Communism: The Rule Of Louis XIV Of France

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Louis XIV of France was the longest ruling monarch in European History and virtually dominated the second half of the 17th century. He truly believed that God put kings as rulers on this earth, giving them almost a divine status, and the privilege to have control over their kingdom. Louis XIV declared his goal was to unite France under “one king, one law, [and] one faith”. Much of what he did went towards achieving this goal and establishing an absolute monarchy where he was the king, he made the laws, and he declared the faith. The domestication of the nobility was one of the most successful and revolutionary ways that Louis XIV asserted his dominance. He had a deep distrust for the nobility, and extremely cautious about any uprisings, he…show more content…
Louis XIV believed that religious unity was extremely crucial to his monarchy and hated to see any sort of division within his borders, so naturally he wanted everyone to be catholic like him. The Edict of Nantes, established by Henry IV, had granted religious toleration, particularly towards the French Huguenots. One of the most crucial things Louis XIV ever did was to revoke the Edict of Nantes and order the destruction of Calvinist churches, the closing of Calvinist schools, and forcing the Huguenots to either convert to Catholicism or flee, thereby uniting France under the one faith of…show more content…
Obviously his caution with the nobles paid off because there was no anarchy during his reign and no uncontrollable revolts. He successfully united France under his rule, but he made mistakes that prevented his successors from continuing in his footsteps, and the French Revolution was not to long after he died. Indeed, most of his mistakes were a result in his poor regulation of money. He continued to exempt the nobles from taxes, and some middle and upper class families were able to get out of paying, so much of the tax burden fell on the lower class peasants who did not have enough to feed themselves. By exiling the Huguenots he lost a lot of potential revenue, and the lavish building of Versailles was not cheap. Moreover, he did not have the revenue to keep up his enormous army and after the early 1680’s his success in wars went in a never ending downward spiral. Perhaps if Louis XIV had learned to manage his money better and not gone to war so readily, his subjects would have been happier and he would have had an even more successful reign, but without a doubt he still remains one of the most powerful rulers in
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