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<v Speaker 1>Hello, and Welcome to Western SIEV Episode four hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>eighty eight, The Flood. The reign of Louis the fifteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>who sat upon the French throne from seventeen fifteen to

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen seventy four, was one of paradox and a slow

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<v Speaker 1>erosion of power, an era that really began in splendor

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<v Speaker 1>and optimism, but ended in doubt, ridicule, and the foreboding collapse.

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<v Speaker 1>Known in his youth as Libyan m Though well beloved,

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<v Speaker 1>Louis would die a monarch largely unloved, his kingdom straining

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<v Speaker 1>under financial burdens im moral cynicism that set the stage

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<v Speaker 1>for the French Revolution. Louis the fifteenth was only five

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<v Speaker 1>years old when his great grandfather, the Mighty Louis the fourteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>died in September seventeen fifteen. The son king had ruled

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<v Speaker 1>for seventy two years, leaving behind both grandeur and exhaustion.

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<v Speaker 1>Versailles glittered. France remained Europe's cultural beacon, but its treasury

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<v Speaker 1>was totally depleted, its army and militaries worn down, and

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<v Speaker 1>its people, weary of endless war and expense into this world,

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<v Speaker 1>stepped the small fraile child, who was now to be king.

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<v Speaker 1>Because of his age, of course, a regency was necessary.

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<v Speaker 1>The task fell to Philippe de Orleman, the late king's nephew.

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<v Speaker 1>The regency from seventeen fifteen to seventeen twenty three was

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<v Speaker 1>marked by a loosening of the rigid ceremonial culture of

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<v Speaker 1>Louis the fourteenth Court. Philippe moved the government from Versaid

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<v Speaker 1>back to Paris, restored some powers to the nobility, and

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<v Speaker 1>allowed more open debate within the royal councils. The financial

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<v Speaker 1>chaos of the realm was addressed through a bold but

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<v Speaker 1>disastrous experiment. The Scottish adventurer John Law was granted control

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<v Speaker 1>of the Bank General and soon promoted his Mississippi Company.

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<v Speaker 1>Scheme laws financial system, part bank, part colonial speculation temporarily

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<v Speaker 1>revived credit and enthusiasm, but collapsed spectacularly in seventeen twenty.

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<v Speaker 1>Fortunes were ruined, confidence in royal finances shattered, and the

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<v Speaker 1>whole episode foreshadowed the chronic fiscal mismanagement that would plague

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<v Speaker 1>Louis the fifteenth reign. In seventeen twenty three, Louis turned

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<v Speaker 1>fifteen and was declared of age. The regent died shortly thereafter,

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<v Speaker 1>and the young king took up full authority, though initially

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<v Speaker 1>power was exercised through chief ministers. Cardinal Fleury, an austere

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<v Speaker 1>churchman of remarkable prudence, became the King's tutor and later

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<v Speaker 1>his principal minister. Fleury's steady hand provided a rare moment

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<v Speaker 1>of stability. He balanced the budget, he restrained reckless spending,

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<v Speaker 1>and sought peace abroad. Fleury's foreign policy was all about

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<v Speaker 1>avoiding expensive, grandiose foreign wars. He initially kept France out

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<v Speaker 1>of the War of Polish Succession, which lasted from seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>thirty three to seventeen thirty eight, but eventually French arms

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<v Speaker 1>were engaged to press the claims of Stanislaw Leazinski Louis,

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<v Speaker 1>the fifteenth father in law. The conflict ended with Stanislaw's

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<v Speaker 1>symbolic kingship in Lorraine, which upon his death would pass

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<v Speaker 1>permanently to France, a quiet but still significant territorial gain.

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<v Speaker 1>Another war, the War of Austrian Succession, embroiled France much

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<v Speaker 1>more deeply. France allied with Prussia against Austria and Britain,

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<v Speaker 1>hoping to check Habsburg power and secure influence in the

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<v Speaker 1>low countries. French armies won dramatic victories, most notably at

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<v Speaker 1>Fontenois in seventeen forty five, where Louis himself appeared on campaign.

