Publisher description for Preserving the monarchy : the comte de Vergennes, 1774-1787 / Munro Price.
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The comte de Vergennes is best known as one of the great foreign ministers of modern French history, but for much of the 1780s he was also first minister in all but name. This is the first book to deal in depth with the critical part he played in French domestic policies on the eve of the Revolution. The book studies Vergennes' role in the context of the debate on the nature and future of the French monarchy in the two decades before the Revolution. His financial reforms, fully examined here, were the last attempt to restructure the monarchy in accordance with its traditional principles. The failure of this undertaking accelerated the final collapse of the royal government. Preserving the Monarchy is based on important new archival material, as well as reinterpretations of the established sources. The result is a significant new study, not merely of Vergennes but of the end of the ancien re;gime.
Library of Congress subject headings for this publication: Vergennes, Charles Gravier, comte de, 1719-1787, France Foreign relations 1774-1793, France Politics and government 1774-1793, Finance, Public France History To 1789, Foreign ministers France Biography, Diplomats France Biography