A government ruling system is a set of political institutions by which a government of a state is organized to exert its powers over its people. Louis XIV was born in 1638.He became a king at the age of four and was forced to flee from the French kingdom at the age of nine due to an uprising which ended later in 1653 leading to his crowning as king in 1654. He was the longest reigning king and one of the most powerful in Europeans history. He was determined to take full control of the government by centralizing all government activities and kingdom powers and trading activities (Black, 133). To strengthen his reign he built a grand palace which acted as a base to satisfy his urge to go to war, expand his territories and increase his merchandise business across the kingdom and in the neighboring regions. He could not stand political devastation after the betrayal he underwent during the uprising, and this made him very aggressive in war, administration of government activities within his kingdom and conquered regions.
This research paper discusses the revolution of the ruling system in the government during the reign of Louis XIV and its revolution up to the early modern, reasons that caused this revolution and the outcomes. The following will be discussed in the paper: he was the longest reigning major monarchy in the European history, he led France into major European wars, he made France the most powerful monarchy in Europe, he expanded the French territories brutally, he carried out military upgrades and reformations ,he was the most powerful known king in the French history, he encouraged positive leisure such as art in his age of reign, he legally reformed all irregular activities in France via his code Louis, he embraced the idea of justifiable taxation and he reinforced policies that made commerce and trade better.
He was the longest reigning major monarchy in European history. At the age of four years at 1643, he was officially a ruler who went up to 1715 making him a ruler for seventy-two years this being the longest for any monarch in the European history. The end of his reign was marked by the fourth and his last major war of the Spanish succession (Klaits, 37). The death of Charles II of Spain who named his grand- nephew Philip as his successor who was also Louis XIV grand- son initiated this war causing tension in Europe of the consequences of this succession. A reformed Grand Alliance, however, was arranged to counteract France and his allies. This war brought a power balance in Europe as it was his least successful war. He died immediately after the war, and due to constant warfare in his reign France maintained its inner strength but could not maintain its military and economic monopoly due to a lot of debt. Voltaire, a famous historic writer, describes Louis XIV reign as one of the greatest and best in terms of art and philosophy.
He led France into major European wars. Due to his brutality in the expansion of France territories after every victorious war and Louis's expansion policies, France was forced to match against a Europe-Grand Alliance which consisted of Spain, Sweden, England, Bavaria among others leading to a nine-year period war. A treaty was drafted after France emerged victorious in 1697 (Black, 88). The treaty gave France power over Alsace and Rhine became the Franco-German boarder marked up to today. Later on, Louise surrendered Lorraine to its governor and gave up benefits from Rhine.
His ruling government made France the most powerful monarchy in Europe. This was evident in the Franco-Dutch war when the Dutch Republic and the Netherlands formed a Triple Alliance Louise felt back stabbed, and this became the major reason for the war (Klaits, 34). France and its allies England and Sweden fought against Dutch and its allies which included Spain. France became the most powerful because of its victory in the war. This initiated an expansion of Louis XIV Empire when a peace agreement was signed after the war forcing Spain to surrender Franche-Comte and some cities in Flanders and Hainaut to France.
He expanded French territories brutally in his first major war of devolution with the Spanish and Netherlands. He claimed its land as his wife's inheritance from her deceased father Philip IV of Spain in 1665. The French army emerged victorious against Spanish army taking control of Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comte. Due to this defeat, a Triple Alliance was formed by England, Sweden, and the Netherlands to regulate French expansion (Camplbell, 82). This forced the government of Louis XIV to end the war by drawing the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle stating France should return the territories it acquired except Flanders. Flanders was useful as it provided a strong northern defense platform for France.
He carried out military upgrades and reformations. He appointed Michel le Tellier and his son Marquis de Louvois who became secretaries of state for war in Louis's reign. The army increased in number and also changed in terms of professional, discipline and well-trained force that took control of the entire state. Senior military positions were fully recognized and not answerable to aristocrats. The navy was modernized and increased in terms of personnel and equipment which initiated aggressive expansion policies in trade and territory expansion.
He was the most powerful known king in the French history because he believed in in complete monarchical powers. He tricked the nobles into surrendering their power, destiny, and fate in his reign making them dependent on him (Young, 26). Interior French provinces tended to rule themselves. This was not plausible to Louis. Therefore, he used his appointed administrators to reinstate monarchy power and increased their powers and roles in the major arms of his government. This curbed nobility powers and administrators facilitated centrality since they reported to Louis's main base of operation. This made France a powerful centralized kingdom.