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<v Speaker 1>A soldier is said to have shouted to him, Sire,

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<v Speaker 1>do not expose yourself withdraw, to which the king replied

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<v Speaker 1>to gentlemen, I am here to see you fight. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a moment that briefly, briefly revived his popularity, but

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<v Speaker 1>the war ended with little tangible gain, draining the treasury

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<v Speaker 1>and spreading disillusionment. It was the first sign that France,

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<v Speaker 1>though still Europe's most populous and culturally dominant nation, was

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<v Speaker 1>slipping into military and diplomatic in effectiveness. Louis the fifteenth

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<v Speaker 1>himself was a private person. He was ill suited to

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<v Speaker 1>the relentless ceremonial exposure that his great grandfather had relished.

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<v Speaker 1>He preferred hunting, scientific experiments, and the company of intimate

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<v Speaker 1>friends and mistresses to the grand rituals of Versailles. His aloofness,

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<v Speaker 1>combined with a tendency towards indecision, left government often adrift.

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<v Speaker 1>The king's mistresses became powerful figures at court, shaping both

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<v Speaker 1>patronage and public perception, Madame de Pompadour, who rose to

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<v Speaker 1>prominence in the seventeen forties, was far more than a

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<v Speaker 1>royal favorite. Intelligent and politically astute, she became a patron

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<v Speaker 1>of the arts, champion of enlightenment figures like Voltaire, and

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<v Speaker 1>even a quiet player in diplomacy. Critics, though mocked the

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<v Speaker 1>influence of a bourgeoisie woman over the king, cultural patronage

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<v Speaker 1>left an enduring mark on French art and architecture, fostering

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<v Speaker 1>the Rococo style that defined the age. Later, Madame du Barrier,

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<v Speaker 1>of even humbler origins, would scandalized the court by her

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<v Speaker 1>extravagance and seeming frivolity, so the public the succession of

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<v Speaker 1>Mistress's simply embodied royal decadence, pamphlets and underground satire flourished,

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<v Speaker 1>eroding the monarchy's dignity in the eyes of many of

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<v Speaker 1>its subjects. But, of course, as I talked about in

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<v Speaker 1>previous episodes, the biggest turning point of Louis the Fifteenth

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<v Speaker 1>Reign came with the Seven Years War, which lasted from

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen fifty six to seventeen sixty three. In a diplomatic revolution,

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<v Speaker 1>France abandoned its traditional hostility to Austria, and allied itself

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<v Speaker 1>with Empress Maria Teresa against Prussia and Britain. This grand

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<v Speaker 1>alliance was meant to isolate Frederick the Great and curb

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<v Speaker 1>British colonial expansion, but as we know, instead it proved disastrous.

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<v Speaker 1>French forces suffered repeated defeats at Plas in India, and

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<v Speaker 1>then there was the capture of Quebec in seventeen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>nine that ultimately stripped France of its overseas empire. Naval

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<v Speaker 1>defeats at Lagos and Kuberian Bay shattered French naval power.

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<v Speaker 1>By the Treaty of Paris in seventeen sixty three, France

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<v Speaker 1>seeded Canada to Britain, lost much of India, and surrendered

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<v Speaker 1>its dominance in North America. The war's humiliation deeply tarnished

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<v Speaker 1>Louis The fifteenth Reputation a bitter saying ran, this king

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<v Speaker 1>has lost everything except his honor, but even honor seemed

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<v Speaker 1>in doubt. Voltaire captured the public mood with biting irony,

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<v Speaker 1>writing that France had gone to war quote for the

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<v Speaker 1>ears of Madame de Pompadour, suggesting that foreign policy was

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<v Speaker 1>shaped by the king's mistress rather than reasons of state.

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<v Speaker 1>After the war, the monarchy attempted reforms to recover authority.

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<v Speaker 1>French ministers sought new taxes, but entrenched privileges blocked any change.

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<v Speaker 1>The parliaments sovereign courts dominated by nobles, presented themselves as

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<v Speaker 1>defenders of liberty against arbitrary monarchy, resisting any new levies.

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<v Speaker 1>In reality, all they wanted to do was predect their

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<v Speaker 1>own privileges. They'll lose them soon enough, don't worry. In

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<v Speaker 1>and albeit much more dramatic faction, Louis the fifteenth tried

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<v Speaker 1>to reassert royal authority. In the midst of the growing storm.

