Financial Reforms and the Public Report on Royal Finances

Jacques Necker

A banker, financier, and politician born in Geneva. As Director-General of Finances under Louis XVI, he worked on financial reforms for the Kingdom of France and was involved in raising vast war funds for the American Revolutionary War. He gained widespread popular popularity through his 1818 publication "Compte rendu au roi," which disclosed royal finances. Recalled to power amid a financial crisis in 1788, he was involved in summoning the Estates-General. His dismissal in July 1789 was one of the triggers for the Storming of the Bastille, and upon his reinstatement following his dismissal, he was enthusiastically welcomed in Paris. Supporting a constitutional monarchy during the French Revolution, he resigned in 1790. Afterward, he wrote on politics and economics in Coppet, Switzerland, and continued to influence early 19th-century politics and thought through his daughter, Germaine de Staël.

Timeline

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Element

Year	Jacques Necker
1732	Birth of Jacques Necker (Period: September 30, 1732, Location: Geneva (present-day Geneva, Switzerland))
1748	Career as a Banker in Paris (Jacques Necker, Age: 15 years old, Period: 1748–1762, Location: Paris)
1756	Seven Years' War (Age: 23 years old, Period: 1756–1763, Location: Europe, North America, India, etc.)
1760	Management of the French East India Company (Jacques Necker, Age: 27 years old, Period: 1760s–1769, Location: Paris)
1764	Marriage (Jacques Necker and Suzanne Curchod, Age: 31 years old, Period: 1764, Location: Paris, Chapel of the Dutch Embassy Hotel)
1768	Representative of the Republic of Geneva in France (Jacques Necker, Age: 35 years old, Period: 1768–1776, Location: Paris)
1769	Necker's Defense of the French East India Company (Age: 36 years old, Period: 1769, Location: Paris)
1775	American Revolutionary War (Age: 42 years old, Period: 1775–1783, Location: North America, Atlantic Ocean, Europe, etc.)
1776	Appointment as Director-General of the Royal Treasury (Jacques Necker, Age: 44 years old, Period: October 22, 1776, Location: Versailles)
1777	Financial Reforms as Director-General of Finance (Jacques Necker, Age: 44 years old, Period: 1777–1781, Location: Versailles, Paris) Financing the American Revolutionary War (Jacques Necker, Age: 44 years old, Period: 1777–1781, Location: Kingdom of France)
1781	Publication of the Royal Financial Report (Compte rendu au roi, Age: 48 years old, Period: 1781, Location: Versailles and Paris) Publication of the Report to the King (Compte rendu au roi, Age: 48 years old, Period: 1781, Location: Paris) Dismissal of Necker as Director-General of Finance (Age: 48 years old, Period: May 19, 1781, Location: Versailles)
1784	Publication of A Treatise on the Administration of the Finances of France (Age: 51 years old, Period: 1784, Location: Coppet)
1787	French Financial Crisis (Age: 54 years old, Period: 1787–1789, Location: Versailles, Paris)
1788	Reappointment during the Financial Crisis (Jacques Necker, Age: 55 years old, Period: 1788, Location: Versailles) Involvement in Convoking the Estates-General (Jacques Necker, Age: 55 years old, Period: 1788–1789, Location: Versailles) Reappointment of Necker (Age: 55 years old, Period: August 25, 1788, Location: Versailles)
1789	Support for Constitutional Monarchy (Jacques Necker, Age: 56 years old, Period: 1789–1790, Location: Paris) Dismissal of Necker and the Storming of the Bastille (Age: 56 years old, Period: July 11–14, 1789, Location: Versailles, Paris) Storming of the Bastille (Age: 56 years old, Period: July 14, 1789, Location: Paris, Bastille Fortress) Return as Chief Minister of the King (Jacques Necker, Age: 56 years old, Period: July 16, 1789, Location: Paris)
1790	Opposition to Assignats (Age: 57 years old, Period: 1790, Location: Paris, National Assembly) Departure of the Necker Family from France (Age: 57 years old, Period: 1790–1792, Location: From France to around Coppet, Switzerland) Retirement at Coppet Castle and Political-Economic Research (Jacques Necker, Age: 57 years old, Period: 1790–1804, Location: Coppet Castle, Switzerland) Resignation from the Financial Post (Jacques Necker, Age: 57 years old, Period: September 3, 1790, Location: Paris)
1792	French Revolutionary Wars (Age: 59 years old, Period: 1792–1802, Location: France and various parts of Europe)
1798	French Invasion of Switzerland (Age: 65 years old, Period: 1798, Location: Switzerland)
1800	Meeting with Napoleon (Jacques Necker, Age: 67 years old, Period: June 1800, Location: Around Coppet)
1802	Publication of Last Views on Politics and Finance (Age: 69 years old, Period: 1802, Location: Coppet)
1804	Death of Jacques Necker (Age: 71 years old, Period: April 9, 1804)

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Europe World

Group	List
Napoleonic Era	Napoleon Bonaparte Lazare Carnot Joachim Murat Michel Ney Louis-Nicolas Davout Jean Lannes André Masséna Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Joseph Fouché Jacques Necker Paul Barras
Victorian Era	Alexandrina Victoria Prince Albert Benjamin Disraeli William Gladstone Robert Peel Henry John Temple Florence Nightingale Charles Dickens Mary Ann Evans
Music	Ludwig van Beethoven Franz Schubert Hector Berlioz Frédéric Chopin Franz Liszt Wilhelm Richard Wagner Johannes Brahms Charles Gounod

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Financial Reforms and the Public Report on Royal Finances

Jacques Necker

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