How Do Political, Economic and Social Realities of a Society Shape Its Perceptions and Ability to Make War?

After suppressing revolts by the Fronde in 17th century France, King Louis XIV had become the supreme ruler of the country. Without any challenges to his power, he was able to practice absolutism, which is the concentration of power and symbolic authority in royal hands. With this power Louis XIV had many great achievements in France. He improved the tax system, religion, trading, and court life.1 Jean Domat was a juror who was supported by the king himself. He dedicated his life to explain and justify the importance of the role of absolutism in French society. The culmination of this work can be found in his legal digest, On Social Order and Absolute Monarchy. Many interesting ideas about the theory of absolutism can be found in his writings. It explains the essential environment for absolutism, defines the origin and necessity of government, and demonstrates the duties of the sovereign.

A Comparison of the Characteristics of the Absolutist Rule of Charles I of England and Louis XIV of France

France fell under the monarchy of Louis XIV, and it soon became a Divine Right monarchy. Louis XIV, like many other leaders before, believed that they have been summoned to rule by God. Along with this, he believed that he had true and just powers over his people because he was a “god” to them, and that “Kings are justly called gods, for that they exercise a manner, or resemblance of divine power upon earth; for if you will consider the attributes to God, you shall see how they agree in the person of a king” (Packet 1). This idea that Louis had

In the seventeenth century, the ideology of absolutism was established in France under the reign of Louis XIV. Subsequently, France’s success initiated other monarchs to rule as an absolute power including Prussia and Russia. Throughout the reigns of the Russian Tsar, Peter the Great and the Prussian King, Frederick William I, they have achieved great success for their monarchs. These rulers have also portrayed similar methods of acquiring supreme control over their monarchs and becoming a sovereign power. Therefore, Louis XIV, Peter the Great and Frederick William I practiced similar and contrasting methods of controlling their monarchs by imposing economic, political and social reforms.

On July 14, 1789 a mob of craftsmen, salesmen, and rebellious soldiers stormed the Bastille (state prison) to get powder and shot for their muskets. When the guards defending the prison resisted a battle ensued and the Bastille was eventually captured. This marked the beginning of the bloody French Revolution. The revolution in France was based on three principles, liberty, equality, and fraternity. These ideals radically changed European politics and brought about the idea of nationalism, which enabled the creation of the “people’s army” in France. The notion of national fraternity was a very powerful and paved the way for a renovation in how military affairs. How and why did the French Revolution factor in military change? The military

Once the seventeenth century began, western civilization became based upon bounds. In a structured and shared-power system known as limited monarchy, rulers either became hastened within their bounds or exploded from them. As the British Isles were frustrated in the religious, political, and national voices going unheard, England developed a Protestant-run nation in conjunction with Scotland as a bounded country in 1707. Their Parliament would make their decisions, distribute the country’s wealth, and stand for the rights of individuals. The model of one man who could not be chained to a Parliamentary system was France’s King Louis XIV. His reign begins in 1643 which brings about the genuine definition of an absolute monarchy and it’s faults. Absolutism was a practice built heavily within the Middle Ages, it would include Kings as the primary shareholders of their land, partnerships with nobles and their Churches. It would prove unsatisfactory for most kingdoms as they failed under civil war and invasion until the seventeenth century shines a new importance on superior command. Through the strife of religious reformations and international conflicts, absolutism grants those in kingship unlimited power. King Henry IV had brought France from fifteenth century centralization and the Reformation’s civil war to cleanse the people’s doubt in their King. The Bourbons built a monarchy for the ages with their grandson Louis XIV, and Boy-King in 1643. Utilizing absolutism to accept

During the 16th and 17th centuries it is clear and evident that the centralization of power, or the absolutism in and hierarchy, does in fact induce stability in society, however, it is also evident via the given readings that absolutism also had its flaws which were later proved to be its downfall. It essentially all boils down a single concept of the people versus government. This is evident in the history of the French prior and leading up to the Révolution. In addition to, the monarchy of the English under King James VI and I’s rule. As complicated as the nature of government is, when power or authority is concentrated excessively into a single point, the society will crack by that very same point if a healthy relationship between citizen and ruler is not established. One cannot expect to bully and undermine one’s citizens without considering the possibility that one day they will rise up against him or her and “religious” masks can only be worn for so long before people recognize the hypocrisies present within them. Both of these truths are evident as seen in the given texts. Specifically, with The Great Cat Massacre, On The Social Order and Absolute Monarchy, by Jean Domat, and Trew Law of Free Monarchies, King James VI & I.

