Poor Louis XVI......................

 

His executive management was poor, and so were his arts of persuasion, so necessary in any leader, whether a king, emperor, tsar, or elected president.  In times of war, rebellion, or crisis, leaders must sometimes be cruel or cold; he was neither.  In times of war, rebellion, or crisis, leaders must sometimes be able to hate; he was not much of a hater either.  In times of war, rebellion, or crisis, to some extent or another, most leaders must be fanatics: stubborn, steel-willed, driven, secretive yet able to inspire, fastidious and zealous.  They must be prepared to act alone, without encouragement, relying on their own inner resolve.  And they must be indifferent to approval, reputation, and even love, cherishing only their own person sense of honor or vision, which they allow no one else to judge.

     But this was not the case with Louis XVI.

-Jay Winik, The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World: 1788-1800