Charles Alexandre de Calonne was appointed Controller-General of Finances in November 1783, by King Louis XVI of France. He found the royal treasury heavily in debt as a result of France’s involvement in the American Revolutionary War, and attempted to remedy the crisis by an ambitious plan to raise revenue and centralise the administration. His central proposal was a land tax that would fall on the aristocracy, who were otherwise exempt from tax; they unsurprisingly resisted this and his plan failed. He was blamed for the financial crisis, dismissed and exiled to Lorraine. He left for England, where he published a defence of his conduct, and spent most of the rest of his life.