Question

What did Louis XVI have to do with the French revolution?

Answer 1

Louis XVI tends to get vilified by many people. The general consensus with historians is that he was well meaning and had good intentions for the kingdom, but was too young, inexperience, and politically weak to bring about the reforms that were desperately needed by France at the time.

His handicaps were compounded by the fact that most of the kingdom's ills were not entirely caused by him and his wife, Marie Antoinette, but were rather caused and inherited by his predecessors Louis XIV and Louis XV. Their costly wars and initiatives against the Protestant Reformation and France's political enemies (Austria, England, and The Holy Roman Empire), sent France deep into debt, and were still not alleviated when Louis XVI succeeded to the throne. The costly lifestyle and conspicuous consumption of the Royal Court and the nobility during times of economic desperation also didn't help the monarchy's situation, as this galvanized public opinion against the King.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080122082055AAUdXgI

In all, Louis XVI wasn't the monarch France needed at the eve of the Revolution. He had good intentions, but was far from capable of leading the kingdom