France: The Ancien Régime and Attempts at Reform

The Ancien Régime and Attempts at Reform

Louis XV (1715–74) inherited a unified France, but a France still burdened by the remnants of feudalism. The “absolute” power of the king was hedged in by a stupendous multitude of dusty charters and special privileges—often granted to remove the recipients from national politics—held by families, guilds, monopolies, communes, and provinces, and by the clergy and nobles. Taxes, although onerous, were raised inefficiently and inequitably, partly by the farmers general (see farming, in taxation), partly by the state. Commerce, based on mercantilism, was hampered by restrictive regulations, monopolies, and internal tariff barriers. Rural overpopulation outstripped the stagnant agricultural productivity. Colbert had reorganized the administration by curtailing the power of the provincial governors and by reestablishing the administrative units called intendancies, originated by Richelieu. The intendants were trusted civil servants who carried out the policies of the central government, but their capacity to break down local privilege was limited. In several provinces, notably Brittany, the local assemblies of the three estates retained the power to thwart reforms.

A more significant stronghold of aristocratic privilege and vested interests was the parlement; the parlements skillfully related their special interests to the still popular ideal of local liberty. The ever-expanding bourgeoisie as well as the large body of landowning farmers, however, were finding the remnants of feudal dues, services, and other customs increasingly intolerable. Economic reform became the rallying cry of the physiocrats and their disciples such as Turgot. Many philosophers of the Enlightenment, notably Voltaire, looked hopefully to the monarchy for administrative rationalization, but the crown's sporadic attempts at reform, particularly of finances, were hindered by the parlements. Operating under a system of outworn privilege, the wealthiest country in Europe was ruled by a government perennially on the verge of bankruptcy.

The honest administration (1726–43) of Cardinal Fleury had barely extricated France from the disastrous failure of the Mississippi Scheme (1720), when Louis XV plunged into the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48) and the Seven Years War (1756–63). Not only was the treasury drained, but France lost its empire in India and North America. Turgot's reforms, instituted early in the reign of Louis XVI (1774–92), were cut short in 1776, when he was dismissed. Seeking to avenge its defeat by Britain in the Seven Years War, France supported the American Revolution (1775–83). Financially, however, the war was a disaster for France.

Sections in this article:

Introduction
The Contemporary Era
Gaullist France
The Fourth Republic and Postwar France
The World Wars
Royalism, Reform, and the Birth of Modern France
The Revolution and Napoleon I
The Ancien Régime and Attempts at Reform
The Reformation and its Aftermath
The Making of a Nation
The Birth of France
Ancient Gaul to Feudalismthe Birth of France
Government
Economy
People
Land
Bibliography

See more Encyclopedia articles on: French Political Geography