The French Revolution lasted from 1789 (with the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789) to 1799. France was temporarily transformed from an absolute monarchy to a republic of theoretically free and equal citizens. Weaknesses, fiscal mismanagement, and corruption in the French monarchy and the privileged upper classes led to social and political upheaval in the middle and lower classes, inspired in part by Enlightenment ideals. Lous XVI, the king of France, and his wife Marie Antoinette were both guillotined in 1793. The effects of the revolution were widespread, both inside and outside of France. It ranks as one of the most important events in European history. Napoleon came to power as a military dictator of France in 1799 to restore order and claimed to spread the achievements of the Revolution to the rest Europe with the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815).