Louis XVI was king of France from May 10, 1774 to 1792. He was born in Versailles on August 23, 1754, and was guillotined on January 21, 1793 at the Place de la Révolution, which is now called the Place de la Concorde in Paris. He married his wife Marie Antoinette in 1770. Although he normally has a reputation as an bad leader, he actually worked on relieving some of the worst taxes and reforming badly written policy. Louis XVI was generally considered to be a bit stupid, and so let others (including his wife) run most of the government while he pursued hobbies.
Some of the people he left in charge made poor decisions, so the government got caught up in excessive spending to the point of bankruptcy. Because of this, the people of Paris destroyed the Bastille (of which is now celebrated on Bastille Day) on July 14, 1789 and shortly after imprisoned the royal family in the palace of Tuileries. Eventually, Louis XVI declared alliance to the new French constitution, but secretly tried to stop the revolution (which had started mainly at the destruction of Bastille). Because of this, when France was declared a republic, Louis XVI was tried as a traitor, and he and Marie Antoinette were publicly guillotined.