He encouraged positive leisure such as art in his age of reign. He did this by encouraging a fruitful growth of arts during his reign. He worked to protect influential literature writers to ensure the growth of French literature. He gave out funds and commissions to artists in the growth of visual arts and also supported musicians during his reign (Klaits, 21). All these artists contributed to the great growth of the European culture. During his ruling system, the first dance institution was formed in the Western world and he supported the classical ballet. Louis also funded various institutions for art and sciences.
He legally reformed all irregular activities in France via his code called Code Louis. When he started governing France, French had a confused legal system with a lot of legal customs (Rowlands, 196). He came up with a series of changes in the legal system popularly known as Code Louis that made the laws look similar throughout the France nation. Code Louis made the baptismal, marriage, and death registers be kept in the state's registers rather than the church register. These legal changes played a key role in the history of France because they lead to Napoleonic code which is considered one of the most important documents in the history of the world.
He embraced the idea of justifiable taxation. The minister of finance Nicolas Fouquet had a reputation of being corrupt and greed for the public wealth of the French people. Louise realizing this put him under legal action and replaced him with Jean-Baptiste Colbert. The new minister introduced new taxation policies for custom duties, land taxation, and salt taxation (Campbell, 102). However all taxation issues could not be solved by this policies since the rich used outdated laws to evade massive taxation according to their wealth statuses. Indirect taxes became paramount and false claims became rampant. This forced Louis to impose direct taxation on aristocrats for a first time in French history because of the administrative and war stress he was facing.
He improved commerce and trade links. Louis inheritance on leadership made him realize France was on the verge of bankruptcy causing an economic alert with all his leadership targets. Luckily his finance minister was useful in aiding him come up with policies that would be implemented into plans to increase commerce and trading activities. This called for industrial revolution and development. Investors and manufacturers were provided with favorable terms of operation within the kingdom (Campbell, 45). France had precious metal deposits which outflowed as major exports. With the industrial revolution France increased its exports and decreased its imports causing a great improvement in its gross income. A deficit turned out to be a surplus. To achieve all this and maintain economic superiority Jean-Baptiste Colbert developed a four-part grand economic plan for the nation:-
He improved the taxation system by deploying administratives in each province of the country.
He promoted overseas colonialism and acquiring of resources.
He ensured very little activity of imports.
He monitored closely trade activities by ensuring standards and quality of French products.
Over time, ways of rulings change with different leaders entrusted to leadership positions. Louis believed in a pure monarchy and this changed over time as other leaders came by. With different ideologies and reasoning revolutions, things changed later on. A republic government was established in 1792 when the nation's lower class overthrew the monarchy (Rowlands, 183). However, this did not last as the poor mostly don't have enough strength to be competent enough. Not long after this in 1799 the Republican was overthrown and by Napoleon Bonaparte whose Imperial government was crowned in 1804 after Louis XVI was publicly executed. Bonaparte was successful in army organization during his first Republic. However, he was abdicated and exiled from his emperor in 1815 causing the fall of the Napoleonic error. Louis XVIII ruled from this point to 1824 where the monarchy again came to an end during the July revolution of 1830. A second Republic then was created as Louis Napoleon was elected president and to take control of the legislature he conducted a coup in 1851 that curbed the assembly's power (Young, 71). Louis Napolleon was declared emperor in 1852. He introduced partial democracy which was not welcomed in the noble platform. This led to the second empire in 1852-1870. In 1870 a constitution established to allow a semi-parliamentary government with it ending with the kidnapping of Napoleon III. This welcomed the third Republic of France of 1870-1940 with the Wallon amendment stating France as a Republic and establishing a president should be put in office by getting majority of the votes in the National Assembly, and that he/she would serve for seven years with a chance of a second term in office. Despite all these government revolutions the monarchy and royal culture among the French and other European nations are still recognized and observed to some extent.
Causes of these periodic government revolutions were:
Political conflicts between powers within the kingdom especially due to taxation led to paralysis and money shortages.
Enlighten, and education broadened public opinion and increased know how on proper governance.
Antagonistic reasoning among social classes .The nobles and aristocrats.
Inefficient and incompetent leaders such as Louis XVI.
Economic hardships and money shortages due to war and corruption.
The revolution outcomes are between 1789-1815, and they are as follows:
The emergence of two different types of government namely the representative and the authoritarianism.
A centralized and strengthened state with a large and improved administration.
Abolition of favoritism and development of a justifiable taxation system
New civil rights were established. Equality before the law and careers were open to talent.
Social economic changes such as single commercial codes, poor people acquired land and became independent, businesses became more honorable.
Changes in ideas and political cultures such as nationalism, equality, and the formation of a revolutionary tradition.
