World Civilizations 112 Lecture Outlines Lecture #5
The French and Russian Versions of the State
The World of Louis XIV
Groundwork for centralized power laid by Cardinals Richelieu (1585-1642) and Mazarin (1610-1643) who had effectively governed the state for Louis XIII. The Cardinal's efforts at centralization were resisted by the regional nobility. They carried out a rebellion called the Fronde (1649-1652). The rebellion failed in contrast to the English experience under Cromwell at the same period of time. Thereafter, an absolute monarchy evolved under Louis XIV.
After Mazarin died, Louis XIV, the "Sun King", seized personal control of the state which he did not give up until his death. Louis XIV did two things to ensure the continuation of his absolute power. The first was to make sure that the nobility benefited from his policy. He never attempted to abolish noble institutions or limit their authority. The second was to create a pleasure palace at Versailles in which the nobility could while away their time at a never ending party while his appointed ministers gradually seized operating control of the reigns of government.
Louis XIV also gradually created a feeling of national identity among the French by conducting relatively small, contained and nearly continuous wars against virtually all of his neighbors in the name of France. This led to a feeling among many Frenchmen that they were surrounded by enemies and were part of a national enterprise against the foreigners. This feeling was especially strong against the English whose dislike of the French also grew despite the sympathies of the Stuart Kings.
Louis XIV claimed a divine right to rule. His most famous statement was L'etat, c'est moi or "the state, it is I". Fundamentally, the key to understanding French policy in this period is the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1598). The Edict had proclaimed a policy of toleration of Protestants within an overwhelming majority of Catholics in France. Louis XIV revoked this Bourbon policy in 1685. This resulted in driving a quarter of a million Huguenots (French Protestants) out of France and into surrounding countries of the Netherlands and Germany. These Huguenots spread a hatred of the French monarchy and a fear of suppression of Protestantism.
Finally, Louis XIV so aggravated his neighbors that they formed an alliance against him called the League of Augsburg which conducted a war for nine years against him. He managed to beat them off but the effort to do so nearly bankrupted the French state. So, he left to his son, Louis XV, a highly centralized, despotic and poverty ridden government.
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714)
England, Holland and the Holy Roman Empire formed a Grand Alliance in 1701 to preserve the balance of power against the French. In 1700, Charles II of Spain died without direct heirs. His will left his entire inheritance to Phillip of Anjou who became Phillip V of Spain. Anjou is a province of France and Phillip was the grandson of Louis XIV. This formed an intolerable threat to Great Britain and the English waged war for 13 years against France to prevent both Spain and France from being ruled by the Bourbons. John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, defeated the French Army in every single engagement. Nevertheless, while loosing every battle, the French won the war because Phillip V stayed on the Spanish Throne.
The Treaty of Utrecht concluded the war between England and France in 1713 and between France and Holland and the Holy Roman Emperor at Radstadt in 1714. Phillip V stayed King of Spain but England got Gibralter which she holds to this day.
The Rise of Russia as a European Power
Russia had been ruled by the Mongols up until the fifteenth century. Slowly, uncertainly but progressively, the Russian people beginning in Yaroslavl and then moving their headquarters to Moscow beat back the Mongols and Tartars and formed a nation. The process was brutal and much blood was shed. Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) started off his reign as a very sensible ruler making revisions of the law and local government and re-organizing the army along more modern lines. In the 1560's, he underwent some sort of profound personality change and became actively paranoid. Distrusting everyone around him, he imprisoned, tortured and executed large numbers of nobility (boyars) and even killed his own son. Following his death, Russia fell into a period of anarchy and civil war called the Time of Troubles. In 1613, the boyars elected Michael Romanov to be caesar of Russia (czar in Russian). The Romanovs were to rule Russia until 1917 (the Russian Revolution and the beginning of Communism (1917-1989). His son and grandson (Aleksei I and Theodore III brought stability and bureaucratic centralization to Russia throughout most of the 17th Century (1645-1682).
Peter the Great (1682-1725)
Peter was one of a half-dozen most important rulers of Russia. Traveling in western Europe as a young man, Peter conceived an admiration of western technology and economy (but not democracy). He ascended the throne at the age of ten and the country was ruled by his elder sister. In 1689, at the age of seventeen, he overthrew the regency of his sister and ruled Russia personally. His trip to Europe, supposedly in disguise, took place in 1697 at the age of twenty-five. When he returned to Russia he began a sustained attack on the independence of the boyars (hereditary nobility). In 1722, he published a Table of Ranks which defined people's positions and powers based on their service to the state and not on their inheritance. The boyars never became perfectly loyal to the state and always tried to undermine central authority. Peter dealt with opposition ruthlessly and many died. However, he built Petersburg and did much to create factories, wharehouses, roads, docks etc. In 1725, Peter died leaving a government which was well on its way to becoming like the rest of Europe and less like the central Asian autocracies which preceded it.