One of the longest-reigning monarchs in Europe, Louis XIV was one of the two most famous kingdoms in French history, the other being Napoleon. His life was full of legends, and during his decades of reign, he established an absolute authoritarian centralization in France, turning France into the hegemon of Europe, known as the "Sun King". How France developed in the time of Louis XIV, we will try to introduce it from the political, economic and military aspects.
In 1643, Louis XIII died and was succeeded by Louis XIV, who was less than five years old. Due to his young age, the country's administrative affairs were put in charge of Prime Minister Mazaran. Louis was in the midst of a critical period of the Thirty Years' War at the beginning of his succession, and civil strife continued to erupt in the country. In 1648, the first catapult movement broke out in France, and Louis XIV and Mazarin were exiled; in 1650, a second catapult movement broke out, and the nobles, mainly the Prince of Condé, launched a rebellion to try to replace Mazarin, and Louis XIV and Mazarin were exiled again, until October 1652, when Louis XIV returned to Paris.
The two exile encounters left a shadow on Louis XIV, who believed that "Paris was not safe, that the people did not love him", and that he no longer believed in the people and ministers of Paris. After the end of the rebellion, France did not become strong, and the "cunning and hypocritical" Mazaran was unable to lead France out of the crisis. As a result of the protracted war, the economy has been seriously damaged, the people are not happy, and the financial revenue is difficult. In March 1661, Mazaran died, and before his death, he secretly left a will for Louis XIV, hoping that Louis XIV would be pro-government and abolish the prime minister. Apparently, Louis XIV heeded the advice of the chancellor and began to establish an authoritarian system in France.
Louis XIV
In 1661, Louis XIV was 23 years old, a young man of flesh and blood. After the pro-government, he did not appoint a prime minister, and he personally handled everything, handling government affairs for up to eight hours a day. The first thing he did when he came to power was to strengthen centralization. Louis XIV formed a council of state consisting mainly of five ministers in charge of foreign affairs, navy, army, court, and finance, but none of these ministers had the final say. Construction began in 1661 on the palais de Versailles on the outskirts of Paris and was completed in 1689. He invited all the important local nobles into this palatial palace, so that these nobles were addicted to the sound and color of dogs and horses every day, unable to interfere in the affairs of the state. He established a central-to-local administrative system, sent supervisory officials to the provinces to supervise local bureaucrats, and stipulated that the central government had the power to mobilize local troops.
Versailles
In order to strengthen religious rule, Louis XIV outlawed religious freedom in France and stipulated that only Catholicism could be practiced. He broke the policy of religious tolerance of King Henry IV and banned the spread of Protestantism such as the Huguenots throughout the country. He once said that "their continued presence in France proves that they have embraced Roman Catholicism". However, Louis XIV also resisted the intervention of the Holy See in the religious affairs of France, and he demanded that all the main functions of the French church must be appointed by the king. In 1682, he convened a meeting of French monks and issued the Declaration of the French Priests, which legally recognized the authority of the French king in religious affairs.
"The state is the state" is the classic quote of Louis XIV. From the perspective of historical development trends, Europe has experienced hundreds of years of feudal division in the Middle Ages, and the formation of a unified nation-state is an inevitable historical trend. In the process, the crown will continue to expand, and the nobility and the church are the two major obstacles to the unity of the country, and if you want to defeat the nobility and the church, you must achieve absolute monarchy.
Through centralization, Louis XIV restored economic production in France. He once said that "one of the greatest benefits of God's bestowal of peace is the restoration of all walks of life in the country of decay, so that our business will no longer be necessary to buy from foreign countries." In order to solve the economic difficulties of France, Louis XIV appointed Körber as chancellor of the exchequer and began to carry out financial consolidation. Colb first cracked down on the corruption of the nobility and reduced the bureaucracy. By 1675, French revenues had stabilized.
Subsequently, Kölberg implemented a mercantilist policy and vigorously supported the development of industry and commerce. Colbert issued 190 ordinances on industrial development, which provided conditions for the normal development of handicraft industry; he opened a royal handicraft workshop, encouraged the production and export of luxury goods, and made France a supplier of luxury goods in Europe, and the source of wealth was constantly channeled into the French royal family; in the era of Louis XIV, the status of French workers was enhanced, they enjoyed tax exemptions, exemptions from military service, etc.; in order to improve the handicraft technology of his country, he introduced decrees restricting workers from leaving the country and recruited skilled workers from other countries. In terms of influence, France's handicraft workshops have doubled, becoming the most industrially powerful country on the European continent.
Kölber
In business, he intervened on a large scale to promote the establishment of a unified market in France. He abolished the french barriers, unified the tax rate, and established a unified customs alliance. He vigorously developed the shipping industry and built a large merchant fleet. In order to build a trade route, it is expensive to spend a lot of money. In 1681, the Completion of the South Canal connecting the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic Ocean greatly improved the French inland shipping industry. He is also active in external expansion. Trading companies such as the West India Company, the East India Company, and the North African Company were formed to carry out foreign colonial expansion and overseas trade.
