The finacial crisi of the French Revolution

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“How Serious Was The Pre-Revolutionary Financial Crisis Between 1786-88,
And How Significant Was The Clash Between The Notables And Calonne In Failing
To Solve It?”

On the twentieth of august 1786 Charles Alexandre de Calonne, comptroller-general of the royal finances, informed King Louis XVI that the state was on the verge of a financial meltdown. Whilst not having exact details to the financial figures to show the full extent of the problem, it is never the less recognized that France was in serious financial difficulty. What then did Calonne propose to sort this financial mess out? How was he to convince the King and the Notables that France was in financial danger and to give backing to his solutions? This essay will attempt to answer such questions by examining the financial crisis France was in and by looking at Calonne’s proposals in which to solve it. We shall also examine his failure to convince the Notables and the steps to his acrimonious dismissal.
First then lets look at the financial situation: according to Calonnes calculations the total revenue for France in 1786 would amount to 475 million livres. The problem was though, that expenditure would come to a total of approximately 587 million livres. That meant a deficit of 112 million – roughly a fifth of the entire annual revenue. This rise in deficit was due to a huge increase in state borrowing since 1777. As a result of the huge amounts of money the state was borrowing there was also the huge rise in the annual interest and repayments that the treasury had to dispurse. Indeed since 1777, Calonne claimed that ariubd 1,250 million livres had been borrowed. A lot of this borrowing was due to financing the various wars that French kings of the eighteenth century were prone to fighting. The last one, French involvement in the American Civil War between 1778-83, had a crippling effect on the economy and was substantial in rendering it down to the situation that Calonne had announced to Louis XVI. What then did the comptroller-general propose to do? To be fair to Calonne he was not lucky enough to have a myriad of options for him to work with. For instance it would be natural to think that in a time of economic crisis, an increase in tax would be an obvious step- yet not so for Calonne. France was already regarded as one of the most highly taxed states in Europe, and the average Frenchman was already feeling the burden of the Kings’ borrowing.

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