WI : A better prepared Louis XVI

[Yorel]

Louis XVI's education was rather ill prepared to rule when he became King of France in 1774. It wasn't until the death of his older brother, the Duke of Burgundy, in 1761 that Louis XVI received the education that needed to be given to a future King. Problem is that it was still rather negliged and hastened, leading to Louis XVI having no real political experience when he took the crown.

Supposing Louis XVI's education had been better handled, could he have become a more competent King? And if so, would he have been able to handle or prevent the French Revolution?

 

[Alexius I Kommenos]

well the rev could easily have been prevented just have Necker remain minister of Finance or get some finance minister who had the skill of Colbert from Louis XIV reign. Next have France not intervene in ACW thus it doesn't go bankrupt and instead have Louis focus on internal stability. Louis was a pretty good king, the problem was he was too weak and had no backbone like his predessors like Louis XIV or Louis XIII, also the situationof France occcured due to Louis XV, so yes it is plausable. All you need is French focus on internal reforms get him check Noble power. Curb his excessive spending and give peaseants more rights. All this could have hapoened had Louis showed more backbone. That is all he needed to be a conservative spender, focus on internal reforms instead of foreign affairs. Develop a much closer tie with Bourbon Spain, have a brilliant finance minister, and find some way to kill Roguespierre.
Plus it would also help if you had a French cardinal with the skill and tenacity of either Mazarin or Richelieu

With all of this you can get a very successful France

 

[johnjcakos]

What could be interesting would be Bourgogne NOT dying in 1761 and becoming a different - and better - King Louis XVI.

 

[Tripwire]

I imagine that if the king was able and willing to begin programs of reform himself, rather than having them forced upon him, the French Revolution would have been averted. The question is, would even a well-educated French king be willing to give up his absolute power? And would the nobility let him give more rights to the peasants?

France had been building up serious debt, and no doubt popular anger, for decades prior to the Revolution. The AWR just pushed it over the edge. Even with cuts in spending, there would need to be major changes to prevent France from blowing up at a later date.

 

[minifidel]

I imagine that if the king was able and willing to begin programs of reform himself, rather than having them forced upon him, the French Revolution would have been averted. The question is, would even a well-educated French king be willing to give up his absolute power? And would the nobility let him give more rights to the peasants?

France had been building up serious debt, and no doubt popular anger, for decades prior to the Revolution. The AWR just pushed it over the edge. Even with cuts in spending, there would need to be major changes to prevent France from blowing up at a later date.

Louis VXI did begin a program of reform himself; it was blocked by the conservative regional parlements.