El reinado de Carlos IV supuso el principio del fin, la primera crisis del absolutismo ilustrado, al tiempo que determinará los derroteros de España y sus colonias en el siglo XIX. Este periodo va a estar marcado por el triunfo de la Revolución Francesa, que condicionará totalmente la política española, afectando entre otros aspectos a la política exterior, con determinantes consecuencias hacendísticas, e incidiendo en el desarrollo de las ideas ilustradas. El reinado de Carlos IV se inicia con pocos cambios.

Charles IV reign initiates with little change compared to the last period. Marx said that in 1808, while the State in Spain had died, Spanish society was full of life and each part of it was muffled up with resistance capacity. The crisis of the Old Regime was such a total one that affected the State and the Church, the militia, the economy and society in the inland areas and the region, and the empire overseas. Charles IV government made the crisis worse but did not generate it.