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<v Speaker 1>In seventeen seventy one, Chancellor Mapieu dissolved the parliaments, replacing

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<v Speaker 1>them with more pliant courts. It was a bold stroke

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<v Speaker 1>of absolutism that was reminiscent of Louis the fourteenth, but

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<v Speaker 1>it was way too late. Many Frenchmen saw it not

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<v Speaker 1>as a reform, but as a move towards tyranny. The

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<v Speaker 1>monarchy was trapped, too weak to impose central authority, yet

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<v Speaker 1>too rigid to enact lasking fiscal modernization. Meanwhile, Enlightenment ideas

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<v Speaker 1>spread like wildfire. Philosophers like Rousseau, Montesquieu and Dita rou

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<v Speaker 1>critiqued monarchy, privilege, and clerical power in general. Although Louis

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<v Speaker 1>the fifteenth tolerated some of this intellectual ferment, the cultural

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<v Speaker 1>prestige of the crown dimmed as new visions of politics

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<v Speaker 1>and society captured the public imagination. Louis the fifteenths later

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<v Speaker 1>years were marked by increasing isolation. Is One's popular image

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<v Speaker 1>as the well beloved was long gone. He had become

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<v Speaker 1>to many the symbol of an exhausted monarchy, indecisive, scandalous,

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<v Speaker 1>and increasingly irrelevant. In seventeen seventy four, amid and outbreak

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<v Speaker 1>of smallpox at Versailles, the sixty four year old king

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<v Speaker 1>fell hill. Crowds once prayed for the boy kot King's health,

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<v Speaker 1>but now as Louis the fifteenth lay dying, Harris buzzed

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<v Speaker 1>with a sort of grim sense of relief. He passed

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<v Speaker 1>away on May tenth, seventeen seventy four, and now his

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<v Speaker 1>grandson succeeded him as Louis the sixteenth. At his funeral,

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<v Speaker 1>the entire procession was met not with mourning, but with jeers.

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<v Speaker 1>The monarchy was still standing. Sure, but the aura of

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<v Speaker 1>sacred majesty was over. The French people were entering a

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<v Speaker 1>new age of skepticism, political restlessness, and one that would

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<v Speaker 1>soon explode in revolution. Louis the fifteenth reign is often

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<v Speaker 1>summed up as one of squandered opportunity. He inherited the

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<v Speaker 1>strongest monarchy in Europe, yet he left his successor of

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<v Speaker 1>fragile and discredited crown. His reign oversaw the flowering of

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<v Speaker 1>Enlightenment culture, the elegance of Rococo Art, and the brilliance

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<v Speaker 1>of votaire rousseau in Montesquieu, but also the loss of

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<v Speaker 1>France's overseas empire in a deepening crisis of financial legitimacy.

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<v Speaker 1>Perhaps most telling is the bitter nickname that was whispered

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<v Speaker 1>in the final years of Louis the fifteenth Epres moi

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<v Speaker 1>leges after me the flood. Whether Louis ever uttered it

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<v Speaker 1>is uncertain, but it captured the sense that he foresaw

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<v Speaker 1>catastrophe to come. Indeed, less than two decades after his death,

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<v Speaker 1>the flood that arrived would sweep away the monarchy itself.

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<v Speaker 1>When Louis the sixteenth ascended the throne of France in

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen seventy four, he was only nineteen years old, a shy,

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<v Speaker 1>awkward young man thrust into the most glittering but fragile

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<v Speaker 1>monarchy in all of Europe. His reign up to the

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<v Speaker 1>crisis of seventeen eighty eight is a tale of what

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<v Speaker 1>we can only say was just honest intentions, undermined by indecision,

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<v Speaker 1>the entrenchment of privilege, and sadly, the weight of history.

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<v Speaker 1>At his side throughout the whole thing would stand his Queen,

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<v Speaker 1>Marie Antoinette, who's one of those rare figures in history

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<v Speaker 1>where the queen is probably better known, at least in

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<v Speaker 1>the colloquial sense, than the king. She was charming, vivacious,

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<v Speaker 1>and quite frankly, often misunderstood, but she would come to

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<v Speaker 1>embody the monarchy's glamour and tragically it's unpopularity. Born Louis

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<v Speaker 1>August in seventeen fifty four, the second son of the Dauphin,

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<v Speaker 1>he had absolutely not been destined for the crown, but

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<v Speaker 1>the early deaths of his elder brother and father placed

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<v Speaker 1>him in line, and in seventeen seventy, at the age

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<v Speaker 1>of only fifteen, he was married to a fourteen year

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<v Speaker 1>old Austrian arch Duchess Marie Antoinette. Their unimion was political.

