(of a young monarch) take over as an adult.
Louis XIV was born in 1638 and succeeded to the throne at the age of five. His mother and Louis XIII's widow Anna are in power, but the real power is in the hands of Prime Minister Madzar Lan. When Madzar Ilan came to 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. The long-term war has increased domestic taxes, and farmers, urban workers and the bourgeoisie have complained bitterly. The nobles of the Paris High Court, which is responsible for registering state laws and has the right to raise objections, are also dissatisfied with the tyranny of Madzar-E..
During the period of 65438-1940s, the bourgeois revolution broke out in Britain, and the struggle of the British Parliament against Charles I of England won one after another, which inspired the Paris High Court and some opponents of French sovereignty, so a "stone-throwing party movement" led by the court nobles and the bourgeoisie broke out in Paris against the government. Young Louis XIV was also forced to flee with the court and was pursued. Therefore, after Louis XIV took charge of his own affairs, he constantly strengthened the royal power, weakened the power of the High Court and restrained the nobles.
166 1 year, prime minister Madzar Ilan died and Louis XIV came to power. At that time, most monarchs in European countries were represented by prime ministers or trusted ministers. Louis XIV, on the other hand, asked all the details himself, which he called "the occupation of a king." Louis XIV attached great importance 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, distorting 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. "
After Louis XIV came to power, the king's authority was weakened a lot. So 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 Foucault, the chief financial officer, and imprisoned him for life, confiscating the huge property he collected. Louis XIV also began to attack 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 meeting of the stone throwing party and announced a famous saying: "Unity is the country." Since then, the Paris High Court has lost the right to oppose the king's decrees and only played the role of recording them. 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, exist in name only, and senior judges and priests are left aside, losing their former prestige. The king also restored the system of sending judicial, public security and financial supervisors directly to ministries. These supervisors are the disseminators of the king's will and completely obey the king.
Louis XIV selected his cronies among the middle class, including colbert, who was in charge of finance, navy and economy, Letellier, Rufouva and Fubon, who were in charge of the army, and Lionel and Fubon, who were in charge of foreign affairs. The king usually presides over the State Council in person, listens to the ministers' reports directly, and then decides all important matters independently. Although these ministers are highly respected, they are 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 and 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 autocracy, which had been consolidated and developed by Li Sailiu and Madzar-Ilan since Henry IV, to its peak. Authoritarianism is the core of Louis XIV's rule, and the central kingship has been strengthened unprecedentedly in his hands.
despotic rule
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 Ke Bo (1665— 1683) during his tenure; France has established large-scale centralized handicraft workshops-"King Workshop" and "Privilege Workshop"-which enjoy huge government subsidies, have expensive equipment and employ many workers. Louis XIV also abolished checkpoints in at least half of the region, reduced tax rates, built expressways, improved rivers, dug the Gedok Canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean, and rewarded industrial and agricultural production. 1669 The number of wool spinning machines reached 44,000. These have greatly developed the domestic market.
In order to protect domestic industries and avoid the outflow of silver, colbert has also adopted a protective tariff policy, raising import taxes on foreign industrial products and imposing heavy taxes on foreign ships entering French ports. Kolber established trading companies with patent franchises 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 167 1, this fleet has 194 ships, of which 120 are warships. All the sailors in the fleet belong to the king. The king can order them to leave the merchant fleet and serve on warships at any time.
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 trading rivals in Europe to some extent.
Louis XIV's despotism is also manifested in his spiritual rule. He declared that "sovereign power is sacred", 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, two pagans, Ransen and Calvinism, suffered several disasters. He destroyed Borrozil Abbey, the center of Ransom religion. The persecution of Calvinists is even more appalling. Louis XIV Catholic missionaries forced Calvinists to convert to Catholicism. Because they were rejected, he sent dragoons to Calvinists and tortured them like enemies. This is the persecution of Protestants by the famous dragoons in history. Louis XIV also abolished the recognition of Calvinism promulgated by Henry IV in 1598 in 1685, and believers fled one after another, and their priests were either expelled or sentenced to death at home.
Versailles is also a masterpiece of Louis XIV. 1682, he moved the palace to Versailles and built it on a large scale near Paris. Louis XIV rebelled against the laissez-faire tradition of the French court and adopted the solemn ceremony of the Spanish court, so that all courtiers and those who served him worshipped 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 follow. Versailles court cost a lot, the king and the court nobles lived in luxury, and the king's private life was even more bohemian. Many women of different social status are his mistresses.
Although France was autocratic, there were many achievements in literature, art and science during this period. Although Louis XIV strictly censored books, the state and the king himself gave financial support to literature, art and scientific research, and the French Academy of Sciences, the French Institute of Architecture and the French Theatre were established one after another. Classical drama, aesthetics, architectural art, sculpture and painting all exude 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 show off his strength 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 30-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 client countries and Poland, were insignificant and allied with France. It seems that only the Netherlands, a big trading country, can rival France, but it is ruled by the French branch. In a word, when France is in the dominant position in Europe, there seems to be no obstacle to restricting the movement of young kings.
