RateItAll: The Opinion Network

In discussions of him, his reputation proceeds. One is not allowed to talk badly of the 'Sun King'. I, however, never cared for his heavy personal spending nor his fiscal policies that contributed to the demise of the Ancien Regime, as pointed out by Redoedo.

Mistakes he may have made, and many of them, but he ascended to the throne very young, and early policies were controlled by the Regents. For his time though, he made lasting cultural contributions. All in all, his reign was a fascinating period in history, and one which I would have loved to have seen - things certainly were never dull around him - the Affair of the Poisons comes to mind!

Louis XIV was a heavily corrupt and ambitious young king. On the positive side, France's embracement of Renassaince and Englightenment ideas continued, and Louis XIV largely accepted these social and cultural changes. By the time of his death, France was one of the most admired cultural centers in the world. Louis XIV also continued the exploration endeavors of his predacessors, and made important investments in the development of French colonies in the Americas. However, the primary causes of the French Revolution can be traced back to Louis XIV. Lous XIV ascended to the throne at a time when France was in deep debt as a result of the extravagant spending habits of many previous monarchies. Rather than work to keep the debt under control, Louis XIV worsened France's debt largely to fund four avoidable wars that were nothing more than imperial adventures. To fund these military misadventures, the King imposed heavy fees and taxes on the poor and middle class while exempting nobles and clergymen. It would be this form of heavy taxation that would ultimately lead to the French Revolution. By the time of Louis XIV's death, France's economy was deeply troubled, with high inflation and those in the middle class quickly dropping into poverty as a result of high taxes. Louis XIV, who believed that as a monarch he was entitled to absolute power, sought to unite France religiously. To do this, he revoked the Edict of Nantes and ordered the closing of Protestant schools and the burning of Protestant churches. Many Protestants in response to this fled to North America. This deeply hurt the French economy, as the Protestants were highly skilled craftsmen that contributed greatly to the prosperity of France's economy. Overall, Louis XIV made several mistakes in his attempt to invoke the absolute power of the monarchy. The roots of the bloody French Revolution point to Louis XIV's reckless policies. He was far too concerned with extending the power of the monarchy rather than making France more prosperous.