How Successful Was Louis XVIII - Essay Preparation

7/29/2019 How Successful Was Louis XVIII - Essay Preparation

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How successful was the

Bourbon Restoration?

Essay Ideas







To what extent

should Louis

XVIII beconsidered a

failure?



To what extent should Louis XVIII

be considered a failure?

The question asks: ‘To what extent…?’

In order to successfully answer any question

phrased in this way you must reach a

judgement.• It was a complete failure

• It was a failure in some respects

• It was not a failure at allYou must measure the extent of the success /

failure, but this needs to be supported by your

factual evidence.



Points to include:

Failure

Success

Louis XVIII

Hundred Days

Moderate policies

Economic recovery

Peace restored / international

accord

Resistance of extremism

Louis as an uninspiring King

Succumbed to pressure from

extremists

Changes to constitution

Repression of

Bonapartists

Resisted Ultras after 1816

War indemnities

paid by 1818

Tighter control of gov’t

spending

Treaty of Aix La

Chapelle, 1818

No major

engagements 1814-

1824

1814 Charter upheld

many principles of the

Revolution

Extended

franchise –

‘pays legal’ –

to 90,000

Re-introduction of

censorship

Additions to

Chamber of

Deputies - 1821

White Terror -

1816

Dismissal of

Bonapartist civil

servants

Old (69) and fat.

After assassination of

Berri, heavily

influenced by Charlesand Ultras

Renewal of clericalism



Structuring your essay

• Many of you approached thischronologically. This meant that youchopped and changed between success

and failure.• A more logical approach would be to

address one side and then the other.

• To make complete paragraphs: have alook at the spider diagram again. Can yousee any links?



Points to include:

Failure

Success

Louis XVIII

Moderate policies

Economic recovery

Peace restored / internationalaccord

Resistance of extremism

Louis as an uninspiring King

Succumbed to pressure from

extremists

Changes to constitution

Repression of

Bonapartists

Resisted Ultras after 1816

War indemnities

paid by 1818

Tighter control of gov’t

spending

Treaty of Aix La

Chapelle, 1818

No major

engagements 1814-

1824

1814 Charter upheld

many principles of the

Revolution Extended

franchise –

‘pays legal’ –

to 90,000

Re-introduction of

censorship

Additions to

Chamber of

Deputies - 1821

White Terror -

1816

Dismissal of

Bonapartist civil

servants

Old (69) and fat.

After assassination of

Berri, heavily

influenced by Charlesand Ultras

Renewal of clericalism

Hundred Days



Example!

‘The White Terror in 1816 demonstrated a

significant lapse in strength and judgement

on Louis’ part. He was pressured into

carrying out severe reprisals on former Bonapartists, including the execution

Marshall Ney who became a martyr for his

cause. The Ultras and the Duc d’Artois were keen to see harsh penalties imposed, however this

simply fuelled the Bonapartists’ cause…’



Structure

• Repression of the Bonapartists was linked to

failure to resist extremists here. Try to see some

logical connections as this will help to frame you

paragraphs.• The most important thing is that you have a

strong analytical opening point in a paragraph to

link it to the question. By thinking in this way

you will avoid long descriptive sections that don’tactually answer the question!

A Ti li f th R t ti



A Timeline of the Restoration

• Louis XVIII – Brother to executed Louis XVI, in exile for 20 years.Championed by Talleyrand as the least likely to divide France.

• 22 March 1814 British liberated Bordeaux, the citizens declaredthemselves in favour of Bourbons, convinced Duke of Wellington.

• 1814 Constitution:

– Louis XVIII was asked to sign a Charter drawn up by Talleyrand,advisors and Napoleonic figures to ensure some of the fundamentalprinciples of the Revolution = constitutional monarchy.

– Parliamentary system like the British with an upper and lower house.Chamber of Peers and the Chamber of Deputies

– Franchise – property owners over 30 who paid over 300 francs a year

in direct taxation. Voters choose representatives for electoral colleges,colleges choose deputies – over 40 earning over 1,000 francs.

– King could choose his own ministers, introduce legislation into theChambers, veto any amendments to bills, dissolve parliament andcontrol civil and military appointments.

• He made mistakes early on; replaced revolutionary flag with Fleur de Lys.

Reformed the Household Guard under the influence of several thousandnoble officers – concern about aristocratic influence. ‘Bestowed’ theCharter on France suggesting divine right, re-burial of Louis XVI andMarie-Antoinette was controversial

• Consequently French welcomed Napoleon back and Louis fled to Ghent.

• Hundred Days undermined Louis’ return. The 2nd Peace of Paris placedmuch harder penalties on France. Waterloo 18 June 1815. ReducedFrance to its 1789 borders, war indemnity of 700 million francs, armyoccu ied France billetin with French families – Louis blamed b man

f



How successful

was Louis XVIII?Successes

• Moderate policies – appointed capable,popular ministers

• Resisted pressurefrom Ultras between1816-1820.

• Decazes re-organisedelectoral system toallow for a morerepresentative

Chamber of Deputies

• 1818 – War indemnitiespaid off by tighter controls on government

spending• 1818 – Aix La Chapelle

– France admitted intoConcert of Europe

• 1823 – SupportedSpanish King Ferdinandagainst Liberal rebels.

