Preview

To What Extent Was Charles X Responsible for His Own Downfall

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
585 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
To What Extent Was Charles X Responsible for His Own Downfall
To what extent was Charles X responsible for his own downfall?

When Charles X stood down to Louis-Philippe, after his monarchy, many said that this was his own doing and he was fully responsible for his own downfall. However this was not entirely true, Louis unorthodox methods may have contributed to his downfall in the long term however short term causes are just as important and appointment of ministers such as Villele was a crucial fault in Charles’s system.

One could say that the polarisation of political ideologies in the Chamber of Peers and Chamber of Deputies after the white terror could have been a key contribution to the downfall of Charles X. Charles seemed weak and feeble when he was in power and could not securely control the Chamber of Peers and chamber of Deputies. This led to on-going tension over land + privilege and debate about the nature of the monarchy.

The primary downfall was said to be the Kings appointment of Villele. Villele was very unpopular amongst his colleagues and the public, he was known to always choose a safe option and not take any risks, however he was very clever, cunning and always preformed remarkably, for example there would be careful control of the budget. This being said, the downfall of Villele led to a large downfall in Charles X also. The fall of Villele in 1828 was due to polarised political positions at the time; there was hardly any agreement in parliament. There was opposition to villele from the left and the right and there was also underground liberal movements e.g Les Chevaliers de la Liberté.

Charles and Villele worked closely together to bring back a more absolute monarchy, as the Ultras wanted and Charles was refusing to embrace liberalism. He did not want an absolute monarchy as there had been before the revolution, and he did not want another revolution which would give more power to the bourgeoisie and proletariat. He wanted to control a stable monarchy, which allowed a certain degree of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In terms of finance, it can be argued that the situation was not successful. The Government managing it could not provide a stable financial settlement. Largely the King did not have much in the way of money, and Charles' excessive spending on pleasurable activities, at the beginning of his reign only exacerbated the disastrous financial situation. Initially, although Charles agreed to give up feudal dues that were revived by his father, he was granted an annual income of £1.2 million by Parliament. However, this arrangement had two drawbacks. Firstly, the financial settlement that Charles was given, was simply not adequate to his needs. Secondly, the hearth tax that was imposed to raise the money was highly unpopular to the people. It is hard to say a reign is 'successful' if the Monarch is unpopular, especially as the country at that time, was still suffering from the financial situation left behind by the…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He collected taxes without the consent of the estates general in order establish many things, fund a series of wars, build a bigger and stronger military and to build his palace, the Palace of Versailles, when it was built he insisted that the nobles spend more time there (Doc 2). This eventually led the nobles into debt because they spent most of their time and money at the Palace of Versailles. The nobles being in debt meant that they lost status and power, which ultimately fed the basis for the French Revolution. Document 3 states; “The aftermath of the revocation was disastrous for France. Many of those who abjured [gave up] their Protestant religion repented of their weakness.”(Doc 3) This demonstrates that the removal of the Edict of Nantes drove people insane because it granted the people France substantial rights, however when the rights were removed by Louis XIV people became infuriated, which is another reason to why the French Revolution occurred. Fundamentally, the actions that Louis XIV took had a great impact towards his people. His actions ultimately led the people of France initiate the French Revolution, which left France and its people at a vulnerable…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    nation. In order to become a true absolute ruler Louis xiv needed to make sure…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Louis XIV believed that one king should have power and control over the country of France. To do this he reorganized the army and was exceptionally…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As King Louis XVI reined over France during the French Revolution his actions heavily impacted the revolution. When he took over as king in 1774 the country was in severe financial crisis; extravagant spending for the American Revolution left the country on the brink of bankruptcy (History.com Staff 2009). Heavy taxes were imposed which were impossible for the Third Estate (the common people) to pay due to low harvests. King Louis XVI was not popular by the citizens which resulted in outbreaks to overthrow him.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    I believe several factors, such as Feudalism, unfair taxes, years of oppression, inequality in the French society, the bad harvest of the summer of 1788 and the increasing economic crises contributed and lit the fuse of the French revolution. The calling of the Estates-General in May 1789 was aimed to solve the economic crises, however mistreatment of the lower classes for centuries led to them wanting change. This event led to the Tennis Court Oath, in which the lower classes, who were represented by the third Estate declared themselves a National Constituent Assembly. This could be seen as the start of the French revolution, as it is the first time that Louis is not in full control and gives away part of his power to the population. Furthermore the increasing economic hardship led to anti-government feelings among the population and a rise in popularity towards the popular movement.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles I had a very bad start as king, he held all the blame at this point, because of his bad start people didn’t trust him much and he also had a stammer and was shy so people thought it would be more likely for him to let a war happen. Charles needed a stronger personality to be able to rule, people disliked Charles even more when he made the Duke of Buckingham chief minister as he was very unpopular and selfish. Things didn’t get any better when Charles married a catholic wife with a strong personality. People feared that as England was protestant, and Charles married a catholic wife, because of her strong personality she might make England catholic. Parliament was partly to blame for the earlier tension as they tried to refuse customs taxes to Charles.…