(Absolute Monarchy) As shown in the article, “Top 21 quotes by Louis XIV,” Louis most famous quote was, “I am the State.” This truly shows how he truly wanted to have all complete control over France. His ministers and secretaries weren't able to have power. To make policy decisions on their own but they only had the offer the king advice.

The French monarchy was one of the most influential governments in the Age of Absolutism. The basic principle of absolutism is the monarch rules by divine right and decides what is best for the state. The ruler held unlimited power and all individuals were

Louis XIV was one of France’s most effective and powerful monarchs. He strengthened his rule with a policy of absolutism. Where the king gained authority directly from God or the divine right to rule. There were no legal limits to the powers that the king could exercise, however, during his rule a monarch had certain influential groups of people who the king needed to negotiate and consult in order to establish an effective functioning government. Among these groups where the land owning nobility, royal officer nobles, the royal commissioners, the Catholic Church, the bourgeoisie and the peasants. More notably seen the King Louis XIV is regarded as the “sun king” because of the great grandeur he

European absolutism was the concept that one sovereign individual had some power in the government. Absolutism required the King to have the support of the nobility, which were the closest threat to them. King Louis did this by using extravagant pageants to awe his possible threats, and he used court ritual, gifts and court privileges to gain support from his nobility. Frederick also gained support from his nobility by granting them favors ( in his case exemption from taxes) in exchange for their support financially. A key component in Absolutism is military. Leopold the I implemented a standing army with a hierarchy of sefs as soldiers and nobles as officers. Frederick brought his army from eight thousand to thirty thousand, aso using the noble-over-peasant hierarchy. King Louis used his French army to gain french territory against the spanish and austrians. A key in absolutism was bureaucracy, a line of officials working under a routine one of authority, which was supervised by the absolute

Law could no longer be changed or reinvented on the spot by members of government for their own benefit. Now, it could only prohibit actions which were hurtful to society. These new concepts brought fourth during the revolution would greatly influence not just France, but the entirety of Europe and its direction in the decades to come. Perhaps the most important of these new concepts was Nationalism which encompassed the ideas of pride in one’s nation, fair, nonbiased law, comradery, and a still skewed, but, better version of equality. Nationalism would also bring fourth the concept of legitimate violence which was essentially the thought that war was ok and murder was not. This important concept would be the driving force behind the Napoleonic Wars to come. While the concept of nationalism was most definitely progressive, highly influential, and constructed of good intentions and values it did not always play out as such in soldiers and citizens daily lives during the revolution. Far too often nationalism turned away from its pure ideals and instead lead to prejudice in all types of different people, which was not its conceptual

For many years, people such as Louis XIV and Peter the Great set the boundaries of what people today know as Absolutism. But during the eighteenth century, a new form of this before set ruling was implemented. Called Enlightened absolutism it arrived during the Scientific Revolution. The Enlightened despots differed from their “unenlightened” predecessors because the new, enlightened despots put the needs of the state first. They also did not believe in and did not talk about the divine right of Kings, or even having dynastic rights to the throne.

            Seventeenth century is a time when the rulers of France were becoming more and more absolutist, England was moving away from absolutism. The seventeenth century was the time of Louis XIV. He was known as the Sun King and declared himself “without equal.” He is generally considered to be the most powerful monarch to ever rule in Western Europe. Louis ruled with an iron fist, and never became dependent on a single advisor. He often spied on ministers, even opening their mail. In religious matters, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes primarily to prevent religious differences from erupting into a civil conflict. Louis XIV took absolutism to extremes, claiming to be a servant of God (the "divine right of Kings") and dissolving France's only general assembly. Why absolutism failed in England but grew in France is due mainly to the political situation in each country when the idea was first introduced.

The military revolution was a direct outcome of changes in the virtuosity of war between 1560 and 1660. The changes crucially influenced campaigning and combat in Europe during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The most influential alterations included transformation in weapons, growth in the army size, change in tactics and organization, and centralization of the states’ bureaucracies. There were many battles in the late 17th and early 18th centuries that were highly influenced by the implications of the military revolution, for example, the Battles of Hogue, Danube, and Blenheim. These altercations started a development for military superiority and increased proficiency that enabled Europe to dominate the world long after the Wars of the Spanish Succession. However, I would like to emphasize that those victories mentioned above were heavily influenced by the skills of the commanding individuals and their roles in the military organizational system rather than a full internalization of the revolution’s implications overall. The Duke of Marlborough is a great example of an individual overweighting the flaws of the late 17th century logistical systems to his advantage. By comparison, France’s failure to understand and implement the alterations eventually enabled the rise of Britain’s at the French expense.