To What Extent Should Louis Xviii Be Considered a Failure?
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Louis XVIII known as the Desired, was a Bourbon King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815. In his reign he occurred many problems causing a change of view many times from the French public.
Firstly as a success of Louis XVIII he was determined to remain in France as the King after he ran away saying I never want to go on my travels again, he was sticking around. Louis led the economic recovery. France had to pay a war indemnity of 700 million francs to the allies. Even though Louis assured the French that the unpopular tax on tobacco, wine and salt would be abolished when he was restored, but he failed to do so, which led to rioting in Bordeaux but instead he managed to get indemnities completely paid by 1818, getting France out of dept. As well as paying the war indemnities, Louis made tighter control in Government spending, preventing dept for France and the economy to improve.
Another success, was moderate policies . During Louiss time as king, many important changes and incidents took place for the French, many of which Louis handled with great shrewdness and intelligence. This is because of his attitudes politically, introducing the charter in 1814 – upholding many principles of the revolution and therefore realizing that France could no longer return to the Ancien Regime; because he chose ministers who had moderate elements, so France could attempt to recover after war; and because he did his best to avoid any extremes in policy.
Also, Louis faced many difficulties due to the previous ruler, Napoleon, reign. This is because of the wars in 1792, 1815 and his reappearance, putting a dramatic effect on the Nation. Because of this, Louis had to contend to political, social and economic problems. Louis was triumphant economically by solving many problems. However, politically and socially Louis accomplished success, but France was not stable enough during the period for Louis to be considered successful.
Louis was an uninspiring, fat, old and weak King. He used to spend his wealth in order to maintain an extravagant lifestyle and wasnt concerned about his citizens and the way the country was run. Due to King Louis negligence the aristocrats tried to take advantage by gaining power. He used to spend money on things which were irrelevant instead of trying to solve the problems arising due to taxation system for example he built Versailles. France used to also engage in wars. In order to support the army and buy weapons for the war, he increased the taxes which put more burdens on the third estate.
Another failure to Louis was he made mistakes. He caused widespread annoyance by changing the flag of France, replacing the tricolored flag, which the soldiers of the Revolution marked to victory with, with the white flag with blue fleurs-de lis which was the Bourbon family emblem. He