Louis XIV

Louis XIV, the king of France from 1643-1715 was the son and successor of King Louis XIII. As a result of his power, he became known for both his domestic and foreign policies.

His foreign problems led his country to war many times. This caused people, like the commoners, to fight for France. It truly was a rich man's war, and a poor man's fight. Louis began what is known as the third of the Dutch Wars. This emptied the treasury that France had at the time. After this incident he settled down for ten years to work on diplomacy. In 1688 he attacked the Holy Roman Empire which ended with the Treaty of Ryswick, which caused France to lose minor territories. The final war he started was the War of the Spanish Succession which left France very weak and in a large debt. Commoners felt a heavy blow from this massive national debt.

When it came to domestic policies, Louis XIV began his rule as king very well. With the help of Jean-Baptiste Colbert the French economy was very strong. Unfortunately, the problem of taxation arose. The higher classes, who could afford to pay more taxes actually paid the least. The lower calsses, thos who could not affor taxes, had to pay the most. The commoners were left out when it came to economic issues. They were the largest in numbers because they could hardly buy enough goods to live off of and even if you had some money, the ended up losing it to taxes. Louis XIV's economic ideas destroyed much of France very slowly. The commoners had no where to go except to try to be in the army. Louis and Colbert knew that in order to keep a stable country, they had to have a strong army that could stamp down any revolt.The were Louis's ideas of how to run a country.