• Military success – showed signs of Frenchrecovery and growing

confidence

f



How successful

was Louis XVIII?

Failures

• Ultras were able todominate Chamber of

Deputies 1814-1815-Chambres Introuvables

• 1816 - White Terror,punishments for

Napoleon’s supporters.Marshall Ney executed

• 1816 – Civil service andmilitary purged of

Napoleonic supporters• 1820 – Assasination of

Duc de Berri allowedUltras to re-assert

themselves.

• Richelieu passedelectoral reforms thatrestricted electorate.

• Louis failing in health

• 1822 - Comte deVillele led an Ultradominated Chamber

• Spanish campaignseen as support for adespotic King.

S f L i



• Success for Louis:

• Moderate, appointed capable, popular ministers; Decazes andRichelieu. Tried to work with Parliament. Supported by the PaysLegal

• 1815 onwards – economic recovery. Paid off war indemnities by

1818 through tightening government spending• 1818 Aix-La-Chapelle – France re-admitted to the Concert of

Europe. French Army reformed and France was permanently addedto the Quintuple Alliance.

• 1818 – Talleyrand dismissed and replaced by Richelieu – Presidentof the Council of Ministers

• Changed the electoral system – Annual elections 1/5 of Chamber tobe replaced.

• Dec 1818 Decazes – reformist – gained a majority. Attempted to getrid of press censorship 1818-1820

• BUT Duc de Berri assassinated 1820

• 1822 – Spanish King Ferdinand II requested support to fight Liberalrebels. Refused to co-operate with Allies, said that they wereworried that it would spread to France. Britain requestedguarantees that it was only to help Spain, refused.

• 6 April 1823 an army of 100,000 soldiers crossed the Pyrenees anddefeated the rebels. Success in Spain that even Napoleon hadn’t

achieved.• Sign of French economic recovery and growing confidence.

Failures:



• Failures:• Ultras – royalists, many former émigrés, used influence to secure positions in

Chamber of Deputies.

• 1815 they dominated the Chamber – ‘Chambre Introuvable’ – even moreRoyalist than Louis. Led by the Comte d’Artois, wanted; rid of the Charter andParliament and return of lost land

• 1816 White Terror – harsh punishments for Napoleon’s supporters – 7,000arrested, imprisoned or executed. Many encouraged to flea, but Marshall Neyrefused and was executed. Became a martyr of the Bonapartist cause. Ultraspurged civil service and military.

• 1820 Duc de Berri, nephew of the King, son of the Compte d’Artois, wasassassinated outside the Paris Opera House. Only member of the Bourbondynasty capable of providing an heir. Ultras forced a shift of government and

the dismissal of the moderate Decazes.• Richelieu returned to office and secured Ultra demands for electoral changes:

Number of Deputies increased from 238 to 430. Additional deputies to beelected by a small group of the highest taxpayers – 15,000 of the richest men inFrance.

• More press censorship in 1821, clergy were given more influence and therewere plans to compensate the émigrés for lost land.

• Louis failing in health became dominated by his Ultra brother. The wife of theD de B gave birth to a son, 7 month after his murder, confirmed the line.

• 1822 Richelieu resigned and the Compte de Villele led the Chamber. Chief Minister 1822-27.

• Was successful, carried out important financial reforms, but was unpopular because of his connection to the Ultras.

• French intervention in Spain was interpreted as supporting a despotic King,rather than military glory.

• Why did the Bourbon Restoration fail?



• Why did the Bourbon Restoration fail?

• Taken from essays from last year!

• One of the most prominent factors involved in the failure of the Bourbon Restorationwas the very active role that the Ultras played in parliament.

• Probably the most prevalent contributing factor to the failure was the characters andpersonalities of the monarchs themselves.

• Charles X was the last monarch of the Bourbon dynasty and arguably the one who didthe most damage to the Bourbons.

• The personalities and attitudes of the Bourbon dynasty both played crucial roles inbringing the restoration to its knees.

• The most consistent cause of the failure of the restoration was gradual re-emergence of old ideas from the Ancien Regime.

• The King was already unpopular for his obvious loyalties to the Church as well as hisapparent desire to rule only under his divine right.

• Charles X’s link to the Catholic Church led to a re-introduction of clericalism and theAncien Regime practices upset the middle-class.

• Charles X was not famed for his political acumen. This idea can be mirrored in hiscoronation, which he must have known would anger the largely anti-clerical population.(I would take issue with the idea that the major i ty o f the po pulat ion w ere ant i -c ler ical)

• In conclusion there were a lot of reasons why the Bourbon Restoration failed, but I thinkthat the deciding factor was the mistakes made by Charles X.

• In conclusion, I believe that the largest contributing factor to the failure of the BourbonRestoration was Louis’ and Charles’ obvious links to the Ultras.

• In my own opinion, I think that the personalities and attitudes of the monarchs were themajor factors undermining the Bourbon Restoration.

• These opening sentences demonstrate how to ensure that your paragraph is answeringthe question and not being purely descriptive. Any detail or description in an essay of this type should be there purely to explain or give evidence for the analytical point thatyou have made at the beginning of the paragraph.

• In the exam it is likely that you will only be asked about the strengths and weaknesses of either Louis XVIII or Charles X.

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How Successful Was Louis XVIII - Essay Preparation