Why was Louis XVI executed in 1793?

Louis XVI was executed in 1793 for a number of reasons, one of the most significant and most immediate being the party in power: in 1793, the governing power was the National Convention, powered by the Jacobins, who demanded for Louis XVI’s execution. If any other party had been in power, an example being the Girondins who were purged in June 1793, Louis XVI would not have been executed.

However, also fundamental, if not critical to the demands of the Jacobins was Louis XVI’s own actions and weaknesses, both immediate and longterm. An example of the former was his attempt to flee France to Austria in 12 June 1791, which shattered his credibility and allowed him to be tried for high treason. This was critical to his execution as it gave the Jacobins substantial reason for executing him.

Also crucial to the National Convention’s execution of Louis XVI was the war against Austria and Prussia, declared on April 20, 1792, that paved the way to Louis XVI’s execution as the Jacobins feared that Austria and Prussia would work together to reinstate a monarchy in France, and wanted to execute Louis XVI with haste to avoid this.

Many of Louis XVI’s actions were, though less so, important in the longterm to his eventual execution; these included his inactivity regarding reform. Louis XVI’s delay to pass the 1789 August Decrees and The Rights of Man and Citizen, his reservations about which were only voiced on 4 October, illustrated his weaknesses and frustrated those in Paris, eventually leading to violent journees such as October Days that increased support for his execution in 1793.

In this vein, though to a lesser extent, another longterm contributing factor to Louis XVI’s execution in 1793 was his failure to resolve the reasons for which the revolution broke out, including longstanding financial problems such as France’s bankruptcy in 1788, inequality between the Estates, and rural poverty. These problems and, crucially, Louis XVI’s failure to remedy them and introduce French reform destabilised French confidence in him, eventually leading to his execution in 1793.

     b) Political instability between 1789 and 1795 was caused by economic problems. How far do you agree?

FOR:
Economic instability vital, as it lead to other problems being magnified, eg the price of bread.
The need for bread drove the revolution, and lead to violence and pivotal journees eg the abolition of feudalism to prevent rioting due to lack of bread. French people depended on price of bread-- they could not survive without bread! 75% of diet.
Lead to overthrowing of municipial governments in France, replaced with revolutionary committees. 17 July - 3 August.
Enhanced rural poverty, bad harvests, etc.

The bad economy also highlighted/gave way to problems with taxation, which was the driving force of the disastrous Estates-General which exposed many crucial problems within the Ancien Regime that caused political unrest. Tax farming was ineffective and corrupt-- also bad for economy.

The bad economy also caused more hatred for the Ancien Regime and highlighted Louis XVI’s weakness to balance financial deficit eg crown paid 41% of income on interest on loans-- devastating for economy.
Lastly, the horrible economy highlighted the court’s extravagance-- 7% on court expenses. Allowed figures such as Marat to coalesce. October 1789 Flanders Regiment as examples.

AGAINST:
However, other problems also extremely relevant and longstanding.
LONGTERM: including: Louis XVI’s inadequacy and dithering, Flight to Varennes 1791, upon which he was dragged back. Also important= his failure and ‘two-facedness’ regarding the August Decrees.
Louis XVI’s weakness was absolutely crucial as he failed to resolve anything, even dismissing Necker which led to the first journee: devastating for political stability. (Can also cite October Days.)

Tied into this: underlying instability of Ancien Regime -- 36 generalites. Made legislation extremely difficult.
Also regarding instability: lack of unity amongst nobility/monarchy eg Duc d’Orleans working against Louis by funding/protecting Desmoulins.
Underlying social inequalities eg imbalances amongst clergy, (135 bishops from 13 families) venal offices, domination of Estates by a select few eg parish priests and court nobles.
More political instability was created by Enlightenment ideals -- LONG-TERM factor.
Rousseau’s 1762 social contract.

IMMEDIATE POLITICAL UNREST ONWARDS FROM 1789: created differing political parties (Girondins, Feuillants, Jacobins) that were a huge source of political instability.
Internal paranoia (Terror June 73-74) very significant as French society turned against each other-- this led to formation of new parties and groups.

Counter-revolutionary threats (IMMEDIATE): Thermidorean Reaction July 1794, overthrow of Robespierre. 8 December 1794 Girondins let back into Convention. White Terror in southeast 94-95, Royalists, Jacobins, and moderate republicans in constant conflict.

IMMEDIATE. War also source of instability. April 20 1792. Financially draining, scared of reinstating Louis XVI, increased pressure to execute him, causing political unrest.

EQUALLY IMPORTANT.

The struggling economy was a major ongoing, if not fundamental, cause of political unrest between 1789 and 1795, driving the need for a new political system from the Ancien Regime to the National Convention. However, also doubtlessly important were other factors such as Louis XVI’s mismanagement and the twin threats throughout the 1790s that contributed greatly, if not equally, to political instability.

France’s declining economy from 1789 to 1795 was the single most important contributing factor to political unrest, as it enhanced longterm factors such as rural poverty by driving up the price of bread, a staple that made up 75% of the French diet. This need for bread did not only drive journees in 1789 critical to political instability, an example being the Great Fear in July 1789, but enabled the purging of the Girondins from the National Convention in 1793, severely inhibiting French politics throughout the 1790s, and crucially and consistently destabilising France from 1789-95.

However, whereas the crippled economy was certainly the fundamental single contributing factor to political instability from 1789 onwards, there were other factors that also had a great, if not equal, importance. Longterm examples of these included Louis XVI’s inadequacy and failures; described as having only a “fluctuating interest in politics”, Louis XVI’s refusal to heed his people until the Storming of the Bastille which culminated in violence and destroyed the political credibility of the monarchy and Flight to Varennes in 1791 while France was in political crisis were key examples of his consistent inadequacy as a monarch, his failure to pull France out of deficit breeding hatred for the feudal system, and culminating in political unrest and instability.

Interlinked into the weaknesses of its monarch as a key reason of France’s political instability was the weakness of the original political power, the feudalist Ancien Regime. The lack of unity throughout France through the Ancien Regime was, in the longterm, crucial to France’s political situation: in 1789, France was divided into thirty-six generalites that made the maintenance of political and social stability extremely difficult, and the lack of unity amongst the first Two Estates led to nobles such as the Duc d’Orleans directly causing political instability by protecting agitators such as Desmoulins, and cultivating increasingly immediate political unrest.

Compounding this inherent political inadequacy were prevailing social imbalances and inequalities prior to 1789 that impacted all three Estates: whereas the Third Estate paid taxes such as the taille and gabelle and were obligated to provide military service, the first two Estates resented France’s longstanding venal offices, such as the domination of France’s 135 bishops by 13 families. This lead to formation of anti-monarchy groups such as the Jansenists in tandem with the ‘working class’ sans-culottes, who further destabilised the political situation by inflaming the desire to replace the French political system via revolution.

Other longterm contributing factors to political instability unlinked to the declining economy, most prominent prior to 1789, was the Enlightenment, a European philosophical environment that that criticised French politics, specifically the monarchy, and led to the publications of works such as Rousseau’s 1762 publication of the Social Contract that proposed the idea that it was the people instead of the king that were France, and were hugely significant in inspiring notable political agitators such as Robespierre and Marat that were ultimately pivotal to political instability from 1789 onwards.