Sang-won Kim

10-11-09
IB European History HL 1
French Revolution Essay
Prompt: Explain why the assembling of the Estates General in 1789
led to the overthrow of Louis XVI.

The Estates General met together in 1789 for the first time since 1614.
Louis XVI called for the assembly because he wanted to strengthen his power
and collect more taxes. However, it actually led to the opposite result, which
was the weakening of his power and his overthrow in 1792. This was due to
three events that came forth as a result of the meeting of the Estates
General. These events were: the public display of Louis XVI’s indecisiveness
and incompetence, the formation of the National Assembly, and the
Storming of the Bastille. The loss of public support that resulted from these
events was crucial to the overthrow of the monarchy.
Louis XVI inherited the throne of France at the young age of twenty.
He was unfit for the Herculean task of managing a nation of 27 million
people. Although this was not obvious to the French people at the time, his
indecisiveness and general incompetence showed its true colors at the
assembly of the Estates General. One of the issues raised at the Estates
General was the decision of whether the votes would be counted by order or
head. Louis struggled to make a quick decision, and in doing so, he infuriated
the 3rd estate, who read his actions as disregard for the 3rd estate. He
exacerbated this by treating the 3rd estate with cold indifference by forcing
them to wear black attire, while the other estates wore colorful and
extravagant clothing. Another fatal move was the mobilizing of the Royal
Army toward Versailles and Paris. The people saw this event as a blatant
action against the people, and their hearts turned away from the king.
Due to the cold attitude that Louis XVI had against the 3 rd estate, the
3rd estate felt that they could no longer be a part of the Estates General.
They separated themselves and they formed a new group called the National
Assembly, calling themselves the real representatives of the people of
France. Because of the lack of progress in the Estates General without the 3 rd
estate, Louis XVI was forced to make the other estates meet with the
National Assembly as well. The National Assembly created a new constitution
that forced the king to share power with the people. Later on, this National
Assembly would turn into the government that would put the king on trial
and execute him on accusations of treason. As the quote famously says,
“With this act, the monarchy unwittingly signed its own death warrant. “
The final event that came as a result of the assembly of the Estates
General was the Storming of the Bastille. Parisians lost their hope in the king,
and they felt that they had to take matters into their own hands. Fearing
military action against the city (because the Royal Army was advancing
toward Paris), citizens grabbed whatever arms they had and laid an all out
attack against the Bastille, a long-time symbol of the cruelty of the Old
Regime. After suffering heavy losses, the citizens broke in and mercilessly
slaughtered the guards and Bernard de Launay, the governor of the Bastille.
This was the first act of revolution against Louis XVI; it symbolized direct
opposition to the monarchy and the loss of public support for the monarchy.
The events that came as a result of the meeting of the Estates General
dealt devastating blows to the support and power of the monarchy. These
were: the incompetence of the king, the creation of the National Assembly,
and the attack on the Bastille. Without support and power, the monarchy
was unable to defend itself from the new revolutionary ideals of citizenship
and inalienable rights that man has. Ultimately seen as an obstruction to
these revolutionary ideals, Louis XVI was stripped of his title as king in 1792
and was executed in 1793.