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Effects of the Thirty Years' War
Effects of the Thirty Years' War
Essay about history of french before revolution
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Pascal lived in France from the year 1623 till his death in 1662. During this time France was ravaged by a series of uprisings and was engaged in international wars. These wars and unrest within the country led to some interesting changes within the power structure of France at this time. The wars that France was involved in included the Thirty years war, and the Franco Spanish war. The Thirty years war began in the year 1618 as a conflict between Bohemian nobleman and the Austrian Hapsburgs. France remained out of the war until the year 1635. France entered the war by declaring war on the neighboring country of Spain. By extension this meant that France had declared war on Spain’s allies throughout the Holy Roman Empire. By declaring war against the Holy Roman Empire, France took a step toward siding with the protestant powers 5 in Europe. Cardinal Richelieu was the individual who chose for France to enter the war against Spain, with his death in 1642 and Louis XIII’s death in 1643, and the heir to the throne being only five years old, power was in a questionable state. From this arose Cardinal Mazarin, and Anne of Austria who was Louis XIII’s wife. This change of power occurred after France was …show more content…
They claimed he was using ”his position to enrich himself and ruin the country.” There is no mention of the Pascal family’s responses to these events occurring in their vicinity. Anne of Austria, also a foreigner, continued to stand by Mazarin throughout this time, protecting the future of France, and the heir to the throne. The summoning of the Chamber Saint Louis was an act of defiance to the Royal Authority within France. It did not culminate into a revolution as the Revolution in the eighteen hundreds would do. This was due to weak support for the cause of the revolution. The revolution was sparked due to taxes for a war that would soon draw to a
The French Revolution was a period of political upheaval that occurred in France during the latter half of the 18th century. This revolution marked an end to the system of feudalism and the monarchy in France and a rise to democracy and new Enlightenment ideas. By 1789, when the revolution began, France was in a deep financial crisis due to the debt they had obtained over many years of reckless spending and France was nearly bankrupt. These financial issues fell almost completely on the bottom social class or the Third Estate which made up a majority of the country. Because of this financial trouble the common people were heavily taxed leaving many of them in poverty. In addition to the economic issues, France also held an Estate System that led to heavy
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.
In order to gain the power he desired as an absolute monarch, Louis used a few key techniques that were very successful. His first and most necessary step to get all control was to take all of the nobles’ power, and make it so they were completely under his control. He first did this by taking the nobles’ positions of power, and either getting rid of them by doing it himself, or giving the jobs to loyal middleclass or some nobles who were completely loyal and under his control. Louis had very simple reasoning for doing this, which was that if the nobles had any power or control, they would have a better chance of overthrowing him, and that since there can only be so much total power, the more they had, the less ...
At the beginning of the 17th century, France was a place of internal strife and bickering bureaucrats. The king, Louis XIII, had come to the throne in 1610 at the age of nine, leaving the running of the kingdom to his mother, Marie de Medici. One of her court favorites, Armand de Plessis de Richelieu, rose through the ranks, eventually gaining the title of Cardinal and becoming one of Louis’ key advisors and minister. His political manifesto, Political Testament, was a treatise for King Louis XIII that offered him advice mainly concerned with the management and subtle subjugation of the nobles and the behavior of a prince. Beneath all of the obeisant rhetoric, Richelieu was essentially writing a handbook for Louis XIII on how to survive as a king in a political landscape increasingly dominated by the aristocracy. Richelieu’s ideology shows a pragmatic attitude reminiscent of The Prince, a political work by 15th century Florentine politician Niccoló Machiavelli.
that contributed to the rise and fall of the French Monarchy. The ideas of the
Louis XIV (Figure 1), the absolute monarch of France from 1643 to 1715, was a model of other European monarchs. Louis was born on 5th of September 1638 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where located outside of Paris in north central France, and died in 1715 at an age of seventy-seven. After the death of his father Louis XIII in 1963, his mother Anne of Austria and the chief minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin were appointed regent while Louis XIV was young. For the throne, Louis was allowed to attend councils of st...
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...
