What was the most intractable problem facing the French monarchy in the eighteenth century Israa El-dandrawy, Paper 17 Essay 3 The eighteenth century was a tumultuous period, and for that reason a common error in analysis has appeared in conflating the origins of the collapse of the regime with other phenomena, such as the provocation of Revolution and the Terror. The ancien regime was faced by many problems. Traditional historiography has placed the regime's economy and finances at the most intractable problem- however this approach is a by-product of teleological examination due to the dominance of the Marxist narrative in early historiography. Revisionist historians, such as post-modernists and cultural historians have attempted to side-line social and economic spheres in their assessment of the collapse of the Bourbon regime in favour of intellectual development. Overall the nature of the question, as well as the over determined responses it inspires, place historians in danger of reductionism. Once one attempts to identify a single aspect as 'the most intractable problem', the regimes' collapse becomes a unitary whole rather than a multifarious and polyvalent event with greater fluidity and many potential outcomes. I believe the closest we can get to an answer to this question without running such risks is dealing with each factor as an 'origin' rather than a 'cause', diverging from a monocausal response to the regimes collapse. Earlier Marxists historians such as Marshall and Lefebvre, albeit in a rather reductionist fashion, see France's rising economic crisis as the 'main' problem facing the French monarchy. The French economy was indeed exhausted by debt, which by the time Louis ascended the throne already stood and 2.3 billion livres. Continual involvement in foreign wars, particularly the American War of Independence placed considerable strain on royal finances. Internal circumstances, such as the traditions of honorific privileges and tax exemption also minimised tax revenues, resulting in a dependency on borrowing. For example, both the first and second states were exempted from the Taille Personalle (tax on property and income). Furthermore, the crown engaged in lavish spending which diminished finances at the expense of appearance. The economic crisis was also compounded by a downturn in the 1770s followed by a series of poor harvests and winters from 1785 to 1789. Collectively, the economy was prone to corruption from internal, external and extenuating sources. These issues in the French economy and financial state can be seen as the most intractable problem facing the French monarchy, as it fuelled royal resentment in all three estates. Said resentment can be seen in the proliferation of peasantry resistance to seigneurial dues as well as the resistance of the parlement in granting Louis further loans. Marxist historians however, exaggerate the significance of the financial situation and argue that it inspired a bourgeois capitalist revolution. Ultimately, whilst the financial situation was ruinous, it is important to approach the question without pursuing a 'causal chain' of events, starting at the collapse of the ancien regime and ending with the French revolution- a trope pursued