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<v Speaker 1>It was intended to cement the fragile alliance between the

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<v Speaker 1>Borbon dynasty of France and the Habsburgs of Austria, forged

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<v Speaker 1>in the diplomatic revolution of seventeen fifty six that also

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<v Speaker 1>witnessed the rise of Prussia and the reorientation of Britain.

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<v Speaker 1>Louis was thoughtful, conscientious, and dutiful. It was also very,

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<v Speaker 1>very hesitant. He preferred the workshop and the hunt to

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<v Speaker 1>the politics of Versailles. He was fascinated by locks and locksmithing,

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<v Speaker 1>often retreating to his private rooms to tinker with iron

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<v Speaker 1>and gears. His tutors had instilled a sense of morality

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<v Speaker 1>and duty, but not the political skill to master the

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<v Speaker 1>factions and intrigues of court. In May seventeen seventy four,

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<v Speaker 1>when his grandfather Louis the fifteenth succumbed to smallpox, Louis

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<v Speaker 1>the sixteenth became king. He was crowned at Reims, the capital,

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<v Speaker 1>in the following year, in a ceremony that recalled the

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<v Speaker 1>grandeur of the Capacian monarchy. Crowds hailed him as a

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<v Speaker 1>young reformer, a fresh beginning after decades of scandal and decline.

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<v Speaker 1>Now for her part, Marie Antoinette was born in Vienna

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<v Speaker 1>in seventeen seventy five, the fifteenth child of Empress Maria

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<v Speaker 1>Teresa of Austria and Emperor Francis the First. Her mother,

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<v Speaker 1>a formidable ruler, saw her daughter's marriage to the French

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<v Speaker 1>heir as a master stroke of diplomacy. Raised in the

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<v Speaker 1>opulent but disciplined Viennese court, Marie Antoinette arrived in France

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<v Speaker 1>with little education and a reputation for gaiety at Versailles.

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<v Speaker 1>She quickly attract attention. She was graceful, loved music and dancing,

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<v Speaker 1>and was known for her radiant smile. But her position

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<v Speaker 1>was never easy. The French court, always weary of Austrian influence,

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<v Speaker 1>treated her with disdain and suspicion for years. Her marriage

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<v Speaker 1>with Louis remained unconsummated, an awkward fact whispered about in

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<v Speaker 1>the salons and pamphlets, undermining her dignity as dauphine and

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<v Speaker 1>later as queen. By the seventeen eighties, she would become

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<v Speaker 1>infamous as le Chenet, a cruel play on the words

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<v Speaker 1>meeting both the Austrian woman and in it sound the

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<v Speaker 1>Austrian bitch. Yet early in her reign she was admired

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<v Speaker 1>for her beauty and youth, a symbol of renewal beside

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<v Speaker 1>her earnest husband, Louis the sixteenth began his reign determined

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<v Speaker 1>to repair the monarchy's finances and restore confidence. His predecessor

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<v Speaker 1>had left France near bankruptcy, its treasury drained by the

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<v Speaker 1>Seven Years War and its humiliating loss of Canada and India.

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<v Speaker 1>Louis turned to his capable ministers as a response. Na

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<v Speaker 1>Robert Jacques Urgeaux, his first Controller General of Finances, produced

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<v Speaker 1>sweeping reforms, cutting court expenses, reducing tariffs, abolishing feudal dues,

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<v Speaker 1>and freeing the grain trade. Turgeaud declared in seventeen seventy

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<v Speaker 1>six no bankruptcy, no increase of taxes, no new loans,

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<v Speaker 1>only economy and reform. But his reforms treated noble privilege

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<v Speaker 1>and threatened it, and opposition in the court and Parlement

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<v Speaker 1>eventually forced his dismissal. He was succeeded by Jacques Necker,

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<v Speaker 1>a Swiss banker of Protestant background. Neckuier introduced loans rather

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<v Speaker 1>than new taxes to finance the government, and in seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty one he published the first ever Comte de Rendeus

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<v Speaker 1>de Las, the first public budget in French history. It

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<v Speaker 1>painted a misleadingly optimistic picture of royal finances, but it

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<v Speaker 1>won him immense popularity. Is a little bit of a

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<v Speaker 1>wonder child. Neckayre's dismissal that same year further fed the

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<v Speaker 1>public sense that the vested interest at court were obstructing reform.

