The Economic Origins of the French Revolution

Louis XIV’s excessive grandeur made the French economy weak. His palace at Versaille, his constant need to gain more territory, and the crumbling of France’s economic system and caused the greatest revolution the world has ever seen. His grandiose estate, the palace at Versailles, required half of Louis XIV’s revenues to maintain. Although this palace may have kept up appearances for the sake of foreign

     In addition to his strengths, Louis XIV had weaknesses. After Colbert died, Louis made one mistake that undid all of his work. He revoked Edict of Nantes who protected the religious freedom of the Huguenots. Instead of being imprisoned, more than 200,000 Huguenots fled from France. The country lost many of its skilled workers and business leaders. Louis XIV also fought many costly wars that caused his people great suffering. Many of the wars left France on the brink of bankruptcy.

It is often debated whether or not the reign of King Louis XIV had a positive or negative effect on France. Although there were improvements during his reign in transportation, culture, and national defense, there were far more negative aspects. He depleted the national treasury with his liberal spending on personal luxuries and massive monuments. His extreme fear of the loss of power led to poor decision making, which caused the court to be of lower quality. King Louis XIV’s disastrous rule brought about a series of effects that influenced the French Revolution in the following century.

In 1661 Louis appointed Jean-Baptiste Colbert as controller general of finances. This proved to be very successful in adding to the increase of France’s economy, and it helped Louis achieve his second goal of having “one law.” Colbert’s ideas were similar to that of mercantilism. He insisted on having an economic system that would make France a self-sufficient powerful country where they exported more than they imported. He improved France’s economy through the invention of a merchant marine fleet, the support of industries, the control of tariffs on French goods, and the collection of taxes. All of these gained money for France, which led to the creation of a powerful army. Due to a powerful army, France was able to secure its natural frontiers, even in the North East, which was France’s weakest natural border. While Louis claimed a flaw of his was that, “I loved war too much,” he was able to make a strong French presence in Europe, adding to his idea of “one law.”

First of all France was in debt because they lend money to America and King louie had gone a little crazy ,spending money. He and his predecessor fled

The American and French Revolutions were profoundly motivated by economics. Prior to the Revolution, British colonies in America were thriving. Colonists paid fairly few taxes and were permitted to participate in domestic economic activity, granted they adhere to the Navigation Act, an act requiring, “that all trade within the empire be conducted on ships which were constructed, owned and largely manned by British citizens. Certain enumerated goods whether exported or imported by the colonies had to be shipped through England regardless of the final port of destination.” (Baack) Its mother country however, was not analogous. England’s debt had nearly doubled due to their victory over France during the 7 Year War and was frantically

Louis XIV was a very generous spender. He put in large amounts of money to finance the royal court, and operated as a supporter of the arts, funding literary and cultural figures. He also kept his army in mind by building military complex known as the Hôtel des Invalides to give a home for officers and soldiers who had served him loyally in the army. The Hôtel des Invalides established new treatments frequently and set a new standard for the rather barbarous hospice treatment styles of the period. To support a Machiavellian tactic, Louis XIV didn?t have any mercenaries or auxiliaries, he controlled his own army, and was a self-sufficient ruler that didn?t rely on the help of others in battle.

How can one separate a mere normal man from a king? And which is more important between men with a passion from a man with a selfish desire? King Louis XVI was an example of a king unfit to rule. We will discuss King Louis’s early life, his reign as king, and the role he played in the French revolution.

During the reign of Louis XIV, France's stability and success was threatened by the power of the nobility. When Louis looked back at the Fronde, a nobility revolt that occurred during his childhood, he realized the thirst for power the nobility held, and as a result limited their power. To begin with, Louis forced the nobles to move to Versailles where they could cause less trouble, and Louis could keep a close eye on them. Louis achieved this by threatening to deny them their pensions if they didn't move. Louis also instituted heavy taxing for the nobles, in the form of a 10% income tax as well as a head tax. These measures prevented a Noble uprising during Louis' reign as king, and allowed France to develop positively as a country.

Louis XIV 's France was an absolute monarchy, meaning the king had the power, control, finances and the nation in his hands more then ever before. In the 17th century, France was the strongest and wealthiest nation in Europe, and the head of the state, the king, was the most influential person of the time. In the ideas of the scientific revolution and the soon-coming changes of the enlightenment the country was developing. For a few decades France was not involved in any major wars or battles and the peace helped the population grow fast.

He also achieved his belief of “one law”. He achieved it by ruling as an absolute monarch and by believing in the statement “L’etat c’est moi”. This meant that “I am the state”. To put his beliefs into action and make sure that he had central power, Louis XIV established a standing army, appointed trained bureaucrats, and used intendants. The standing army was trained and equipped for all crisis situations. The trained bureaucrats were trained officials that worked in all levels of the government and who were appointed to their positions. The bureaucrats collected taxes, enforced laws, and administered justice. The intendants were royal commissioners made up of middle class. They had many jobs. The intendants had to collect taxes, recruit men for the army, administer justice, and regulate economic activities. They also have to prevent abuses from the sale of royal offices, employ arts and the primary press to defend the king’s actions, and indoctrinate people in the meaning of raison d’etat. Raison d’etat means that all actions on the part of subjects are first to be used to further the safety, economic power, and overall well being of the state. All other consideration is secondary. All of these people had to report to him on a regular basis. Finally, Louis wanted

The idea of absolutism in France profoundly affected France, especially in the reign of Louis XIV. The king had control of the central policy-making machinery of government. Louis got rid of the high nobles and royal prince from the royal council to eliminate the threat to his authority. Louis also had complete power over foreign policy, the Church, and taxes. The taxes that the government impose on farmers put the agriculture sector on crisis, the sector which France’s economy relied on. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, controller-general of finances, had some success in increasing the wealth of the nation by decreasing import and increasing export. He waged four wars to fulfil his ambitions, which caused nations to form coalition against France. Through

After being ruled by a prime minister for so long, France needed some changes. That is exactly what Louis the XIV would bring to France. In an age of separation, Louis wanted to start a unification process. He started this by giving himself sole power and also only having one religion for the country. The king is always the center of attention good or bad. Louis was prepared to take the good with the bad, and handled it well. He emphasized the king as the center of attention. While some see him as egotistical and greedy, Louis was one king who knew how to make improvements.

Jean-Baptise Colbert was a Royal advisor to the king. He was later made the Minister of Finance in France in 1665. While he was one of the King's royal advisors he made several reforms to try and strengthen the French economy. The result of these reforms were mixed.

During his 72 year reign, Louis XIV said, “L'etat c'est moi,” (Packet 246) which translates to, “The state is me.” Louis XIV believed himself to be a Divine Right Monarch, who had his authority given to him by the grace of God. Because he thought this way, he believed that he held all of the power in the state and no one else could refute this position, as to do so would be to go against God. As his power often went unchallenged, taxation became selective for the people of the upper classes, who got to choose when and if they paid. The selective taxation placed the blame on the third class, or estate, which are the working class. The working class, who made up the majority of the population, bore the weight of the taxes as the upper estates did not pay as much as they should. Part of the working class were the Huguenots, who constantly endured hardships strictly for their religion. But, despite all of the conflict in France, French culture was still valued as being one of the finest cultures in Europe during the time period. At the time, many people from across the globe used French as the language of business. The overwhelming amount of French culture in the world lead Louis XIV to be considered “The Sun King”. Despite the amount of praise delivered unto Louis, he tried his best to be a decent ruler and it ultimately failed, no matter his intentions and hurt France in the end.