Convening of the Estates General
- When
- 8 August 1788 – 1 May 1789
- Where
- Convocation and opening of the Estates General
- Part of
- Louis XVI's Reform Speech
As a last-ditch attempt to approve new monetary reforms, Louis XVI convoked the Estates General on 8 August 1788, setting its opening for 1 May 1789.
Louis XVI's reform efforts had repeatedly failed: the nobility opposed his proposed reforms, the Assembly of Notables of 1787 did not resolve the fiscal crisis, and coercive measures against the Parlement of Paris, including Lit de justice registrations and the dissolution of the Parlement on 8 May 1788, did not secure the reforms. As a last-ditch attempt to get new monetary reforms approved, Louis XVI convoked the Estates General on 8 August 1788, setting the date of their opening on 1 May 1789. This led to the convening of the Estates General of 1789, the body at the center of the June 1789 crisis.
Sources
- Louis XVI Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.