Louis XIV (1638-1715) of France was known as Louis the Great. He ruled for 55 years (1661-1715), which was the heyday of French autocracy. Under his rule, France once ruled Europe, and Voltaire once called this period "the century of Louis XIV".
pro-government
Louis XIV was born in 1638 and succeeded to the throne at the age of five. His mother and Anna, the widow of Louis XIII, were in power, but the real power was in the hands of Prime Minister Mazar-ran. When Mazar-e-Ran was in power, he was very autocratic. At that time, it was at the end of the "Thirty Years War" in which Germany was the main battlefield and almost all major European countries were involved. France is also a war country, and the long-term war has increased the domestic tax collection, and farmers, urban workers and the bourgeoisie have complained bitterly. The Paris High Court, which is responsible for registering national decrees and has the right to object to them, and the nobles are also dissatisfied with Mazar-e's tyranny.
In the 174s, the bourgeois revolution broke out in Britain, and the struggle against Charles I of England in the British Parliament was successively won, which inspired the Paris High Court and some opponents of French sovereignty, so a "stone-throwing party movement" led by court nobles and bourgeoisie broke out in Paris against the government. The young Louis XIV was also forced to flee with the imperial court and was hunted down. Therefore, after taking charge of his own affairs, Louis XIV constantly strengthened the royal power, weakened the power of the High Court and restrained the nobles.
In p>1661, the Prime Minister Mazar-e-Ran died, and Louis XIV began to take charge. At that time, most monarchs in European countries let prime ministers or trusted ministers act as agents. Louis XIV, on the other hand, asked all the details himself, which he called "the occupation of a king". Louis XIV paid great attention to kingship. In his memoirs, he claimed: "It is not the scepter in his hand that constitutes the greatness and dignity of the king, but the way he holds it in his hand. Everything is decided by the subjects, and the monarch is only respected by people, which distorts the face of things. Only the monarch has the right to consider and make decisions, and the duties of others are only to carry out the orders of the monarch. "
when Louis XIV took office, the authority of the king was weakened a lot. Therefore, as soon as he came to power, he immediately set out to launch a coup, which greatly strengthened the power of the monarch. He first tried and sentenced Fukai, the chief financial officer, and imprisoned him for life, confiscating the huge amount of property he collected. Louis XIV also set out to crack down on the power of the High Court, and some judges were exiled. He also personally went to the court to tear up the minutes of the stone-throwing party and declared a famous saying: "United is the country." Since then, the Paris High Court has lost the power to object to the king's decrees, and only played the role of recording the decrees. All the intermediate institutions between the monarch and the common people, all the traditional power institutions, such as the three-level meeting, the municipal government and the priest meeting, are only in name only, and senior judges and priests are left aside and lose their former prestige. The king also resumed the system of sending judicial, public security and financial supervisors directly to the ministries. These supervisors are the communicators of the king's will and obey the king completely.
Louis XIV chose his cronies among the middle class, including Colbert, who was in charge of finance, navy and economy, Le Tellier, Rufova and Fobon, who were in charge of the army, and Lionne and Bonbon, who were in charge of foreign affairs. The king usually presides over the State Council in person, listens to the reports of ministers directly, and then decides all important matters independently. Although these ministers were highly respected, they were in the eyes of Louis XIV. They are just tools to carry out the king's will. As for those court aristocrats who only know about debauchery, although they are respected by Louis on the surface, they are actually excluded from political life.
during his personal rule, Louis XIV pushed the feudal autocratic system, which had been continuously consolidated and developed through the influence of Li Sailiu and Mazar-e-Ran since Henry IV, to the peak. Authoritarianism is the core of Louis XIV's rule, and the central kingship has been strengthened unprecedentedly in his hands.
autocracy
In the domestic economic field, Louis XIV pursued Colbert's mercantilist policy. In France, the state's intervention in economic life began at that time. Chief Financial Officer Colbert was in office (1665-1683); France has set up large-scale centralized handicraft workshop-"Wang's workshop" and "privileged" handicraft workshop-which enjoy huge government subsidies, have expensive equipment and employ many workers. Louis XIV also abolished the checkpoints in at least half of the area, reduced the tax rate, built roads, improved rivers, dug the Gedok Canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, and rewarded industrial and agricultural production. In 1669, the number of wool spinning machines reached 44,. All these have greatly developed the domestic market.
In order to protect domestic industries and avoid the outflow of silver, Colbert also adopted a protective tariff policy, raised import taxes on foreign industrial products, and imposed heavy taxes on foreign ships entering French ports. Kolber set up trading companies with patent franchise, such as East India Company, West India Company, Near East Company and North Company, to expand overseas trade. And built a fleet for commercial and military needs. By 1671, the fleet had 194 ships, of which 12 were warships. All the sailors in the fleet belong to the king. The king can order them to leave the merchant fleet at any time and serve on warships.
