Louis XVI's execution.

The Execution of the King.

Use information from sources 1 — 7. Where necessary, quote from the sources. Use them to support your ideas. Try and link information from different sources together.

1) Using sources 1 and 2, what kind of relationship did Louis have with his family?

2) Read source 3 carefully to yourself. What words or phrases does the writer use to give an atmosphere of fun and festivity to Louis’s execution?

3) How does the writer of source 3 present Louis in a negative way?

4) Why might the writer have produced such an account?

5) Read source 4 carefully to yourself. How does this writer present Louis in a more positive way?

6) Why might the writer have produced an account like this?

7) How could an historian find out which of sources 3 and 4 is more reliable?

8) Look at source 5. What does this source suggest about the feeling of the people towards Louis?

9) Look at source 6. This is a sketch produced shortly after Louis’s execution. Describe the sketch in detail.

10) Do you think a supporter of Louis produced source 6? Explain your answer.

11) Read source 7. How might someone in the crowd feel about Louis’s execution after hearing these words?

12) Use sources 3 — 6. Imagine you were a spectator at Louis’s execution. Write a diary extract to explain the event. Mention things like; the atmosphere at the scaffold, whether you managed to get a souvenir, the sights and sounds of the event, your hopes for France now that the King is dead.

1.    Louis XVI was an affectionate father and husband. His wife Marie Antoinette used to give him advices that influenced the decisions he made so Louis really took her into account. Louis had always focused on his family more than on ruling the country.

2.    To give an atmosphere of fun and festivity to Louis’s execution, the write uses words such as cries of joy, arm in arm, laughing and talking, festivity, wine bottles emptied.

3.    The writer f source 3 presents Louis in negative way by saying that showing how cheerful people were after his death and that almost nobody cried for his death.

4.    The writer wanted to emphasize people´s reaction when their purpose of killing the king was achieved it. They saw it as victory of the revolution.

5.    The writer of source 4 was one of Louis´s friends so he presents the king as being a courageous person who had no resentment towards the people that caused his death. He forgave them.

6.    The writer said good things about Louis because they had a close relationship.

7.    A historian may consider that Source 3 is more reliable because it was written by a deputy, who may have had a more objective view of the events occurred on the day of the execution. But Bernard was more subjective because he supported Louis.

8.    Source 5 suggests that people considered Louis´s death as a symbol of liberty and they believed that from that moment everything would be better for members of the third estate. They thought that killing the king was putting an end to the inequalities in France

9.    The sketch produced after Louis´s execution shoes his body lying on the floor while one of the executers holds his head and shows it to the crowds that were present there. People may have shouted and laughed at his death.

10.  I don’t know. Maybe it was produced by a supporter because it does not show clearly people’s reaction after seeing the dead body.

11.  If I were one of the people in the crowd, I would feel a bit of sorrow for Louis. But the French were so blind with anger and their desire of reforming the country was so strong that they did not give importance to Louis and did not give him the chance of go on living and being exiled.

12.  Today I have been to Luis´s execution. Although a person was going to be killed, it seemed to me that people behaved as if they were celebrating something. They were all eating and drinking around Louis´s corpse. They laughed and talked as if nothing terrible had happened. It seemed to me that the king´s death joined the people´s in a kind of festivity. I went near the crowd and a man gave me a piece of Louis´s shirt. Of course I turned it down. I think it was disgusting. I am not glad for the death of a person but I really hope that things improve in our country. We should not be so cruel and we have to concentrate on bringing changes to make our lives better.