ON THIS DAY ·
Flight to Varennes
21 Jun 1791 — The royal family flees toward the frontier and is recognized — from the king’s face on the new money. Trust in a “citizen king” dies overnight.
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The moment in context
France’s government could not reliably tax the wealth it governed. Interest on war debt consumed much of the budget, while noble and Church privileges limited reform. The 1788 harvest failure raised bread prices just as the state sought new revenue. Louis XVI summoned the Estates-General, which had not met since 1614. Elections and written grievance lists gave millions of people a language and process for national change.
From French Revolution, chapter 3 of The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848 (JUL 1789).
The place: Flight to Varennes — map and full story →
Teach this in 5 minutes
- Why it happened — The bill for two empires’ wars. France fought Britain for a century and paid for America’s liberty last; unlike Britain, it had no parliament to legitimize taxes and no Bank of…
- The turn — The Bastille, 14 July 1789. Militarily trivial — seven prisoners, a hundred dead. Politically absolute: the king’s soldiers would not fire on Paris, and everyone saw it. Power…
- What it changed — Sovereignty changes its address. “The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation” — Article 3. Once stated, no throne in Europe is safe from the question, which…
Then ask the room: Could Louis XVI have saved the monarchy — and if so, when was the last exit? The argued answer is on the chapter page →
The atlas that shows it
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