France also participated in the competition of western European countries to plunder overseas colonies, and tried its best to expand colonial aggression in India, Louisiana, Canada and the West Indies. These measures made France's economy prosperous, capitalism developed, and the national treasury revenue increased, which hit France's trade rival in Europe to a certain extent.
Louis XIV's despotism is also manifested in his spiritual rule. He declared that "the sovereign power is divine", regarded himself as the incarnation of God, and even described himself as God. In order to extend his autocratic power to the religious beliefs of his subjects, he did not allow the existence of different religious factions. At that time, the two pagans, Ransen and Calvinism, suffered several disasters. He demolished the monastery of Borrozil, the center of Ransen religion. The persecution of Calvinists is even more appalling. Louis XIV sent Catholic missionaries to force Calvinists to convert to Catholicism. Because they were rejected, he sent dragoons to Calvinists and tortured them like enemies. This is the famous persecution of Protestants by dragoons in history. In 1685, Louis XIV abolished the recognition of the existence of Calvinism promulgated by Henry IV in 1598. Christians fled one after another, and their priests were either expelled or sentenced to death at home.
Versailles is also a masterpiece of Louis XIV. In 1682, he moved the court to the Palace of Versailles, which he built on a large scale near Paris. Louis XIV resisted the laissez-faire tradition of the French court and adopted the solemn ceremony of the Spanish court to make all courtiers and those who served him worship the majesty of the monarch, and the king himself was the center of worship. At that time, Louis XIV was called "the king of the sun" in the court. The solemn etiquette of Versailles has also become an example for European monarchs to imitate. The cost of Versailles court is huge, the king and the court nobles are extravagant, and the king's private life is even more bohemian. Many women of different social status were his mistresses.
Although France was autocratic, there were many achievements in literature, art and science during this period. Although Louis XIV imposed strict censorship on books, the state and the king himself gave financial aid to literature, art and scientific research, and the French Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Architecture and the French Theatre were established successively. Classical drama, aesthetics, architectural art, sculpture and painting all emit strange brilliance. There are also many masters of art, such as Moliere, the founder of comedy, boileau, a classical aesthete, La Fontaine, an allegorical writer, Claude Bello, an architectural artist, and Jules Alduan Munsa.
Louis XIV was overbearing and ambitious. In order to boast of force and dominate Europe, he pursued an aggressive policy abroad. In the early days of his rule, the situation in Europe was extremely favorable to France. After the 3-year war, France's traditional enemies-the German emperor and Spain, two branches of the Habsburg royal family-were exhausted, while other European gardeners, such as Britain, Sweden, Germany's independent vassals and Poland, were insignificant and allied with France. It seems that only the Netherlands, a trading power, can rival France, but it is ruled by the French branch. In a word, when France is in a dominant position in Europe, there seems to be no obstacle to limit the young king's actions.
The forces of Le Tellier and Rufova, the heads of the army, established Louis XIV with the largest and most powerful standing army in Europe. The army is commanded by some famous military generals. In 1672, the number of the army reached 12,, and in 169, it exceeded 3,, almost equal to that of other European countries. Weapons and equipment were also greatly improved, all of which were the most advanced in Europe at that time. Fubon, a military engineer, made great contributions to the construction of the castle. Fobang completed the revolution of building cities, and built many cities in France into "Fobang-style" fortresses, whose defense ability far exceeded the previous city defense facilities.
Louis XIV took advantage of the favorable situation in Europe at that time and relied on this army to carry out a series of large-scale conquest wars. The war with Spain in 1667-1668 was caused by inheritance. The queen of Louis XIV was the eldest daughter of Spanish King Philip IV. After Philip's death in 1661, Louis claimed to inherit the heritage of the Spanish Netherlands in the name of later. Therefore, the history of this war is called "Heritage Inheritance War". At that time, the Netherlands and France had competition in trade, so they changed their traditional policies and formed an alliance with Spain. Although Britain and Sweden, former allies, joined forces to stop the invasion, the war ended in France's victory. After the war, the treaty of Ahern gave France some parts of South Netherlands.
from 1672 to 1678, Louis XIV launched another war against Holland. Countries threatened by Louis XIV's aggressive policy have joined the anti-French alliance centered on the Netherlands. Louis XIV skillfully used diplomatic means to isolate the Netherlands and break up the alliance. The 1678 Nimwigan Peace Treaty enabled Louis XIV to occupy Franche, Conte and some cities in the southern Netherlands in Dong Bang.