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<v Speaker 1>While Louis labored, often ineffectively, over fiscal reform, Marie Antoinette

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<v Speaker 1>carved out her own space at Versailles. She retreated from

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<v Speaker 1>the formalities of the grand courts to her private refuge,

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<v Speaker 1>the Petit Trian, where she entertained close friends in a

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<v Speaker 1>more intimate style. She delighted in the pastoral fantasy of

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<v Speaker 1>the jimad rein a mock village where she could play

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<v Speaker 1>it being a shepherdess amid artificial streams and cottages. To her,

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<v Speaker 1>these escapes offered freedom from suffocating ceremony. To her critics,

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<v Speaker 1>they symbolized extravagance and frivolity. The Queen's love of fashion,

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<v Speaker 1>Towering hairstyles, costly gowns, diamonds made her an easy target

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<v Speaker 1>in a country where bread was growing scarce. Satirical pamphlets

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<v Speaker 1>spread rumors of her lovers, of debauchery, of callous indifference.

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<v Speaker 1>None of those things were true in the extreme, but

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<v Speaker 1>they shaped a dangerous public perception. The infamous diamond necklace

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<v Speaker 1>affair of seventeen eighty five, in which a fraudulent scheme

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<v Speaker 1>implicated her in the supposed purchase of a wildly expensive necklace,

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<v Speaker 1>further blackened her reputation. Though she was innocent, the scandal

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<v Speaker 1>fed the myth of the spendthrift, immoral queen indifferent to

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<v Speaker 1>her subject suffering now Louis the sixteenth, for his part,

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<v Speaker 1>he was not entirely timid when it came to the

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<v Speaker 1>international stage. When the American colonists rose against Britain, he

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<v Speaker 1>saw an opportunity for revenge against his nation's old enemy.

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<v Speaker 1>Though cautious at first, he approved of covert aid and

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<v Speaker 1>eventually open alliance. By seventeen seventy eight, after the critical

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<v Speaker 1>American victory at the Battle of Saratoga, France had joined

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<v Speaker 1>the American War of Independence. Victory was sweet, indeed, New

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<v Speaker 1>Yorktown in seventeen eighty one, secured with French military, naval

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<v Speaker 1>support effectively humiliated Britain, Yet the war's costs were immense.

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<v Speaker 1>By seventeen eighty three, France had spent over a billion livre,

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<v Speaker 1>piling debt upon debt. The glory of defeating Britain did

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<v Speaker 1>not restore France's colonial empire, but it deepened the fiscal

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<v Speaker 1>crisis back at home. Throughout the seventeen eighties, the monarchy

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<v Speaker 1>staggered from one financial expedient to another. Ministers proposed new

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<v Speaker 1>taxes that would fall upon the privileged states, the nobility

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<v Speaker 1>and clergy. Each time, parlements resisted, presenting themselves as defenders

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<v Speaker 1>of traditional liberties against royal despotism. In seventeen eighty seven,

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<v Speaker 1>Louis Minister Colonne proposed a sweeping plan of tax reform,

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<v Speaker 1>a land tax for the first time without any exemption

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<v Speaker 1>for a state. It was presented to an assembly of notables,

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<v Speaker 1>but the nobles refused. The king dismissed Kelown, but the

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<v Speaker 1>problem only deepened. His successor, Briann, tried to push reforms

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<v Speaker 1>through parlements, which again were resisted. And we're going to

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<v Speaker 1>go into more detail in that in just a second,

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<v Speaker 1>because I want to talk about really the missed opportunity here.

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<v Speaker 1>The reality is is that by the mid seventeen eighties

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<v Speaker 1>France was staggering under the weight of a financial system

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<v Speaker 1>that was not designed for a modern nation state. It

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<v Speaker 1>was designed for a small medieval kingdom of earlier centuries.