South Canal
But Körber's economic policies have big drawbacks. He attached too much importance to the development of industry and commerce, at the expense of agriculture and peasants, which led to a serious economic crisis in France. He stressed state intervention, the increasing exploitation of the non-privileged classes, and the serious damage to the interests of small merchants and minor nobles. In 1683, Körber died, and people were ecstatic to tell them that "taxes will be abolished and the golden age will come again." "After Körber's death, France's economy experienced a recession, a large number of factories closed, and the country's fiscal deficit continued to increase.
Against this background, the school of physiocratism emerged in France. Among them, Bouaguirbert and he are representatives of French physiocratism. They believe that money is not real wealth, but agriculture is real wealth. They oppose excessive state intervention in the economy and should resign themselves to the arrangements of nature and follow the laws of nature. France is a traditional small peasant country in Europe, and physiocratism is beneficial to the development of the French economy. However, the measures of physiculturalism were not implemented in France, and thus caused the long-term backwardness of French agriculture.
Louis XIV gradually established a strong standing army in France. In order to meet the needs of economic expansion in the Age of Discovery, he attached great importance to the construction of the Navy. He built large shipyards, built and built seaports, etc. Previously, the French had fewer than 20 warships, and by 1683 had 276 warships, becoming the first maritime power at that time. He built a regular army of 400,000 men, almost the sum of the armies of other European countries, armed with a large number of flintlock guns and carbines. With this army, Louis XIV dominated Europe and was known as the "Sun King".
Louis XIV at the Academy of Sciences
When Philip IV of Spain died in 1665, Louis XIV, as son-in-law, demanded to inherit the Dutch part of Spain, a move that sparked the Spanish Succession War. France sent 200,000 troops to Spanish Netherlands, capturing it in just three months. Eventually, under the mediation of Britain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Aachen in 1668, and France gained part of the Netherlands. The signing of the Treaty of Aachen did not fully meet the needs of France, on the contrary, due to the intervention of the Netherlands, Louis XIV had always been worried about the Netherlands and waited for an opportunity to take revenge. In 1672, Louis XIV united with Britain to launch the Franco-Dutch War, followed by Austria, Spain and others formed an anti-French alliance, and France was attacked on all sides. However, Louis XIV continued to disintegrate and divide the Dutch allies through diplomatic means, and finally by 1678, France had won the victory and signed the Treaty of Nijmegen, which had acquired a large amount of Spanish territory. After the Franco-Dutch War, France became the hegemon of Europe, and Louis XIV became the recognized "Sun King" of Europe.
Louis XIV and Molière
Just as France ascended to european hegemony, the Austrian Habsburgs in the east showed signs of revival. In order to contain the revival of Austria, Louis XIV absolutely launched a war against Austria. Fearing that France was too strong, the European countries formed the Augsburg Alliance with Austria, which included the great powers of Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain. Due to the large number of countries in the Coalition, the two sides were soon plunged into a war of attrition, which was a battlefield from the European continent all the way to Africa and India. Eventually the war was deadlocked in 1697, and a treaty was signed to end the war.
When Charles II of Spain died in 1701, he made a will to pass the throne to Philip, the grandson of Louis XIV. However, the European countries feared that France was too inflated, so they decided to form an anti-French alliance and elect Charles of Austria to succeed him as King of Spain. Thus, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out. In the course of the war, France suffered many defeats, and when the war was in its 10th year, the situation suddenly took a turn. In 1711, Charles and his brother succeeded to the Austrian throne and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, known historically as Charles VI. Fearing that the Habsburgs were too powerful, britain withdrew from the anti-French alliance. After Britain withdrew, France regained its advantage. In 1713, the war ended, France was victorious, and Philip became king of Spain, known as Philip V. But France promised never to merge with Spain.
Statue of Louis XIV
Four wars for supremacy made Louis XIV the brightest star in Europe in the late 17th century, making France the undisputed hegemon. However, the transitional war seriously weakened France's national strength, resulting in France's financial deficit and continuous economic crisis. Louis XIV regretted in his later years: "I used to be too belligerent, don't learn from me in this regard, and don't learn from me too much money". Just two years after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, Louis XIV died, and a vast European hegemony collapsed. What Louis XIV left for France was a crumbling mess.
After Louis XIV brought France to the pinnacle of European hegemony, and fell from the peak because of the war for hegemony, everything seemed to return to the original point. Louis XIV represents the pinnacle of European monarchy and can be said to be the epitome of enlightened despotism in Europe. French writers and artists of the 17th century celebrated his great achievements with classicism, and even Voltaire had to give him heartfelt praise. However, excessive despotism dragged France back into the abyss, and the 17th century had just ended, and the Enlightened Scholars of the 18th century reflected on the shortcomings of the monarchical absolutism and launched the Enlightenment.