    • 956 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    King Louis Xiv of France

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Louis XIV also had some negatives effects on France. One negative impact he had on France is that he lead France into debt. He also demanded that the nation convert to catholic or else he would leave France. A positive effect is that Louis the Great had was that he reduced France’s taxes and had a major impact on the arts.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Did the Civil War Begin?

    • 2630 Words
    • 11 Pages

    On 22 August 1642, King Charles I raised his battle standard and declared a civil war against his enemies in Parliament.…

    • 2630 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles X was recently appointed as King of France by the Allied powers after the Fall of Napoleon . France has been actively pursuing their liberalist acts creating conflicts between them and conservative parties in their country. The French society is now questioning the decision…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles I became King of England, Scotland and Ireland since 1425 until 1449 where a civil war took place because of Charles wrong decisions he kept making. A civil war is regions within the same country, this civil war begun because of religion, money, and power. He didn’t care about these, which sadly leaded him to his own execution.…

    • 667 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The nationalist perspective of King Louis XIV is that the head of the country is the nation and for society to prosper the people have to be willing to serve and follow the leader’s will. The source’s perspective can be shown throughout history by the beliefs and values he had during his reign in France. The source believed in the uses of a social hierarchy and the absolute monarch. The social hierarchy benefited the people who were part of the Roman Catholic Clergy or nobility. These people received privileges and were not required to pay taxes. The rest of the population had a difficult and challenging way of living. They were required to serve the king by paying taxes which lead to poor living conditions, in which some died from starvation. The absolute monarch allowed all the power in France to be consolidated in the hands of the king. This allowed for King Louis XIV to be the main voice in France and gave the power to decide how the country will operate. These ideals were the main contributions to start of the French Revolution, many people felt that they deserved better rights which lead the nation members to revolt and seek a better constitution. The source would disagree with J.D Vance’s idea to bridge the gap between the rich and poor. King Louis XIV would believe that he should not have to…

    • 1236 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    French Revolution Essay

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The French people were already overtaxed. Knowing the French was stuck in a hole and must find a way to get money Louis had to talk to his advisors. Many of King Louis financial advisors told him the…

    • 1127 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The difference between him and Dessalines was he made sure to have a lot of nobles and structured his “kingdom” to replicate European monarchy. He was a dictatorial king, but a person who saw that development was important and set goals to bring his kingdom into a more modern world. He tried to improve the education system for the elite children and spent very much money on monuments and buildings. King Henri I was paranoid like Dessalines, he believed that the French would attempt to re-invade and try to get Haiti back as a colony; since everybody in the world saw that Haiti was a colony in rebellion. He built the Citadelle for military purpose and to prevent any type of invasion. On the other hand Christophe was able to make fermage work and was able to return the production of sugar to about 75% of what it was when French was in control prior to the revolution. Despite that, the success in the production system was the end of Henry I’s power. The people of Haiti did not fight for their independence to be a part of a system that is so much like slavery, hence most of the people fleeing to the south and if they couldn’t most of the people end up hating the system Henry set up. Once Pétion died his successor Jean-Pierre Boyer launched an attack on the north, to Christophe this was a signal of a possible uprising. With the people annoyed by the system…

    • 1987 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles made and The troubles he caused. In Power, I will discuss how Charles and…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays