French History. What Were Some Good Decisions? He appointed Jean Colbert

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1 French History The Sun King How He Became King Louis XIV (the 14th) became the King of France at the age of four. He was too young to be a good king, so his mother ruled for him. She had a crush on a guy named Cardinal Mazarin, so she gave him all the power, and he got to do what ever he wanted. Did Louis care? No. He got to play and do everything that the most spoiled brat on the face of the earth could do. Mazarin ruled. Louis played. Mazarin crushed a revolt in Paris that tried to overthrow him and the monarchy. This would scare Louis for the rest of his life, and made him distrust the people of Paris, the capital city. Mazarin weakened the power of the nobles who served under the king. This was going to make it easier for a king to rule, because most of the people would listen to him rather than their local noble. Mazarin died in 1661, and Louis astonished the people of France by declaring that he was going to rule France all by himself. Why was this weird? Most kings of France were not interested in ruling the country. They could have fun and hire people to make all the important decisions. This is often what they did. But Louis was genuinely interested in the well-being of his nation. He believed in divine right, the concept that God made him king. He thought that he was directly responsible to God for the well being of France and the French people. What Was He Like? Louis loved food and hunting. Although he was married to the princess of Austria, he had lots of girlfriends. He liked walking outside and getting fresh air. He liked art and architecture. His greatest achievement was the Chateau (Castle) of Versailles (ver-sigh). It took over 20 years to build this home. When it was done, it had over 7000 rooms, and over 400 acres of 1 gardens. The place is huge. Spending just a half hour in each room would require five months to see them all, even if you spent 24 hours a day going from room to room. Thousands of people would live at Versailles. He had it built 12 miles from Paris, because he still distrusted the people of Paris because of the uprisings from his childhood. This made the people of his largest city distrust him, too. They thought it was a huge waste of money to make the largest building in the world so far from the center of their country. They thought he was a phony. Louis himself detested corruption and dishonesty. He was a fun guy and he rewarded those who were loyal to him. But he loved himself more than anybody on earth. He would have nobles feed him and dress him. People would bath him and comb his hair. If fact, it was considered a great honor to dress the king. Louis rarely did anything for himself. What Were Some Good Decisions? He appointed Jean Colbert (Jzahn Coalbear) to be his minister of finance. He in turn invented an economic system called Mercantilism. It s based on the idea that a country s wealth depends on how much gold and silver that it has. Ever heard of Fort Knox? This is where the United States keeps much of it s gold and silver. The wealth of the country is represented in currency, which is paper money and coins. Every time you use a dollar bill, you are using a tiny part of Fort Knox. This is better

2 that carrying big chunks of gold around in our pockets. We d have to use scales! Think about this- what happens to the value of money if the price of gold drops or goes up? Mercantilism is pretty darn important for us because we use it everyday. Nice idea Jean! Louis also commissioned works of art and Louis XIV loved to flirt with beautiful women, like her, at the Court of Versailles. He made every nobleman stay at Versailles at times so he could keep and eye on them--and their women! Louis encouraged architecture. France became more beautiful than it had every been at this point. Many artists got work. This was naturally paid for by tax money from the peasants (the poor farmers). Louis never took taxes from the rich because he needed them to raise money for his numerous wars. Louis unified France and made it the most powerful country in Europe. Everybody listened to him, and quit listening to the nobles. The common people had no votes, and Louis XIV didn t have to listen to anybody that he didn t want to. What Are Some Bad Things That Happened? Wars and taxes. Taxes and wars. It never stopped. Louis would get mad at some other country and declare war on them. The people of France dutifully marched of to war and got slaughtered. France did gain some land, but at a terrible price. It also made Louis run out of money, so they he would raise taxes on the lower classes of people. Louis was fighting in the Netherlands against Spain, England, and Sweden. He got whooped. France was poor and had to sue for peace. It is a tribute to the French people and Louis himself that country survived at all. This was also the time that France and other countries were becoming active in the New World. Louis was the first European ruler of what we know today as Wisconsin. Louis said on his deathbed, maybe I loved war too much. No kidding. With the other things he accomplished, he could have been considered a great ruler. But he bled France of its people and money for most of his 54 year reign. Louis XV The Bleeding Continues Louis XV was the second Bourbon king. Bourbon was the family name of this family of kings. The symbol of the French kings was the symbol called the Fleur des Lille which means Lilly flower. It was on the French flag, and today you can still see it on the provincial flag of Quebec, which is mostly a French speaking part of Canada. Symbolism is important to people. The Fleur des Lille was becoming less popular with the common people of France because it also represented their government, which was headed by a king. Louis the XV was actually the great-grandson of Louis XIV. The Sun King s son died, and then his grandson died as well. Luckily for the Sun King, his grandson had already had children, the oldest of which, Louis XV, would become king, at the age of four. So How Did It Go? Not very well. It looked like he would be a good king at first because he decided to rule without a first minister, as his great grandfather had done before him. He was intelligent and concerned, but unfortunately, he was easily bored and he never followed through with anything. France continued to spiral down because there wasn t any concrete decisions being made by the government of the King. Louis XV lost lots of land because of diplomatic blunders. England, France s chief enemy, became even stronger, especially in the New World. It is during this time that the Canadian colonies were lost during the French and Indian Wars. Had France won that war, France would have been the predominant power in New World, but they lost and England took over. The people cheered when he died, too. 2

