Louis XVI ascended the throne in 1774. At the very beginning, he was unsuited to deal with the severe financial problems. By 1789, in a last attempt to rescue his countries financial crisis, Louis assembled the State-Generale, a legislative and consultative assembly of the three Estates. First Estate: Clergy, second Estate: Nobility, and the third Estate: Commoners. The third-Estate used the opportunity to declare for a National Assembly, starting the French Revolution.
On July 14, 1789, Parisians stormed the Bastille- a state prison where they believed ammunition was stored. Louis XVI accepted the French Revolution, but resisted the help of constitutional monarchs who sought to reform the monarchy in order to save it. On October 1789, a mob came to Versailles and forced the Louis and his unpopular Queen, Marie Antoinette, to move to Tuileries. By June 1791, Resistance on the king and queen had become so harsh they were forced to flee to Austria.
Unfortunately, during their trip they were arrested at Varennes, French, and sent back to Paris. In August 1792, they got arrested by San-Cutlottes and were imprisoned. The National Convention abolished the monarchy in September. In November, evidence of Louis XVI’s counterrevolutionary plots with Austria and other foreign countries were discovered. He was put on trial for treason and was convicted and condemned to death by a majority of people. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was executed in the guillotine. Nine months later Marie Antoinette was convicted of treason by a tribunal, on October she was executed the same way her king was.