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<v Speaker 1>These wars, I mean cut them up, the War of

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<v Speaker 1>Austrian Section, the Seven Years War, and most recently the

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<v Speaker 1>American War of Independence, they had all drained the treasury.

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<v Speaker 1>The French crown owed over four billion livre debt service

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<v Speaker 1>was consuming half of the state's revenues. And for all

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<v Speaker 1>of this, where did the taxation fall, Not on the wealthiest,

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<v Speaker 1>not on the nobility or the clergy. It almost exclusively

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<v Speaker 1>fell through the direct land tax, the taala, all on

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<v Speaker 1>the peasants. And so let's dig into this a little

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<v Speaker 1>bit more deeply. Because the king's financial minister, Charles Alexandre

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<v Speaker 1>de Cologne, he knew what was going on. He realized

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<v Speaker 1>that only radical reform could save France from bankruptcy. And

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<v Speaker 1>so the solution, as they mentioned before, that bold new

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<v Speaker 1>land tax without exemptions, touching nobles and clergy as well

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<v Speaker 1>as commoners. It made a lot of sense. And he

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<v Speaker 1>also proposed that provincial assemblies administer this tax more equitably.

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<v Speaker 1>There would be new internal free trade measures and a

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<v Speaker 1>general reform of the grain market. To Cologne, this was

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<v Speaker 1>a project of enlightened absolutism. The king, he thought, could

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<v Speaker 1>impose reform for the good of the nation. Unfortunately, he

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<v Speaker 1>was not the man to put this forward. Colonne or Cologne,

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<v Speaker 1>the way you want to say it, was a man

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<v Speaker 1>of extravagant tastes, with a reputation for reckless spending, and

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<v Speaker 1>he had almost no allies in all of the court.

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<v Speaker 1>The Parliament of Paris, the traditional high court that also

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<v Speaker 1>registered royal edicts, was totally hostile to any tax innovation

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<v Speaker 1>imposed without its consent, and therefore Cologne advised Louis the

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<v Speaker 1>sixteenth to bypass the Parlements entirely and instead to call

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<v Speaker 1>an Assembly of notables. The Assembly of Notables, which sat

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<v Speaker 1>from February in May seventeen eighty seven, was one of

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<v Speaker 1>the last opportunities to avoid the French Revolution. This body

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<v Speaker 1>had no constitutional standing it had last been called in

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen twenty six under then Cardinal Richelieu. But the idea

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<v Speaker 1>was pretty simple. Gather one hundred and forty four hand

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<v Speaker 1>picked men, nobles, bishop's, magistrates, and a sprinkling of royal

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<v Speaker 1>officials so that they could endorse the King's reforms and

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<v Speaker 1>give the machine of legitimacy. Louis the sixteenth opened the

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<v Speaker 1>Assembly in February seventeen eighty seven at Versailles with solemn

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<v Speaker 1>words quote, we are assembled to deliberate upon the means

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<v Speaker 1>to secure the prosperity of my kingdom and the relief

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<v Speaker 1>of my people. The king hoped the nobles would rally

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<v Speaker 1>to this call, but instead of providing support, the Assembly

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<v Speaker 1>proved skeptical an obstructionist, many nobles resenting being asked to

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<v Speaker 1>sacrifice privileges. Others suspected Cologne's scheme, masking his own mismanagement.

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<v Speaker 1>The Archbishop of Toulouse at Tiennecharlos des la Main Brienne,

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<v Speaker 1>emerged as a leading critic, insisting that reforms required deeper

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<v Speaker 1>justification and more transparency. In April, when Cologne's enemies prevailed,

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<v Speaker 1>the Minister was dismissed in disgrace, and of course it

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<v Speaker 1>was Brian then who replaced him as Controller General. Ironically,

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<v Speaker 1>once he was in office, he could see the books,

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<v Speaker 1>and then he immediately adopted all of Cutloane's proposals. Recognizing

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<v Speaker 1>their necessity. The Assembly by that point, though, was too

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<v Speaker 1>far gone, and it dissolved without approving any of the reforms,

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<v Speaker 1>and so the opportunity had been squandered. Instead of broad consensus,

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<v Speaker 1>Louis the sixteenth now faced open resistance. Brienne, recognizing the

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<v Speaker 1>extreme danger of the situation, now tried to push the

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<v Speaker 1>measure through the Parlement of Paris. In July of seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>eighty seven, the Parliament declared that only the Estates General,

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<v Speaker 1>the full representative body of clergy, nobility and commons, which

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<v Speaker 1>had met since sixteen fourteen, had the authority to sanction

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<v Speaker 1>new taxes. This was a stunning assertion. It implied that

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<v Speaker 1>the crown could not legislate financial reform on its own.

