In 1781, 27-year-old King Louis XVI of France sent his navy and troops to help America gain independence from Britain. In return, France gained very little, except an enormous amount of debt. On the verge of financial collapse, France then experienced a terrible famine in 1788. The people blamed the King. Anti-monarchists referred to Queen Marie Antoinette as Madame Déficit. According to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, when she was told the people did not have bread, her reply was: "Let them eat cake." On July 14, 1789, an anarchist mob went through the streets of Paris and stormed the the Bastille Fortress...