January have discovered that there are keys

January 26, 1703 Dear Peter the Great, It is with great privilege that I write back to you on these earnest issues.

I, King Louis XIV, am certain to be of extraordinary aid to your empire’s prosperity. Through encounters amid my rule, I have discovered that there are keys to progress and impediments to that as well. My part as the absolute ruler of France for 72 long years positively gives truth to my words.

During my time in control, I changed France into the prevailing country of Europe, extended its limits, and left my beneficiaries secure in their belonging. Moreover, I had combined France’s organization of its provincial belonging and business, turning it into a force to be reckoned with under my hand. First and foremost, while it’s good to build a well-off military in order to defend your land, displaying consistent acts of aggression can be a major detriment to your foreign relations. My hostility against the Spanish Netherlands made relations amongst France and Holland break down. The Dutch had just battled the Spanish for ages to secure against an intrusion of their nation. They had no aim of enabling me to represent a similar danger by involving the domains on their outskirt. The outcome was war in the Netherlands from 1672 to 1678, amid which I by and by exhibited the viability of French might.

In a broad battle, I nearly prevailed in regards to overcoming Holland. To ensure themselves, the Dutch opened their dams, overflowed the field, and transformed Amsterdam into a virtual island. The end of the war marked an all-time high in my power, yet it came at the cost of putting the vast majority of Europe against me. The assault on Holland created grave outcomes for my country when Dutch leader William of Orange eventually progressed toward becoming King William III of England in 1689. Despite the powerhouse of a nation that I created, the way minorities and masses were dealt with harmed France’s economic status to an extreme degree. My very own Catholicism, contradicted resilience. From the early points of my rule, I endeavored to implement changes by destroying Protestant places of worship and schools and by permitting Catholic viciousness against the Protestant people group.

In 1685 I had also renounced the Edict of Nantes and restricted Protestant love. Following this, around 200,000 Huguenots fled France instead of changing over to Catholicism. They resettled all around the world, however, most went to Holland and England, where they were welcomed as saints. The loss of numerous very gainful subjects discouraged the French economy. On the domestic front, I fortified the central government’s control over the various areas of France, consolidating my regional additions into a unified state.

Then again, I had also incited discussion when I reestablished Catholic religious solidarity by disavowing the Edict of Nantes and subduing Protestantism. Lamentably, a significant number of my strategies, both local and outside, made incredible hardship conventional individuals, a large number of whom endured starvation, fled their country, or lived in dread of mistreatment. Take my lead as a wakeup call; the issues that emerge from the absence of social and religious resilience and the negative impacts of absolutism have quite a significant effect.

 Warm Wishes,  King Louis XIV