Louis XIV And His Foreign Policy essays

Louis XIV And His Foreign Policy essays Louis XIV (1638-1715), was known as the 'Sun King'. By the time Louis took up the reign of the government in 1660, France had turned into the most powerful nation of Europe. At this time many of France's neighboring countries had been weakened both by revolts within their own countries and expensive wars with other lands. In Louis's mind, the natural boundaries of France were the Alps, the Pyrenees, and the river Rhine. His intentions were to push the frontiers of France out to these limits as well as win glory for himself. As a result Louis plunged France into 30 years of foreign wars trying to achieve his ambition. This paper discusses Louis' XIV's foreign policy and analyzes whether his foreign policy was successful or not. Louis XIV's notorious dictum was "I am the State". Even the late Charles De Gaulle often echoed this. Louis XIV (1638-1715) - king of France (1643-1715) - was known as the 'Sun King'. Louis, the third monarch of the Bourbon family, ruled for 72 years, the longest reign in European history. His rule typified the period of absolute monarchy in the second half of the 17th century, during which time kings ruled without the restraint of representative institutions. This epoch is widely known as the age of Louis XIV because other European monarchs imitated and competed with developments Coming to power at a young age, Louis did not have the conventional humanist education of most princes, who learned Latin, ancient history, rhetoric, and the arts. Instead his instruction focused on the practical necessities of kingship, such as the history of France and its monarchy and After Louis XIV came to the throne just before his fifth birthday, the Italian-born first minister Cardinal Mazarin guided the policies and effectively instructed Louis in affairs of state both internal as well as foreign affairs.. When Mazarin died in 1661, Louis proclaimed that he would ...