The

The Hello and welcome to a history of your Ki-Battles podcast.

This is the French Revolutionary Wars, part three of six.

Thank you. Revolutionary Wars, part three of six. In the last two episodes I have described the turbulent events of the 1780s and the beginning of the 1790s.

This included the fallout from the War of American Independence, a war between the Russians and the Austrians on one side and the Ottoman Empire and the other, and local revolts in the United Dutch provinces, and

southern Netherlands. The French Revolution happened to coincide with these other events,

and for the first two years it was mostly an internal affair,

which had perhaps surprisingly little impact on the rest of Europe.

Economic and social problems had been building up in France for decades before the revolution.

Once the most powerful nation in Europe, she had

suffered a string of national humiliations. A poor deal at the end of the Seven Years' War,

1756 to 63, the loss of most of her colonial possessions to the British and failing influence

diplomatically across the continent.

The widely read political philosopher, the Abbe William Reynel,

renowned for his courageous attack on slavery and imperialism, complained of France's fall from global predominance.

Quote, the French Navy, which had been once, just once so redoubtable, had ceased to exist.

Weakness, disorder and corruption have reduced it to the oblivion from which it had emerged during the brightest period of the monarchy. It could no longer defend our most far-flung

possessions, nor protect our coasts from invasion and pillage. On every shore of our globe,

our navigators, our merchants, were exposed to ruinous snubs and humiliations a hundred

times more intolerable." The French King from 1774, Louis XVIth, was poorly equipped for the role of national leader

at such a difficult time. His tragedy was that he had good intentions and a strong sense of responsibility, but he was shy and awkward and lacked the required political skills and charisma.

Like his grandfather and predecessor, Louis XIV. He was a poor communicator and struggle to make difficult decisions.

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