3 The Last Bourbon King Louis XVI Really Messes Things Up Louis XVI was a nice guy, and under different circumstances, would have had a successful life. But he was never meant to be a king. He lacked the conviction of a leader. He flipped- flopped on many of his decisions. He was too easily influenced by people in the court who were only interested in themselves. What Was His Personal Life Like? He was a devoted husband to Marie Antoinette, Princess of Austria. This was really unusual for the times because most monarchs were very unfaithful. Marie was greedy, headstrong, and proud but Louis loved her anyway. He was also a devoted father to his children. Again, this was uncommon. Most monarch parents of the time would let hired hands raise their children. He was sincerely interested in the welfare of his people, but again, he was indecisive. He made poor political decisions. Like What? He kept appointing different finance ministers. They had different ideas. The first guy he used was kind of an idiot and really messed up the French economy. He then appointed Jacques Necker, who was popular with the common people. He wanted to tax the upper class, which This cartoon shows how the French people thought that the King and the priests rode on their backs. Louis thought was a good idea. Then his wife Marie Antoinette said, No that s a bad idea. Louis said, You re right! and fired Necker. He was doing stuff like this all the time. He also decided to let the Estates General meet again. The Estates General was like the French Congress. The First Estate was made up of the clergy, (the Catholic clergy), the Second Estate was made up of the nobles who were the wealthy landowners. The Third Estate was made up of the bourgeoisie (bur-szwa-zee). These were merchants and small farmers. They had very little power, and they were mad. This was by far the biggest of the estates. The Estates Want to Share Power With the King-But Can t Agree on How to Do It. The First Estate and the Second Estate wanted each Estate to have one vote each. The Third Estate naturally wanted each individual member to have a separate vote. Every time they voted on this, the first two estates defeated the Third Estate by 2-1. Finally the members of the Third Estate said if you don t give 3

4 us one vote each, we ll rise up and squash you like little bugs! The first two estates thought this sounded reasonable, and decided to let the bourgeoisie to have their way. Louis thought this was fine too, since he didn t want to lose his head. He Loses His Head Anyway Louis was talked into going against the Third Estate. Bad decision. The Third Estate got mad and rioted at the Bastille, which was a prison reported to have thousands of political prisoners in it. The mob found four lunatics, two alcoholics, and one political prisoner, but it didn t matter. They just needed a spark to get mad a Louis. Riots began happening. Louis tried to sneak out of the country with Marie Antoinette but was caught by an unsuspecting peasant. He was brought back to Paris in chains. The ruling council finally had a trial and decided that Louis XVI was guilty of treason. They decided to send him to the guillotine, which was a very nasty headchopping-off machine. Louis did not faint, though, and he spoke to the crowd about how he had tried to be a good king. They booed. They lay him on the machine, pulled the rope, and his head fell into a basket. They stuck it on a pike and paraded it through the streets of Paris. They council also decided to execute Marie Antoinette. She was a proud woman, and would not bow before them. To trick her, they made her cell 4 9 high. That way when she came out, she would have to bow because she was She heard them during the night making the door shorter, so she cut off her hair with rusty cissors. The next morning, on the way to the guillotine, she walked right out, having plenty of clearance because she used to have really big hair. The mob got the last laugh though, when her head landed in the basket too. The French Think About Democracy Many different men gave French folks different ideas about government. The first guy they listened to was a clever old man named Voltaire (Vol-tair). He was really funny, so even kings and queens liked him. He questioned the Catholic Church in France, saying that many things they said were illogical. He stood up for people who were picked on because of their political or religious beliefs. He did think, though, that the common person was too stupid to rule themselves, and that they still needed a good king or queen to be ruler. This is why the kings and queens of Europe really liked him! Montesquieu (Mon-tess-q) was the first man to write about the separation of powers. This means that different branches of government are responsible for different things. For example, the American government has a congress that makes laws. It has a President who decides how the laws are applied, and the Courts decide how the laws are interpreted. You see, American government owes much to the ideas of Montesquieu. Without those ideas, we may have had a king of America! Rousseau (Rue-SOh) thought people could be good if they had good governments to rule them. He felt that people acted bad because governments forced them into bad positions. He felt that men and women would behave if they had a good government to lead them. He was one of the first to say that governments should serve people. Up until this point, people always served the governments of the king. His ideas would eventually spark the French Revolution. This man s life really

