King Louis Xvi And The Revolutionary War

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The story begins with King Louis XVI going broke (why? take a look at Marie's dresses on the previous page). Seriously, France was in debt up to its armpits after helping the ungrateful Americans win their war of independence against Britian. And that debt was on top of the debt they had from losing the Seven Years' War, not to mention the loss of profits from the colonies and territories that were taken. Louis had a great idea: tax the elites. Parlement (the court, remember) blocked this measure. The elites, who were of course well read, then demanded a Constitution to secure their rights and control the king. They demanded that he call the Estates-General. So Louis counted on his fingers and decided to do just that, figuring that the First