Speaking of the iron-blooded prime minister, many people may think of the German prime minister Bismarck, in fact, there is an iron-blooded prime minister in France, he is Richelieu, the famous Richelieu-class strategic ship, it is named in honor of him. For the French people, the king was the spiritual leader, and Richelieu was the real leader. During his lifetime, Richelieu was the most feared rival of all European powers, and after his death, the political legacy he left behind laid the foundation for France's domination of the continent for more than two hundred years.
Richelieu, whose full name was Armand Jean Duprecio de Richelieu, was born in 1585 to an aristocratic family in Poitou, France. Richelieu's father, uncles and other elders were court officials and loyal to the royal family and the country. Richelieu had a very unfortunate childhood, when he was five years old his father died in the religious war, and his mother could only live with five children. Although the Richelieu family was aristocratic, due to the long-term war, the people's livelihood was poor, and the people could not afford to pay rent, and the Richelieu family's life was very poor. When the king learned of this, he sponsored Richelieu's family and buried Richelieu's father. Riche remained in the family as the fourth eldest, not the eldest son, but his uncle, seeing his talent and tenacity, sponsored him to attend school, studying theology, philosophy, and military theory.
Richelieu graduated with honors, and just as he was preparing to join the military to revive his family, something changed in his family. Richelieu's brother was disqualified from serving as Bishop of Luçon, which would be a major blow to the Richelieu family. Richelieu went to the top of the church and, through his talents, persuaded the top of the church, and was eventually appointed bishop of Luçon. At that time, the parish of Luçon was the poorest and smallest parish in France, full of displaced people and beggars, and the security was very chaotic. As soon as Richelieu took office, he repaired churches, dismissed malfeasance priests, provided relief to the poor, and maintained law and order. Under Richelieu's rule, Lusson was greatly improved, and the people of the church were very fond of Richelieu.
During Richelieu's tenure as Bishop of Luçon, France was in a time of crisis, facing internal and external troubles. After the assassination of Henry IV, Louis XIII succeeded to the throne, and Empress Mary became regent. Empress Marie favored Conccini and asked him to preside over the government, but this man did not learn any skills, and during his reign, French politics was dark, corruption was serious, the diplomatic situation was in distress, and the country's finances could not make ends meet. The Habsburgs took advantage of the fact that its controlled Spain and the Holy Roman Empire were eyeing France and wanted to divide it. Naturally, the domestic aristocracy could not accept this situation, the peasants could not tolerate the cruel exploitation, and the smoke in France was suddenly everywhere, and the uprisings continued.
Louis XIII
In 1614, the French Trilateral Council was convened, and Richelieu was elected as a representative of the clergy. At the meeting, Richelieu gave an impassioned speech in support of the royal family. Empress Mary took notice of the priestly representative and left him in the royal capital to put him in charge of foreign affairs. Richelieu finally went on the path of a formal eunuch, but just as he was preparing to make a grand plan, Louis XIII, dissatisfied with Mary's regency, launched a coup d'état and expelled The Empress Mary, and Richelieu was also implicated and exiled to the southern town. Soon after, Louis XIII did not want to kill mother and son, did not want to start a war, so he recalled Richelieu and asked him to negotiate with Empress Mary. Under the mediation of Richelieu, Louis XIII and The Empress Marie reconciled, and Richelieu was reused by Louis XIII, and soon entered the cabinet, becoming the prime minister and monopolizing the power of France.
However, Richelieu, who had just ascended to the throne, faced France with many holes. Foreign enemies of the Habsburgs, rebellious nobles at home, peasant rebel armies, and the crumbling of feudal monarchy all needed to be addressed urgently by Richelieu. Richelieu first freed his hands to suppress the Huguenot sect, and then changed his previous soft policy towards the rebellious nobles, suppressing the rebellion in the country with iron blood, executing or exileing a large number of nobles, weakening the autonomy of the nobles, and greatly strengthening the centralization and feudal kingship.
During the regency of Empress Mary, France adopted a foreign policy of marriage with Spain, which made Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland and other countries that opposed the Habsburg monarchy very dissatisfied with France. The governor of the French province of Dauphin, Les Tigueyer, dissatisfied with France's compromise policy towards its old enemy, the Habsburg monarchy, sent troops to help Savoy resist Spain. Richelieu appeased Les Descheyer and did not hold him accountable, while sending envoys to Britain and other countries opposed to the Habsburg monarchy, indicating that the marriage would not affect France's policy and position against the Habsburg monarchy. In this way, Richelieu won the support of Britain and other countries for France, while reducing the war with Spain and Germany.
The Habsburgs of Germany were the most powerful dynasty of their time, winning many allies and annexing large amounts of land through marriage diplomacy. After the seventeenth century, France was under the siege of Germany and Spain under the control of the Habsburg monarchy and was in danger of being annexed at any time. Richelieu was a Catholic cardinal, but he put the national interests of France first, and from the perspective of France's national interests, he united with Protestant Britain, the Netherlands and other countries to oppose the Catholic Habsburg royal family. After the Habsburg monarchy waged a religious war, Germany and Spain grew stronger and more threatening to France. However, France was unable to send troops at this time, so Richey remained diplomatically to attack the Habsburg monarchies. In 1625, under the persuasion of Richelieu, Denmark, the Netherlands, and England formed an alliance. With the support of France, Denmark sent troops to Germany. In 1629, Richelieu mediated the Swedish war with Poland and encouraged Sweden, who was threatened by Germany, to send troops to Germany.
During this period, Riche did not remain idle at home, and after stabilizing the situation, he carried out drastic reforms, strengthened the feudal monarchy, developed the navy and army, and established schools. By 1636, France had 63 warships and 130,000 troops. In May 1935, France declared war on Spain and participated in the Thirty Years' War. France's entry into the war suddenly changed the war situation, and the Habsburg monarchy was gradually at a disadvantage. In 1648, the Habsburgs were defeated and France and Sweden won the Thirty Years' War.
But Richelieu could not see the Victory of France, and in the cold winter of 1942, the iron-blooded prime minister of France died suddenly, and before his death, he was still answering the state affairs to the king. To the Protestants and peasants of France, Richelieu was a demon, cruel by nature, cold-blooded, ruthless, scheming, and stained with the blood of countless people. However, for France, Richelieu was the real mainstay, he was ordered to lead France from the desperate situation of the dying country to the rich and strong, his national policy continued to be implemented even after his death, and laid the foundation for France's domination of the European continent for more than two hundred years, and the West praised him as the "father of modern diplomacy". Richelieu's life, just like the evaluation of him by posterity: "A hundred years ago, your bloody killing would make everyone shiver, and after a thousand years, everyone in the history books will sing the praises of your decisiveness in killing, this is history." ”