During the Spanish Civil War, France decided on a policy of Non-Intervention in order to promote economic and political stability. Firstly, the Non-Intervention policy kept France from having a financial stake in the war, which they would have should they have supported one side over the other, and was in fact financially beneficial as it allowed France to trade with both sides of the Spanish Civil War without difficulties. In addition, since France itself was very divided on which side to support in the war, following a policy of Non-Intervention kept the peace in France and stopped them from having their own civil war. Politically, Britain was also putting a lot of pressure on France to not interfere in the war, and because France needed Britain as an ally in the face of the threat of Germany, Italy, and Russia, they yielded to their demand. Most importantly, France hoped that following the policy of Non-Intervention would to keep world peace. Europe’s political climate was very fragile and tense at this moment, and much of Europe, France included, was worrying about another World War breaking out, with the Spanish Civil War as the trigger.
During the eighteenth century, France was one of the most richest and prosperous countries in Europe, but many of the peasants were not happy with the way France was being ruled. On July 14, 1789, peasants and soldiers stormed the Bastille and initiated the French Revolution. This essay will analyze the main causes of the French Revolution, specifically, the ineffectiveness of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the dissatisfaction of the Third Estate, and the Enlightenment. It will also be argued that the most significant factor that caused the French Revolution is the ineffective leadership of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
The church was also brought under control, and Louis sought to do away with all other religions by revoking the Edict of Nantes. Political power was given to noblemen, who were seen as possible opponents, and they were made to reside part of the year at Louis XIVs’ court in Versailles in order to display dominance over them (458–459).... ... middle of paper ... ...
The French Revolution evokes many different emotions and controversial issues in that some believe it was worth the cost and some don't. There is no doubt that the French Revolution did have major significance in history. Not only did the French gain their independence, but an industrial revolution also took place. One of the main issues of the Revolution was it's human costs. Two writers, the first, Peter Kropotkin who was a Russian prince, and the other Simon Schama, a history professor, both had very opposing views on whether the wars fought by France during the Revolution were worth it's human costs. Krapotkin believed that the French Revolution was the main turning point for not only France but for most other countries as well. On the other hand, Schama viewed the French Revolution as unproductive and excessively violent.
An Analysis of the Absolute Monarchy of France in the 17th Century This historical study will define the absolute monarchy as it was defied through the French government in the 17th century. The term ‘absolute” is defined I the monarchy through the absolute control over the people through the king and the royal family. All matters of civic, financial, and political governance was controlled through the king’s sole power as the monarchical ruler of the French people. In France, Louis XIII is an important example of the absolute monarchy, which controlled all facts of military and economic power through a single ruler. Udder Louis XIII’s reign, the consolidation of power away from the Edicts of Nantes to dominant local politics and sovereignty
King Louis XVI was next in line for the throne in 1774 and gladly inherited it from Louis XIV to become the ruler over France. He drastically changed the whole country and put its people through ghastly conditions. There was not a soul left unharmed. In Paris, nearly half of its population in 1788 was unemployed. They produced no crops due to them not growing and had extremely high prices on food. With the whole nation already furious with his doings, he decided to marry Marie Antoinette who was foreign. They decided to blame her for their problems of their economy because they figured that King Louis was letting her make major decisions and control them. Together, Antoinette and Louis had a total of four children. Their oldest child lived to be seventy-three.
Now Louis faced a completely different conflict. He had fallen in love with Mazarin’s niece, Marie Mancini. As a king, he didn’t have the luxury of being with whoever he wanted. He had to think of his kingdom, expanding his power, and making peace with other countries. For two years he struggled with the decision of love and duty, but in the end duty won. In 1660 he married Marie-Therese of Austria, the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain. This particular marriage ensured peace between France and
The Franco-Prussian War (also called the Franco-German War) was a military conflict between France and Germany that occurred from 1870 to 1871. The idea of a unified German nation was very popular at the time. The other major nations of Europe feared that a unified Germany would be a threat on the global stage. Germany had recently been victorious under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in 1864 against Denmark and 1866 against Austria. These victories helped “establish Prussia as the dominant power among the German states” (“Franco-Prussian War”). Bismarck negotiated an alliance with the southern German states and prepared the Prussian army for war against France because Bismarck saw “French opposition as a major obstacle to German unification” (“Franco-Prussian War”).