Louis XVI was arguably one of the most incompetent people to ever have ruled France. He was unable to take care of his country the way his ancestors did, especially Louis XIV (who I talked about in my last post). Rulers in history are often times defined by their personality. Louis XVI’s personality simply did not fit for a country that was already falling apart and one that had grown so big under a monarchy that a weak ruler would simply fail. But was this really his fault? There were many reasons that Louis XVI failed as a ruler, and though his actions led to the French Revolution, those reasons might not have been entirely his fault.
Louis XVI’s biggest weaknesses were communication and interaction, which led to problems that triggered the French Revolution. For one, he wasn’t raised as a king. His older brother, who died at the age of 9, was the true heir, so his brother was taught the skills he needed to be a king. Louis XVI’s focus was on the arts and humanities, like most kings, but his parents didn’t focus on him enough. He grew up shy and timid, and was not properly coached on social skills and interaction. So when the time came, he was incapable of interacting with his ministers and was extremely indecisive as a king, which threw France into a world of revolution.
But was this really his fault? Some psychologists have diagnosed Louis with clinical depression. As a child, Louis loved locksmithing, and he picked it up as a hobby. But when the stress of ruling was on his plate, he couldn’t handle it, because he wasn’t raised to be able to preside over an empire. He didn’t make the best financial decisions for the country, and was also incapable of executing them. And as things got worse and worse, he got more and more stressed, he escaped more and more into locksmithing and doing other things that were his distractions. He used these as coping methods for his stress and as a result, the French Revolution got even worse than it was when it began. Eventually, the people of the country became completely fed up with Louis’ incompetence, and the people of France, the proletariat, guillotined him for treason.
So, two of the reasons that Louis XVI did not succeed in his rule over France was because he was not raised to be a king and he likely had a serious case of clinical depression. There were reasons for his incompetence, but in the end, it’s up to you to decide whether he deserved to be executed for treason.
How amazing is this. I could have never thought the locksmith hobby played such a vital role in French Revolution.
There are many people who adopt this hobby but you brought forward a very useful piece of history. Had he been alive today he must have been proud of his expertise and imagine the kind of business he could have grabbed.
Please do check my own piece about what locksmiths do.
Interesting piece of history. It is always very informative to learn about our history and ancestors.
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Linus Yale. Bearing the best-known name in the locking industry, Yale began as a locksmith due to his father who specialized in producing high-security bank locks. Taking his father’s legacy further, Linus Yale patented a pin tumbler cylinder lock. For mroe detail visit what does a locksmith do.
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