The Reign Of King Louis XIV, King Of France

Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715, had a love for the arts and a discipline for military and government actions. Due to the king's eager enjoyment for the arts, the countries economics suffered greatly while the artists, architects, composers and choreographers flourished greatly monetarily.When Louis XIV had complete power and no longer ruled under a prime minister, in 1661, the military of France was now the leading power in Europe. “A weaker man, one less sure of his goals, might as well have wasted the opening offered... Showed that he was not only determined but also remarkably clear-eyed” (Bernier). King Louis XIV had a positive effect on France by getting his country out of bankruptcy and modernizing his army
This began his reign of France as an absolute ruler. Louis XIV’s monarchy was one of the longest and most famous in France's history. Before taking the throne his mother, Anne of Austria, ran the country and he had an adviser, chief minister Jules Cardinal Mazarin. King Louis was educated in the arts, diplomacy, history and warfare. (Louis XIV.2015). At a young age he proved to be a manful little boy, for his athleticism. He choose his personal symbol to be the sun and had the nickname Sun King
This lead to Louis having complete power of his monarchy. He did not like the idea of any help while he ruled. King Louis XIV committed eleven years to the French economic health. France was in a state of bankruptcy caused by warfare and the building of Versailles, located 17 miles out of paris (Rowlands). He reduced the money owed to other countries by building factories to produce and sell goods. The system of taxation was very disorderly, so Louis had reorganized how the country spent their taxes. Although Louis had allowed members of the nobility not to pay the tax (Rowlands). He heavily taxed his people to aid the reforms of the military. His new executive reform was designed with the middle class, Bourgeoisie as he called it, to be the strength of the government. By forcing the french nobility to give up their political powers Louis XIV created a more orderly and secure France government.(“Louis XIV.” bio)
Louis took over as military commander after mazarin’s death. At the time Louis was in his 20s. His first war was the War of Devolution. Later the Triple Alliance, consisted of the Netherlands, England and Sweden, retaliated against France because of the invasion of the Dutch in the War Of Devolution. The third war of Louis’s reign as king, in 1672, he was determined to take over Holland, unfortunately the outcome was a gross increase in the country's deficit. As military commander, before dying, his final war