Could the right minister use the French Revolution to save the Monarchy?

I watched a documentary today on Louis XVI and what he wanted to do to reform France. From my understanding, the biggest obstacle to that was the clergy and aristocracy who made the summoning of the Estates General a useless exercise. The future revolutionaries on the other hand, started off wanting to deal with the King but Louis XVI refused to meet with them.

Louis XVI was a weak and indecisive king but he did have some realistic ministers. If the right man was in the right place just then, could he have used the Revolution to break the power of the nobility? Forced the upper class to pay their fair share of taxes and shored up France's economy? Maybe even shored up the Queen's popularity by letting the populace actually eat cake, and more affordable bread?
 

Schnozzberry

Gone Fishin'
Donor
When the Estates General split between nobility/clergy and the people, Louis likely chose the nobility because they were threatening to overthrow him if he didn't pay the debt. Louis had moments of courage, and if he had one when the Estates split, he could have defied the nobility and chose the people. As for a potential minister to help Louis' courage, a reform minded noble like Lafayette would be a likely choice.
 
Forced the upper class to pay their fair share of taxes and shored up France's economy?

No. The parlements were too powerful for that guy to force the nobles to pay their fair share, and Bourbon France needed to abolish its parlements a decade or so before the Revolution so as to avoid it.

So yeah, you really need that guy to reform Bourbon France well before the Revolution.
 
No. The parlements were too powerful for that guy to force the nobles to pay their fair share, and Bourbon France needed to abolish its parlements a decade or so before the Revolution so as to avoid it.

So yeah, you really need that guy to reform Bourbon France well before the Revolution.
The Revolutionaries swept away the entire ancien regime. You don't think they'd be willing to do the same but keep the king as a figurehead à la Great Britain?
 
The Revolutionaries swept away the entire ancien regime. You don't think they'd be willing to do the same but keep the king as a figurehead à la Great Britain?

If Louis XVI still flees to a country France is at war with, there is no chance of a surviving monarchy. I'm not at all sure how you'd avoid that from happening.
 
Hmm. I'm trying to find a way to explain my idea without creating a whole timeline, which I don't think I have time for.

The POD I have in mind is after the Estates General but before the Royal family is taken from Versailles. This fictional Prime Minister would be working with the people and any priest or lord in the way would be facing the guillotine. Louis XVI wouldn't have to flee the country, which wouldn't be at war anyways.
 
If Louis XVI still flees to a country France is at war with, there is no chance of a surviving monarchy. I'm not at all sure how you'd avoid that from happening.

Revolutionary France wasn't at war with anybody in 1791, at the time of the escape attempt and the ensuing arrest at Varennes. But an earlier assassination of Gustav III of Sweden, with Fersen losing status and closeness to the French royal family might butterfly away the attempt.

The Revolutionaries swept away the entire ancien regime. You don't think they'd be willing to do the same but keep the king as a figurehead à la Great Britain?

They tried, he literally plotted to have them engage in a losing war and his in-laws to restore him as an absolute monarch. Of course, the Girondins were foolish enough to agree to it, but that didn't help him for long.
 
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