Letellier, the head of the army, and Rufova's troops established Louis XIV, which has the largest and strongest standing army in Europe. This army is under the command of some famous military generals. 1672 The number of troops reached120,000, and 1690 exceeded 300,000, almost equal to the number of troops in other European countries. Weapons and equipment have also been greatly improved, all of which were the most advanced in Europe at that time. Fubang, a military engineer, has made great contributions to the construction of the castle. Fobang completed the fortification revolution and built many cities in France into "Fobang-style" fortresses, and its defense capability 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. 1667- 1668 The war with Spain was caused by inheritance. The queen of Louis XIV is the eldest daughter of King Philip IV of Spain. 166 1 After Philip's death in, Louis claimed to inherit the heritage of West Holland in the name of the future, so the history of this war was called "Heritage Inheritance War". At that time, the Netherlands and France were competing in trade, so they changed their traditional policies and formed an alliance with Spain. Although Britain and Sweden, two former allies, joined forces to stop the invasion, the war ended in victory in France. After the war, the treaty of Ahern gave parts of southern Holland to France.
1672- 1678 Louis XIV once again launched a war against the Netherlands. Countries threatened by Louis XIV's aggressive policy have joined the anti-French alliance centered on the Netherlands. Louis XIV skillfully isolated the Netherlands through diplomatic means and broke up the alliance. The Peace of Nimwigan of 1678 enabled Louis XIV to occupy France, Conte and some cities in the south of the Netherlands in Dong Bang.
After the restoration of peace, other countries reduced their armaments, but Louis XIV still maintained a strong army. In the eyes of European monarchs, France is so powerful that no one dares to confront it. Therefore, Louis XIV dared to set up a "territorial recovery court" and used "recovery" as an excuse to send troops to occupy cities and regions ceded to France in the past historical conditions, and to divide more than a dozen northern and eastern border areas such as Strasbourg and Luxembourg into existing ones. France's powerful hegemonic ambition caused widespread anxiety and dissatisfaction in Europe, which led to the establishment of the anti-French "augsburg Union" in 1686. The governors of Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Germany all belong to this alliance. France is almost completely isolated and has to deal with an anti-French alliance that has gathered almost all of Western Europe. Although the French army won some victories on the European continent, it was defeated by Britain at sea. With the armistice of 1697 and the signing of the Peace Treaty of Risvik, France almost lost all the land "recovered" before the war except Strasbourg.
Soon, Spanish King charles ii died childless. As 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 didn't get a bargain, and it faced an anti-French alliance in which almost all European countries participated. After a brutal battle, the French army finally signed the Utrecht Peace Treaty of 17 13 and the La Staar Treaty of 17 13. Although Philip V, the grandson of Louis XIV, ascended the Spanish throne, all Spanish possessions in Holland and Italy belonged to Austria, and Britain also acquired some French colonies in North America. This war greatly weakened France's strength. 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. Strong French military strength and aggressive expansion policy made him among the European powers in the17th century. However, during his 55 years in power, he struggled for 32 years. Continuous wars and luxurious 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 were forced to leave their homes and go to other places to fight irregularly without drawing lots. In order to expand financial resources, we try our best to set up various new exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees. Poor harvest, famine and plague further aggravated the economic bankruptcy of people, especially farmers, caused by business tax.
During the reign of Louis XIV, although France was once powerful, it was based on the cruel oppression of the people, and the people were always in dire straits. As early as 1662, peasants and civilians rioted and demanded the abolition of taxes and feudal obligations. By the end of Louis XIV's reign, domestic uprisings were frequent, growing in momentum and lasting longer and longer. In Gasconi (1664), there were successively great uprisings in Rousile (1666- 1669), Saihong and Brittany (1674- 1675). After the succession of the Spanish throne, the tax revenue increased sharply and the uprising was even higher. The most influential was the "Camuzat Er" uprising in Sewenshan District of languedoc County. The uprising began in 1707, which was caused by the cruel persecution against Calvinists, but in essence it was an anti-feudal struggle between farmers and the poor. The uprising was large-scale, and guerrillas were organized, covering a wide range. Defeated the king's army many times. Louis XIV assembled a large number of troops and was suppressed after three years of siege and interception. It is shocking that a large number of rebels were brutally killed.
In the second half of Louis XIV, the people's uprising, military failure, empty treasury, agricultural decline, industrial and commercial bankruptcy, weakened imperial power, lost people's hearts, and feudal autocracy declined day by day. 17 15 years, Louis the Great, who once dominated the party, died amid complaints from everyone.