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<v Speaker 1>Louis the sixteenth reacted with irritation. In August, he summoned

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<v Speaker 1>the Parliament to Paris and, in a dramatic moment, commanded

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<v Speaker 1>the registration of the new taxes. Yet such royal bullying

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<v Speaker 1>only fueled resistance. Parliamentaries cast themselves as the defenders of

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<v Speaker 1>the nation against arbitrary power. Crowds in Paris hailed them

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<v Speaker 1>as heroes. The struggle escalated in seventeen eighty eight. The

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<v Speaker 1>parliaments banished for defiance were recalled amid public uproar, only

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<v Speaker 1>to resume their obstruction. Provincial assemblies and noble corporations joined

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<v Speaker 1>in the protest. The monarchy attempted repression, censoring pamphlets and

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<v Speaker 1>arresting magistrates. The popular opinion had now turned decisively against

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<v Speaker 1>Louis Court. In Grenoble, when royal troops tried to dissolve

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<v Speaker 1>the local parliament, townspeople rioted from the rooftops. They heard

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<v Speaker 1>tiles down upon the soldiers in what became known as

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<v Speaker 1>the Day of Tiles, the seventh of June seventeen eighty eight.

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<v Speaker 1>It was one of the first violent confrontation of the

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<v Speaker 1>coming revolution, symbolizing the defense of liberty was no longer

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<v Speaker 1>confined to courtrooms, but had spilled out onto the streets.

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<v Speaker 1>At the same time, France was suffering natural calamity. The

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<v Speaker 1>winter of seventeen eighty eight eighty nine was among the

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<v Speaker 1>harshest of the century, destroying harvests and sending bread prices soaring.

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<v Speaker 1>Popular anger mingled with constitutional crisis. By the summer of

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<v Speaker 1>seventeen eighty eight, Brienne was bankruptically and fiscally. The government

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<v Speaker 1>could not raise loans, tax farmers balked at advancing funds,

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<v Speaker 1>and so in desperation, Louis the sixteenth announced that he

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<v Speaker 1>would summon the Estates General in May seventeen eighty nine.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a remarkable concession. The monarchy, once absolute, was

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<v Speaker 1>acknowledging the need for national representation. Brienne resigned in August

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<v Speaker 1>of seventeen eighty eight, and Jacques Neckaire, popular with the

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<v Speaker 1>public and remembered for his earlier tenure during the American War,

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<v Speaker 1>returned as Finance minister. Nickare's recall was greeted with jubilation

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<v Speaker 1>in Paris, but it was way too late to stabilize

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<v Speaker 1>royal authority. The Assembly of Notables had been intended as

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<v Speaker 1>a way to legitimate reform from above. Instead, all it

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<v Speaker 1>had done was reveal the depth of aristocratic resistance and

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<v Speaker 1>opened the door for demands for wider representation. The parliaments,

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<v Speaker 1>though conservative and intent, had popularized the idea that only

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<v Speaker 1>the nation could consent to new taxation. By seventeen eighty eight,

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<v Speaker 1>the monarchy's authority had been fatally weakened. As one contemporary

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<v Speaker 1>pamphleteer put it, it was not America that ruined France,

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<v Speaker 1>but the notables and parliaments who would not let her

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<v Speaker 1>be saved. Thus, from the polished halls of Versailles to

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<v Speaker 1>the tiled roofs of Grenoble. The year seventeen eighty seven

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<v Speaker 1>to seventeen eighty eight marked the prelude to revolution. By

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<v Speaker 1>summoning the Estates General, Louis the sixteenth set in motion

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<v Speaker 1>forces he could no longer control, and the Anson regime

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<v Speaker 1>entered its final act