THE ECONOMIC INFLUENCES OF LOUIS VIV AND LOUIS XVI A stable economic system is crucial to maintain an established country. Throughout history, different countries and their leaders had come up with countless agreements and methods in order to better the country's economy- some lead to miserable failure while some tasted victory. Louis XIV, who reigned from 1643 to 1715, famous for his statement "I am the state", was often called "the sun king". He was the embodiment of an absolute monarchy. He was inherited the most powerful country in Europe and expanded on this power throughout his life. On the other hand, his ancestor, Louix XVI, who reigned from 1774 to 1792, was the king of France when the monarchy was overthrown during the French …show more content…
Louis XIV dominated the central government of France and consulted with hand-picked ministers. He is well known for having respected the advices of the financial superintendent, Jean Baptiste Colbert. Colbert made the tax collection system more efficient - at the beginning of his occupancy in office, only about 10 % of the taxes collected ended up in the royal treasury. To finance these projects, Louis created several additional tax systems, including the "capitation" , which taxed every person including nobles and the clergy, starting from 1695. He also started the "dixième" in 1710, which was a true tax on income and on property value and was meant to support the military. The wealth of the kingdom allowed the king to raise taxes and pay for the army and the ever costly wars. On the other hand, Louis XIV was facing difficulty with the issue of taxes. In 1789, to avert the deepening crisis, Louis XVI agreed to summon the estates- general, in order to try and raise taxes. The main issue was that France as a country had more than enough money. The nobility and Bourgeoisie were piloting a relatively dynamic economy. However the government could not access this wealth for various structural reasons (Complicated taxation system with its myriad exemptions).The church avoided taxation altogether. His misguided interfering burdened the poor with taxes while the nobility hardly payed nothing at …show more content…
During the later years of Louis XIV' reign, while working on different monuments to strengthen France, the revenues stagnated and the wars proved costlier. In 1667 Louis XIV launched the War of Devolution, and in an attempt to fortify the economy, Louis XIV focused on improving France's world trade. In order to improve domestic trade, the roads were improved and canals were built, the most important one the canal du midi, connecting the Garonne (feeding into the Atlantic) with the Aude (feeding into the Mediterranean). The construction took 21 years. Under mercantilism, the state encouraged economic productivity through the granting of monopolies, tariffs on foreign products, and creation of overseas colonies. Unfortunately, during the years of Louis XVI's reig, France was attacked with the coldest winter in 90 years during Louis XVI's reign, leaving most of the citizens hungry and furious. Instead of coming up with solutions for this problem, Louis XVI, known for his "dificit spending" initially supported attempts by his ministers Jacques Turgot and later Jacques Necker to relieve France’s financial problems. French support for the colonists in the American war of Independence had brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy. Louis XVI spent a lot more money than what was coming in, also known as deficit spending. A lot of money had been spent by him on wars like the
nation. In order to become a true absolute ruler Louis xiv needed to make sure
Louis XIV was born on September 5, 1638, and ruled as King of France and of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death at the age of 76. He took over the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but didn't actually assume actual control of the government until his First Minister, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, died in 1661. He was to become King of France after his father, Louis XIII, died of tuberculosis. He achieved the role of king by ways of hereditary monarchy, which is one of the ways to become a ruler, as stated by Machiavelli. Louis XIV is known as the 'The Sun King' and also known as 'Louis the Great.' He ruled over France for seventy-two years, which is the longest reign of any French or any other major European ruler and increased the power and influence of France in Europe, by fighting three major wars. These wars are known as the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession. Under Louis XIV, France achieved political and military pre-eminence, and also achieved cultural dominance with various cultural figures. He worked to successfully create an absolutist and centralized state.
Louis XIV was an absolute monarch in France from 1643 to 1715. His father died when he was just four years old, making Louis XIV the throne’s successor at a very young age. Because of this, he ruled for seventy-two years, which made him “the longest monarch to rule a major country in European history” (Eggert). But it was when he was twenty-three years old when he decided to rule without a prime minister, believing it was his divine right. Translated by Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de Saint-Simon, the author of the book The Memoirs of Louis XIV:
In addition to this, the cost of running a government in general had gone up and the country needed more money. Because the king didn't have as much power to tax as he pleases, the government could make a firm and accurate taxation of the people. In France, the price of government had also gone up.
When Louis the XIV began his rule in 1643, his actions immediately began to suggest and absolute dictatorship. Because of the misery he had previously suffered, one of the first things he did was to decrease the power of the nobility. He withdrew himself from the rich upper class, doing everything secretly. The wealth had no connection to Louis, and therefore all power they previously had was gone. He had complete control over the nobles, spying, going through mail, and a secret police force made sure that Louis had absolute power. Louis appointed all of his officials, middle class men who served him without wanting any power. Louis wanted it clear that none of his power would be shared. He wanted "people to know by the rank of the men who served him that he had no intention of sharing power with them." If Louis XIV appointed advisors from the upper classes, they would expect to gain power, and Louis was not willing to give it to them. The way Louis XIV ruled, the sole powerful leader, made him an absolute ruler. He had divine rule, and did not want to give any power to anyone other than himself. These beliefs made him an absolute ruler.
