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<h1>Astrological Background</h1>
The French Revolution and its consequences serve as a clear and useful example of how to measure history via the outer planets. All four (actually Jupiter figures in, but is saved for another time) of the most outer planets Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto appear in the episodes that surround the event. More usefully, we can easily trace the entire affair to see how the planets parallel these earthly events.

<h2>1710Uranus-180/1792-Pluto1850</h2>
<h3>Other Uranus-Pluto Oppositions</h3>
<h2>1649Uranus-270/1786-Pluto1821</h2>
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<h2>Saturn Waves</h2>
<dl>
<dt>1787Saturn-0/1787-Pluto1819</dt> Neptune</dt>
<dd></dd>
<dt>1773Saturn-180/1793-Neptune1809</dt> <dd></dd>
<dt>1760Saturn-270/1796-Uranus1806</dt>
<dd></dd>


</dl>






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<h1>Historical Background</h1>
That France entered the XVIIth century with a Protestant king who renounced his religion to rule, have that king assassinated, conduct a proxy war, essentially win it, but not really have a strong monarch until Louis XIV (essential reign ~1660-1715) tells us much about the inherent strength of the French. France began 1399Neptune-Pluto1892 as the largest economy, with the most mature government (not much of an achievement at the time), the best soil and the most influence over the region. Despite its many turmoils, the French circumstance at 1399Neptune-0/1399-Pluto1892 blessed the polity with too many advantages for others to overcome. That this strength found at the beginning of the 1398 Neptune-Pluto reflects throughout the rest of the wave can be seen in the reflection on the other side of the channel; the British, nee English, prospered quite nicely despite beheading a king. The posture at the beginning of a wave has more do with how things will how an entity performs during the wave than what happens during it should be the message we gather here.
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This strength led directly to the causes of the French Revolution. Louis XIV's desire to make
France the preminent power across set the direction toward the events that began to unfold. While Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette made some juvenile errors that helped their demise, at least half the blame could be laid at the Sun King's feet. However, do not take this criticism the wrong way; Louis pulled off some incredible accomplishments. For the rules and traditions of the time, he managed to elevate his country to the most powerful in the world at the time. Only Britain could rival him, but it took that nation constantly requireed alliances to to hold even with its rival. Yes, Louis engulfed France in debt the kingdom never recovered , but this proved to be the case for most of its rivals. He should not take the blame for pushing the edge of a failing way of government, especially since most rulers of the time would have made many of the same choices. Without Louis the change would have come in another way, he just happens to have played one of the biggest roles in the story.


<h2>Thirty Years War</h2>
At the end of the Thirty Years War, Louis was not old enough to rule. France, though never an "official" participant of the conflict, came out of it with considerable gain. Specifically, it neutered two of its main rivals, Spain and the Hapsburghs. Additionally, the papacy relinquinshed the clout it had held for a millenium--not all at once, but its zenith quickly faded into memory. With both the defenders of faith fading into history and the Church ending its political brokering,  the French monarchy control its eccelisiastic structrure unimpeded. In short, the only party that could stand in its way was France itself. The French system of nobility and dynasty, dating back to the XIXth century stood well entrenched but proved essentially obsolete. Those who gave France its real power of the time numbered with the accoutants, engineers, and bureaucrats who presaged our present reality. The problem came in the form of how to work around the nobles, who for the most part had great names, but no skills. This fact remained intact through the Revolution, despite the clever and thorough acts of Louis XIV. He managed to kowtow but not eliminate them. This points to an inherent weakness of the French system: though Louis had no problem employing those of the Third Estate but giving them power went against tradition. Louis XIV used the nobility for his purposes but the thought of bringing in the lower classes never entered his or any of the other nobles' minds. Much like with the Church and the Reformation, everyone, here meaning all classes, knew the need for change, but the problem grew so complex that one dared tackle it. Remember that circumstances at the revolution escalated when the government fired ministers hired to address the problem of crushing debt. The path back and forth between the results of Thirty Years War and the Revoltution is a direct one.

<h2>Les Frondes</h2>
((Les Frondes)) set the immediate stage for Louis XIV ascent to power and gave him the means to hold and accumulate it.  It paralled the English Revolution in featuring many of the same parties, the monarchy and the noble class. But the comparison veers from here. Where the English had a maturing nobility that continued to grow its representation. While the Parliament can hardly be said to have become fully representative by the time of the French crisis, the process at least got a start with the English Civil War. The outcome of Les Frondes not only prevented the from a like body as the Parliament to emerge, it concentrated power into the Bourbon dynasty.
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Les Frondes was a two part affair that also involved the Spanish to some degree. Nobles rteurned from the Thirty Years War thought they could demand a bigger role for themselves in governing France, but they proved better at fighting one another rather than with politics. In the end it consolidated power to the crown and put the nobility at mercy to it. Having occurred during Louis' developmental years, Les Fronded heavily influenced the mindset of his reign. We must remember that the event occurred almost simultaneously with the end of the Thirty Years War and 1398Neptune-180/1648-Pluto1892 (along with 1649Uranus-0/1649-Neptune1821 and 1596Uranus-180/1650-Pluto1710) for all of these show in the story of La Revolution.

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<h2>Louis XIV's Ways and Wars</h2>
Les Frondes showed that nobility had scant support among most of the French. Though Louis did not wish them to impede his plans, he knew he could not abolish them. Instead he so occupied them in petty ritual, he made them a non-force. A big problem remained that he and his successors left unsolved. Obsolete tax stuctures. Before we explain why the failure to address taxes during the XVIIth century led to the turmoil of the late XVIIIth century we need to reacqaint ourselves with the conditions and needs of the time.
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Like most other monarchs of the time, Louis increasingly fought modern wars with medieval revenue flow. When a monarch took office s/he gained right to tax this or that entity for a certain amount over a set time. These revenues remained fixed. In the meantime, the goods needed to equip and maintain armies increasingly came from an strongly emergent mercantile system. Like any other, this system seeks the best price it can get, in the long run inflating the prices everyone pays regardless of their ability. The fixed amount Louis garnered could never match ever higher prices. In addition, the sums nobles paid often remained cemented to tradition, often meaning that they paid little or no tax. The shortfall increasingly fell to the lower classes to make up.

<h3>Archaic Tax Structures</h3>
<h2>Changing Times, Stagnant Structures</h2>


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<h1>Conclusions</h1>