Annotated Bibliography
Rowlands, Guy. The Dynastic State and the Army under Louis XIV: Royal Service and Private Interest 1661–1701.
Cambridge University Press, (2002): 159-207
The rule of Sun King experienced a massive increase in the strength and size of the French army. The quality of the army officers also improved as well as the War Ministry. This book treats the French army during the reign of Louis XIV as an economic, social, and political organism. The French army is portrayed as an institution that reflected the individual concerns of Louis XIV and the dynastic interests. The book attempts to explain the development of the French army during the Cardinal Mazarin’s ministry and the beginning of the War of Spanish Succession.The army was shaped in many ways through the imposition of tougher ministerial management, the reforming of proclamations, and the assurance of adequate funds. Furthermore, the book focuses on the awareness of Sun King and the need to pay more attention to the situation of the army officers and take account of the cultural, social, political, and military ambitions of the officers.
Black, Jeremy. From Louis XIV to Napoleon: the fate of great power. Routledge, (2013): 70-143
This book explains how Louis XIV and Napoleon impacted the military and political aspects of France and Europe. The objective of the French policy is also covered in details as well as its successes and failures. The required efforts have been devoted to ensuring the continuity of the policy from the reign of Sun King and Napoleon across the period of French Revolution. The current global position of France is also addressed in this book as a result of the policies implemented by Louis XIV and Napoleon. The substantial acquisition of territories by Louis XIV has indeed shaped modern France. The interest of France was episodic and varied, while the French foreign policy was fluid and unpredictable. The book also focuses on the importance of alliances and the failure of France to maintain lasting, effective relationships with Spain, Britain, the Dutch, and Austria. The foreign policy failures greatly affected the colonial and maritime position of France.
Young, William A. International Politics and Warfare in the Age of Louis Xiv and Peter the Great: A Guide to the Historical Literature. New York, (2004): 5-112
This study covers the literature on diplomacy and war from the era of peace of Westphalia to the death of Louis XIV. The age of Louis XIV is well known for numerous wars, the formation of standing armies, dynastic struggles, and the rise of the current diplomacy. The great wars in this era included the Great Northern War, Second Northern War, and the Franco-Spanish War. The French armies emerged victorious in the war which ended in 1697 with the Treaty of Ryswick. The sovereignty of French was secured by the treaty.
Campbell, Peter Robert. Louis XIV. Routledge, (2014): 32-136
The monarchy of Louis XIV has captured the attention of the world for more than three centuries by its splendor and grandeur. Louis XIV and his subjects transformed the image of kingship in Europe at a great cost. His long rule witnessed the construction of the largest royal palace in Europe. Moreover, during his reign, France experienced reforms of laws and taxation, royal patronage of the arts, as well as its emergence as the greatest state in Europe. The contemporary interpretation of Louis rule is more sophisticated and hard to categorize. This book also focuses on the limitations of Louis XIV’s reign by the political, geographical, economic, and social realities of the day.
Klaits, Joseph. Printed propaganda under Louis XIV: absolute monarchy and public opinion. Princeton University Press, (2015): 12-39
This book attempts to focus on a variety of related themes including the role of print in the seventeenth century and the political history of Louis XIV’s rule. The reign of Sun King expressed the propaganda of the French kingship in several symbolic images. This made the monarch prestige to be the only substance of power. The action of Louis XIV reflected deep concerns to the psychological component of the monarchy since the beginning of his rule. He was made a living embodiment of kingship supremacy by a certain court etiquette which had a theme of service to the king. Furthermore, the centrality of Louis XIV was symbolized by the emblem chosen by Apollo.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we see how Louise system of government brought about the various strengths and achievements the modern French progressed with. He improved their trade and commercial weaknesses into strongholds by fighting bankruptcy and encouraging trade. He created a reputation that is still identifiable among all European countries for France as a super monarchy ever in history. He vastly expanded French territories in Europe and overseas giving France bases of operations apart from its central point. He also changed the inequality of the law using code Louis harmonizing laws into equal application on every monarchical subject. He introduced justifiable taxation that led to saving France from total bankruptcy and introduced direct taxation on nobles. Louis was art supportive, and this facilitated upholding of French culture and making it influential and famous up to date. He has also been credited with military empowerment and enforcement in a disciplined and professional way and often victorious in most wars both on land and sea. Louis managed to defeat a major Grand Alliance formed against his government in war due to his aggressive expansion policies. He had the longest major reign in Europe that was recognized by Voltaire as the fourth and the greatest in terms of art and philosophy for 72 years. Despite all these accomplishments he had social fallbacks, he was somewhat inefficient and might have overlooked important opinions within the monarchy.
