Roles and Religion
Bryan Wetzel
Professor Raskin
HUM 2234
5 April 2013
Roles and Religion It has been said that a nation is only as strong as its weakest link; therefore to rise above travesty a nation must revolutionize roles of power and distribute societal roles according to era rather than practice. In contrast to not follow suit, strong leaders must learn from predecessors mistakes and success in conjunction towards a more successful future. During the late 1600’s King Louis XIV had great influence for many years on how to successfully alter a whole nation. Russia shortly followed suit with Peter the Great redistributing power, changing the 18th century into a more justified reign of power. Ultimately, the goal of a better nation is for the better of the people and to strengthen the economy. During the 18th century Spain had an even harder battle to conquer. Charles III not only needed to reallocate power from the hierarchy of his nation, but also fought against giving ultimate power under the catholic religion. The goal with all three of these monarchs was for ultimate power to be in the hands of worthy advocates rather than hand it out trivially. Louis XIV shaped France by becoming an absolute monarch. Seeing the French economy falter, Louis decided to enforce some fiscal changes he thought would turn the economy around and he was correct. After appointing Jean-Baptiste Colbert as the Controller-General of Finances they made many alterations to the economy by applying a more proficient taxation was the first step to their plan. They implemented aides and douane taxes to increase taxation on imports and exports, also the gabelle tax on salt and the taille tax on land. All of these taxes bolstered the French economy, reduced national debt, and stripped some power that the bourgeoisie had over the monarchy. To further increase the economy, Louis wanted to embolden manufactures and inventors in France to expand their business across Europe. He also invited foreign
Professor Raskin
HUM 2234
5 April 2013
Roles and Religion It has been said that a nation is only as strong as its weakest link; therefore to rise above travesty a nation must revolutionize roles of power and distribute societal roles according to era rather than practice. In contrast to not follow suit, strong leaders must learn from predecessors mistakes and success in conjunction towards a more successful future. During the late 1600’s King Louis XIV had great influence for many years on how to successfully alter a whole nation. Russia shortly followed suit with Peter the Great redistributing power, changing the 18th century into a more justified reign of power. Ultimately, the goal of a better nation is for the better of the people and to strengthen the economy. During the 18th century Spain had an even harder battle to conquer. Charles III not only needed to reallocate power from the hierarchy of his nation, but also fought against giving ultimate power under the catholic religion. The goal with all three of these monarchs was for ultimate power to be in the hands of worthy advocates rather than hand it out trivially. Louis XIV shaped France by becoming an absolute monarch. Seeing the French economy falter, Louis decided to enforce some fiscal changes he thought would turn the economy around and he was correct. After appointing Jean-Baptiste Colbert as the Controller-General of Finances they made many alterations to the economy by applying a more proficient taxation was the first step to their plan. They implemented aides and douane taxes to increase taxation on imports and exports, also the gabelle tax on salt and the taille tax on land. All of these taxes bolstered the French economy, reduced national debt, and stripped some power that the bourgeoisie had over the monarchy. To further increase the economy, Louis wanted to embolden manufactures and inventors in France to expand their business across Europe. He also invited foreign
Cited: Peter the Great; The Illustrated Magazine of Art, Vol. 4, No. 19 pp 57-61 Article; JSTOR Louis XIV and the Theories of Absolutism and Divine Right Paul W. Fox Page 128 of 128-142 http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/351/CMHPeter.html Massie, Robert K. (1980). Peter the Great, His Life and Real World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 76,377,707. Nicholas Henderson, "Charles III of Spain: An Enlightened Despot," History Today, Nov 1968, Vol. 18 Issue 10, p673-682 and Issue 11, pp 760–768