5 4 supports the saying the pen is mightier than the sword. Unfortunately, men too concerned with their own power discarded these ideas, and fought for control of France. Anarchy Rules! Anarchy is a word that describes lawlessness. Nobody was in charge and killing was rampant. The mob was looking for nobles to feed to the guillotine, which never seemed to stop chopping. This sad part of French history is called the Reign of Terror. Thousands of nobles were killed. Their heads lined the streets of Paris, having been stuck up on light poles. The nastiest of all the people took over was Robespierre (Robes-pear). He sentenced thousands to death. His enemies eventually rallied against him and had him guillotined. France was a mess. They tried setting up a democracy, but the people in charge couldn t make any decisions. Finally, after the Terror, a strong man from the army told the Parisians that he could restore law and order. His name was Napoleon. What Was Napoleon Like? He was short and Corsican. Corsica is an island in the Mediterranean that is controlled by France. When Napoleon was little, he dreamed of an independent and free Corsica. When he got older, he realized that Corsica was too small and would never be free of French control, so he decided to join the French army. He was a brilliant general. He could make military decisions that would outfox his opponent, even if his opponent had superior forces. He won several battles for the kings of France and was promoted to general. He survived the Reign of Terror, and came to Paris as a conquering hero. Napoleon Terrifies Europe Napoleon thought that France should be a great empire. He began attacking countries with his army, and making political marriages with his family members to other ruling families in Europe. By 1810, he had conquered much of Europe. His first mistake came when he decided to attack Russia. Russia was huge, but Napoleon thought that he and his 600,000 soldiers could bring it to it s knees. Wrong. As Napoleon attacked, the Russians burned everything to the ground. This way, the French were not able to use anything. Napoleon s supply lines got too long, and the Russians counter-attacked. Napoleon and his men spent a long cold winter in Moscow. The next spring, they crawled back to Paris. Over 400,000 men had been killed during the year. What was Waterloo? This was Napoleon s last battle. After being thrashed by Russia, he was attacked by England and others. They made him go away to the island of Elba. But he snuck back and tried to make one more go of it. England and France met in battle at Waterloo, Belgium, where the English won. The captured Napoleon, and this time made sure he wouldn t get away. They imprisoned him on the island of St. Helena, where he died a couple of years latter. Napoleon during his life time had been the ruler of most of Europe. His authored many laws that are still in use. In fact, the Napoleonic Code is still the standard set of laws in Louisiana. In Conclusion Our own history owes much to the French. The United States would not have existed as we know it today if French history wouldn t have played out the way it did. It is also a good example of how people will make their own decisions if the leadership is bad. I prefer the vote, but rulers who are

6 France #1: Unit Index Name: Anarchy architecture Bourbon Dynasty bourgeoisie Cardinal Mazarin Catholic Church Colbert, Jean Corsica currency divine right Elba Estates General First Estate Fleur des Lille guillotine Louis XIV Louis XV Louis XVI Marie Antoinette mercantilism monarchy Montesquieu Moscow Napoleon Napoleonic Code Quebec Reign of Terror Robespierre Rousseau Second Estate St. Helena Sun King, The symbolism Versailles Voltaire Waterloo Wisconsin Try and guess who these people really are!