The French revolution was also caused by a bad ruler and a bad economy. During the early 1780's a big percent of annual budget went towards king Louis XVI's lavish estate at Versailles. France also had no central bank, no paper currency, no ways of getting more money, and an out-dated tax system which only taxed the poor who had no money to begin with. Signs of revolution first appeared when the peasants stormed the fortress known as the Bastille looking for gun powder.
Louis XIV is considered the “perfect absolutist” and he has been said to have been one of the greatest rulers in France’s history. He came up with several different strategic plans to gain absolute
...search for a way to relieve the national debt, however policies by financial ministers like Jacques Neckler and Charles Alexandre de Calonne increased the debt even more. Louis would attempt to evoke the Assembly of Notables, which consisted of nobles, and later the Estates-General, which consisted of peasants, to ease the economic burden. However, both assemblies were shocked and disgruntled with the poor economy, and revoked the power of the King, leading to the French Revolution and forever abolishing absolutism from France.
Much like Britain and their need for money, King Louis XVI needed money due to causing France to become bankrupt with his costly
In the book Travels in France by Arthur Young, he states that “There is an injustice in levying the amount each person must pay. Lands held by the nobility are taxed very little. Lands held by commoners are taxed heavily…”. This line is important because yes, it is easy to see that only the middle class but Arthur is English, not French. From the website Encyclopedia Britannica they state he is an “English writer on agriculture, politics, and economics. Besides his books on agricultural subjects, he was the author of the famous Travels in France. The book is especially valued for its vivid descriptions of the French Revolution and of the conditions that produced it”. If an English man can see that French have a financial crisis because the king is in debt, then there is a financial crisis. The clergy and the nobles were not being taxed even though they had lots of money. Even the nobility went against their own people, the website Bastille Day and The French Revolution state that “Faced with all these problems, Louis XVI needed more funds to govern is country. His financial advisers, inspired by Turgot, decided to turn to the nobility and tried to pass a law that would make them pay more taxes. The nobility opposed the king 's decision. By a clever game of persuasion, they even rallied part of the third estates at their side to denounce the power of the King”. As can be seen taxes were
Of all the absolute rulers in Europe, by far the best example of one, and the most powerful, was Louis XIV of France. Although Louis had some failures, he also had many successes. He controlled France’s money and had many different ways to get, as well as keep his power, and he knew how to delegate jobs to smart, but loyal people.
Prior to the revolution, King Louis XVI was at the top of the ancien régime, the social, economic, and political structure in France, which means he had absolute power. When he received the throne in 1774, it came along with insoluble problems. The people were split into three estates which divided social class. The first estate consisted of 100,000 tax exempt nobles who owned 20% of the land. The second estate consisted of the 300,000 tax exempt clergy who owned 10% of the land. The third estate consisted of the remaining 23.5 million French people who were 90% peasants. The third estate was the only estate that paid taxes. Their taxes ensured the financial well-being of the clergy, state, and nobles (French Revolution Overview 6).
The peasants wanted to overthrow them as they made France bankrupt by overspending. He spent a little less than 228 million pounds in the span of 15 years. King Louis had sent huge amounts of money, military equipment and soldiers to America during the American Revolution because he wanted to help them beat Britain. He also spent a lot of money to build his palace, the Versailles. Marie Antoinette also used huge sums of money for her lavish parties and to fulfill her extravagant tastes.
By 1789, France was still paying off debts incurred by the wars of Louis XIV, that is, wars of the late 17th and early 18th century. Furthermore, a number of social groups and institutions did not pay taxes of any kind.
King Louis XIV's 72 year reign was incredibly influential in shaping French history. King Louis XIV’s childhood was traumatic because of “La Fronde” which was a noble rebellion against the monarchy. This experience taught King Louis XIV to distrust the nobles. It was for this reason that he eventually excluded nobility from the council and surrounded himself with loyal ministers whom he could control. He also separated the aristocracy from the people of France by moving the court to the Palace of Versailles. One of the most notable of King Louis XIV’s decisions was that he refused to appoint another Prime Minister after the death of Prime Minister Mazarin. Every decision, from the declaration of war to the approval of a passport, went through him personally. During his reign as king, France participated in several wars including the War of Devolution, in Anglo-Dutch War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. Another major action he took was the proclamation of the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revoked the Edict of Nantes, imposing religious uniformity through Catholi...