Louis Xiv and Peter the Great

Research Essay

Absolute rulers like Louis xiv and Peter the Great strengthened there

countries butweakened them economically. They made great improvements

to the armies and social aspects of the kingdom. But when they were improving

all of these things it ended up costing them a great deal of money. Was it good to

have a great army and government if everyone had no money? Absolutism is a

political theory holding that all power should bevested in one ruler or other

authority. Both Louis xiv and Peter the Great considered themselves to be absolute

rulers and they had divine right. Louis xiv changed France in many ways. He helped and hurt the growing

nation. In order to become a true absolute ruler Louis xiv needed to make sure

that ll the power was contained in himself. So he did a very clever thing, he took

the nobles power out of the government. And to make sure they didn't realize

that their power was being taken away slowly he gave them positions in the army

(doc.7). This now made france a true absolute monarchy. All the power was now

in louis xiv. He made all the decisions and no one could stop or disagree with

him. Unlike the middle ages where the system of government was the feudal

system and the nobles contained a great deal of power this is a radical idea and

change. One of the many focuses of louis xiv was to strengthen the army. Louis

xiv made Marquis de Louvois his Grand Marshall of the army. Louvois attracted

soldiers with descent pay, bonuses, medical care, decoratrions and opportunity

for advancement(doc.7). This was very unusual for the army. This helped the

army tremendously. His army was the largest and most modern in europe. This

helped and hinderedfrance. It helped if france waged war or needed to defend

itself. Or even for intimidation. But all these bonuses and the descent pay for

100,000 men took its toll on frances economy.

Peter the Great