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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?
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