In 1670, King Louis XIV of France ordered the removal of all defensive structures in Paris (the previous defensive walls had been demolished). Paris thus became an open city, which is a testament to how confident France is in its military might. Of course, Louis XIV certainly did not expect that 200 years later, the Prussian army would first crush the French army in one blow, and then surround the undefended city of Paris.
Louis XIV
In the heyday of Louis XIV's reign, he was once committed to actively transforming Paris. The purpose of building an "open city" is actually to eliminate the dangerous elements in the city of Paris and upgrade the level of urban management. At that time, Paris began to highlight its leading position in the silk industry and the luxury industry, and many national workshops and private workshops had a high level of operation. The fashion capitals of France and Paris have since been established and strengthened.
Although Louis XIV's dominance over France and Paris was far greater than that of the kings before and after him, he himself did not care much about Paris. Due to the continuous militarism of France, the financial situation of the kingdom deteriorated in the middle and late period of Louis XIV's reign, and the government had to increase taxes and tighten its finances - in the middle and late 17th century, Eurasia ushered in the so-called "Xiaoice River Period", crop failures, and the decline in government spending capacity reduced the level of security for the citizens of Paris, and a large number of citizens froze to death. The king appeared indifferent to this and further stabilized the political center of the country at Versailles. As a result, the resentment of the citizens of Paris against the royal family has since become more intense.
Palace of Versailles (1688)
The English historian and French historian Colin Jones, in his book "The Biography of Paris: The Epitome of France", points out that after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, Louis XV succeeded to the throne (at the age of 5) and moved his residence back to the Tuileries palace in Paris, but returned to Versailles (1722) after a little older age. "Neither Louis XV nor Louis XVI considered Paris to be their home." Louis XV, after a riot, did not even "spend the night in Paris again, did not exercise the privileges in Paris, did not face the people at Notre Dame or Sainte Chapelle, and rarely saw him even in the Louvre." Nor did Louis XVI change this practice."
The widening of the physical distance inevitably leads to the alienation of the psychological distance. That is to say, in the decades from 1715 to 1789 (the outbreak of the French Revolution), France did not have a strong king like Louis XIV (who could forcefully control the capital remotely), and this period ushered in the French Enlightenment. During this period, France's economic development was very fast, the colonial expansion was rapid, trade and manufacturing were booming, and the role of Paris as a fashion center and consumption center in France and even in Europe became more and more obvious, and the level of knowledge was continuously improved. So more affluent and intellectually enlightened people scoffed at the stagnant royal family and church.
The book "Paris Biography: A Miniature of France" points out that Louis XV's lack of awareness of the importance of the Paris High Court allowed him to regain the role of representing the interests of the people of Paris and even the whole country. The king was not stationed in Paris, but the Paris High Court was always with him, and it was clear who cared more about the people.
As mentioned above, the French royal family is permanently stationed in Versailles, but the main institutions of the French government and army remain in Paris. In this way, whether it is the old nobles or the rich and the new upstarts, whether they are soldiers or clergy, they are more likely to have the feelings of members of the community because of their belonging to Paris, and the king is an outsider to the capital.
In order to compete with britain, France established the Royal Academy of Sciences. However, the development of the Academy of Sciences and its sub-academies, as well as the scientific and ideological groups of the people, has made the rapid spread of new ideas and scientific theories inevitably endanger the existence of the old order. In addition, "those writers and journalists who call themselves philosophers of enlightenment and reason" often gathered in cafes and private houses to hold intellectual salons, including Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, D'Alembert, Grimm and other philosophical masters. These salons of ideas became the source of the spread of Enlightenment and revolutionary ideas, and the monarchy was in most cases the object of criticism. In the end, of course, these salons of ideas are popular because the absolute monarchy that thinkers attack does not exist in Paris, and similar things happen in St. Petersburg or Istanbul, and thinkers should report to prison after drinking coffee and wine.
The book "Paris Biography: A Miniature of France" also argues that cafés and fashion promoted the interaction of people from different social classes in Paris to a considerable extent. That is to say, even the lower middle class can squeeze into some social occasions dominated by middle and upper class people through fashion, and the most typical of such occasions is the thought salon held in the café. In this way, the ideas of enlightenment and revolution infiltrated almost all social classes in Paris as never before, and Louis XV and Louis XVI, hiding in Versailles and continuing to obsess over the secret rites of the royal family, had no idea that the crisis of overthrowing the royal family was approaching.
By the 1770s and 1780s, all strata of Parisian citizens were brazenly attacking the royal family in their speeches. Some criticisms cannot even be said to be unjustified, such as the extravagant waste of the royal family, the great incompetence of louis XVI's leadership, and the rash participation of France in support of the American War of Independence, which caused a further outbreak of financial crisis and exacerbated the hunger crisis in Paris. But some of the attacks actually belonged to the king's "back pot". For example, the renovation of the city of Paris was basically promoted by the bureaucratic group of the French government, and the royal intervention was not obvious, but the renovation and construction caused many citizens to be homeless and live on the streets, and this account was calculated to the king who did not live in Paris at all. And the unemployment of the craftsmen caused by the process of industrialization was also a strange reason for the king's intimidation.
The book quotes Thomas Blake, a Scotsman who worked as a gardening adviser to the royal family in Paris in the 1780s, as saying that "attitudes towards the royal family had become very rude at that time", almost baseless rumors such as scandals between kings and queens. It turns out that the gossip scandals of rulers often reduce the minimum respect and reverence that the populace has for the authority of the former than the bad deeds of governance.
Books Reviewed: Title: The Legend of Paris: The Epitome of France Author: Colin Jones Translator: Dong Xiaochuan Publisher: Yilin Publishing House Publication date: December 2021