continued to believe that the Revolution would burn itself out. Publicly, however, he appeared ready to accept his new role as constitutional monarch, and gestures such as his visit to Paris after the storming of the Bastille led to an upsurge in his popularity; in early August 1789 the National Assembly proclaimed him the “restorer of French liberty.”
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Louis’s resistance to popular demands was one of the causes of the forcible transfer of the royal family from Versailles to the Tuileries Palace in Paris on October 6. Yet he made still more mistakes, refusing to follow the secret advice tendered to him after May 1790 by the comte de Mirabeau, abdicating his responsibilities, and acquiescing in a disastrous attempt to escape from the capital to the eastern frontier on June 21, 1791. Caught at Varennes and brought back to Paris, he lost credibility as a constitutional monarch. Thenceforward he seems to have been completely dominated by the queen, who must bear the chief blame for the court’s subsequent political duplicity.
From the autumn of 1791 the king tied his hopes of political salvation to the dubious prospects of foreign intervention. At the same time, he encouraged the Girondin faction in the Legislative Assembly (which had succeeded the National Assembly in September 1791) in their policy of war with Austria, in the expectation that French military disaster would pave the way for the restoration of his authority. Prompted by Marie-Antoinette, Louis rejected the advice of the moderate constitutionalists, led by Antoine Barnave, to faithfully implement the constitution of 1791, which he had sworn to maintain, and committed himself to a policy of subterfuge and deception.
Despite the last-minute efforts of the Girondins to save him, Citizen Capet, as he was then called, was found guilty by the National Convention and condemned to death on January 18, 1793, by 387 votes (including 26 in favour of a debate on the possibility of postponing execution) to 334 (including 13 for a death sentence with the proviso that it sh...
Night of 20 January. [edit] Dominique Joseph Garatannounces the death sentence to Louis XVI on 20 January 1793, by Hippolyte de la Charlerie. After voting for Louis' execution, the Convention sent a delegation to announce the verdict to the former king at the Temple Prison.
Apr 2, 2014 · On May 10, 1774, Louis Auguste became Louis XVI upon the death of his grandfather, Louis XV. Only 20 years old at the time, Louis XVI was immature and lacked self-confidence.
Feb 9, 2010 · 1793. King Louis XVI executed. One day after being convicted of conspiracy with foreign powers and sentenced to death by the French National Convention, King Louis XVI is executed by...
- Missy Sullivan
Oct 5, 2022 · The trial of Louis XVI of France (or Citizen Louis Capet as he was then called) lasted from 11 December 1792, when he was indicted, to 17 January 1793, when the sentence of execution was rendered. When and where was Louis XVI executed? King Louis XVI of France was executed on the Place de la Revolution (modern Place de la Concorde) in Paris ...
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On 21 January 1793 an event occurred which sent spasms of shock through Europe and still echoes through western history. French King Louis XVI, just 38 years old and the leader of one of the world’s most modern and powerful countries, had been executed by what was seen as a revolutionary rabble.