After the restoration of peace, all other countries reduced their armaments, but Louis XIV still kept a powerful army. In the eyes of European monarchs, France was so powerful that no one dared to fight against it. Therefore, Louis XIV dared to set up a "territorial recovery tribunal", and under the pretext of "recovery", he sent troops to occupy the cities and regions that had been ceded to France in the past historical conditions, and classified Strasbourg, Luxembourg and more than a dozen other northern and eastern border areas as existing ones. France's strong hegemonic ambition caused widespread anxiety and dissatisfaction in Europe, which led to the establishment of the anti-French "augsburg League" in 1686. The governors of Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Italy and some small States in Germany all belong to this alliance. France is almost completely isolated and has to deal with an anti-French alliance that has gathered almost the whole of western Europe. Although the French army won some victories on the European continent, it was defeated by Britain at sea. In 1697, with the armistice and the signing of the Peace Treaty of Risvik, France almost lost all the land "recovered" before the war except Strasbourg.
Soon, King charles ii of Spain died, and there was no heir. Since the queen of Louis XIV and the queen of the Austrian emperor were sisters of charles ii, both sides claimed the right to inherit the Spanish throne, and the war broke out again. In this war, France still hasn't got a bargain, and it is facing an anti-French alliance in which almost all European countries participate. After a brutal battle, the French army finally signed the Utrecht Peace Treaty in 1713 and the Lashtar Treaty in 1713. Although Philip V, the grandson of Louis XIV, ascended the Spanish throne, all the possessions of Spain in the Netherlands and Italy belonged to Austria, and Britain also acquired a part of French colonies in North America. This war greatly weakened France's strength, and after this war, France's dominant position in Europe was completely lost.
although Louis XIV's autocratic rule and highly centralized centralization brought disaster to France, it also played a certain role in promoting the development of French history.
France once made considerable achievements in trade and industry, and the bourgeoisie began to gain a foothold in the economy. The powerful French military strength and aggressive expansion policy made him rank among the top European powers in the 17th century. However, during his 55 years in office, he fought for 32 years. The continuous wars and extravagant court life consumed a lot of property, which made France's human and financial resources increasingly exhausted. The untimely implementation of autocratic rules and regulations in the economic field led to the depression of industry and commerce, and the persecution of pagans drove hundreds of thousands of Protestants-skilled craftsmen, wealthy businessmen and factory owners to flee abroad, which indirectly led to the depression of industry and commerce. In order to supplement the army, people are forced to leave their homes and fight in other places irregularly without drawing lots. In order to expand financial resources, we have tried our best to establish various new exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees. Poor harvests, famines and plagues have further aggravated the economic bankruptcy of people, especially farmers, caused by operating taxes.
during the reign of Louis XIV, although France was once strong, it was based on the cruel oppression of the people, who were always in dire straits. As early as 1662, peasant and civilian riots broke out, demanding the abolition of taxes and feudal obligations. By the end of Louis XIV's rule, domestic uprisings were frequent, with increasing momentum and duration. In Gasconi (1664), the great uprisings in Luxilai (1666-1669), Cejon and Britta (1674-1675) broke out one after another. After the succession of the Spanish throne, taxes increased sharply and the uprising was even higher. The most influential is the "Camuzat Er" Uprising in Sewenshan District, Languedoc County. The uprising began in 177 to resist the cruel persecution of Calvinists, but in essence it was an anti-feudal struggle of farmers and the poor. The uprising was massive, and guerrillas were organized, covering a wide area. Defeated the king's army many times. Louis XIV collected a large number of troops, and after three years of siege and interception, it was suppressed. It is shocking that a large number of insurgents were brutally killed.
in the second half of Louis XIV, popular uprising, military defeat, empty treasury, agricultural depression, industrial and commercial bankruptcy, weakened kingship, lost people's hearts, and feudal autocracy declined day by day. In 1715, Louis the Great, who once dominated the country, died amid the people's complaints.
Evaluation of Louis XIV:
Louis XIV
Politically, Louis XIV took the lead in making the concentration of kingship reach the level of China before the Qing Dynasty by strengthening the kingship. This greatly improved the mobilization ability of the French military. One of the most famous is what he said: I am the country.
militarily, Louis XIV launched a large number of foreign wars and created a prosperous France.
[ Transferred from the Iron Blood Community/]
In terms of science and technology and culture, Louis XIV opened a large number of colleges, making the French culture at that time a model in Europe.
According to the introduction of the rise of great powers, at that time, the centralization of the royal power of Louis XIV was in parallel with the development of science, technology and culture, and there was no conflict. In the following decades, the scientific and technological culture advocated by Louis XIV gave birth to the Great Revolution of Louis XVI. Louis XIV made France strong with absolute monarchy, and at the same time planted the seeds of destroying absolute monarchy and further developing France-science and technology culture.