Louis XVI

1754 – 1793 · Generation XVII · King of France (r. 1774–1792)

Louis (1754 – 1793). King of France (r. 1774–1792). Married Marie Antoinette in 1770. Executed by guillotine 21 January 1793. His early reign leaned toward Enlightenment reform — greater tolerance for non-Catholics, an end to the death penalty for deserters — but the nobility blocked such measures, while deregulating the grain trade raised bread prices and, in the bad harvest of 1775, brought revolt. His support for the American colonists against Britain helped win their independence and deepened the financial crisis that forced the summoning of the Estates General in 1789. The storming of the Bastille compelled him to accept the National Assembly’s authority; the failed flight to Varennes destroyed his credit. Deposed when the Republic was proclaimed, tried for high treason as plain Citizen Louis Capet, he went to the scaffold — ending a French monarchy that had endured unbroken for over a millennium.

Partners

Married Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) in 1770

Life

1754 — Born
1770 — Married Marie Antoinette
1793 — Died