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King Louis XVI of the [[House of Bourbon]] had been overthrown and executed during the [[French Revolution]] (1789–1799), which in turn was followed by Napoleon as ruler of France. A coalition of European powers defeated Napoleon in the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]], ended the First Empire in 1814, and [[First Restoration|restored the monarchy]] to the brothers of Louis XVI. The Bourbon Restoration lasted from (about) 6 April 1814 until the popular uprisings of the [[July Revolution]] of 1830. There was an interlude in spring 1815—the "[[Hundred Days]]"—when the return of Napoleon forced the Bourbons to flee France. When Napoleon was again defeated by the [[Hundred Days|Seventh Coalition]] they returned to power in July.
During the Restoration, the new Bourbon regime was a [[constitutional monarchy]], unlike the absolutist [[Ancien Régime]], and so it had some limits on its power. The new king accepted the vast majority of reforms instituted from 1792 to 1814. He did not try to recover land and property taken from the royalist exiles. He continued in peaceful fashion the main objectives of Napoleon's foreign policy, such as the limitation of Austrian influence. He reversed Napoleon regarding Spain and the Ottoman Empire, in ortder to restore the friendship that had prevailed until 1792. The period was characterized by a sharp conservative reaction, and consequent minor but consistent occurrences of civil unrest and disturbances.{{sfn|Davies|2002|pp=47–54}} Otherwise, the political establishment was relatively stable until the late reign of Charles X.<ref>de Sauvigny, Guillaume de Bertier. ''The Bourbon Restoration'' (1966)</ref> It also saw the reestablishment of the [[Catholic Church]] as a major power in French politics.{{sfn|Furet|1995|p= 296}} Throughout the Bourbon Restoration, France experienced a period of stable economic prosperity and the preliminaries of industrialization.<ref>de Sauvigny, Guillaume de Bertier. ''The Bourbon Restoration'' (1966)</ref>
==Permanent changes in French society==
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