FRANCEin the 18th Century

LOUIS XIV

Modern state: sovereign leader controls administration of justice and power

L’etat, c’est moi Divine right (Bishop Bossuet) Absolutism

intendants Controlled army; war became

act of state civil administration (first war

ministers)

COLBERT

Mercantilism Five Great Farms: free trade, reduced internal

tariffs Commercial Code: quality French goods French East India Company

THE WARS OF LOUIS XIV: BEFORE 1700

Invasion of Spanish Netherlands beaten back by Triple Alliance (Dutch, English, Swedish) Treaty of Nimwegen

(1678): France territorial gain

League of Augsburg (William of Orange) countered Louis XIV’s infiltration of divided HRE Peace at Ryswick (1697):

status quo antebellum Meanwhile, Charles II of

Spain

WAR OF SPANISH SUCCESSION

• The war lasted 11 years, from 1702 to 1713.

• The two main aspirants to the Spanish throne were the king of France and the Holy Roman Emperor.

• Both had married one of Charles II’s sisters.

• They tried to partition Spain in order to maintain the balance of power.

• However, Charles II bequeathed Spain to Louis XIV’s grandson.

• The Grande Alliance unites in order to preserve the balance of power in Europe.

• Grande Alliance – England, Holland, Austria; supported by Brandenburg, Portugal, and Savoy.

• Each country had goals to be accomplished during the war.

• Because all the involved parties kept raising their demands, the war dragged on.

THE PEACE OF UTRECHT• The Peace of Utrecht divided Spain among

more than just France and the HRE.• Britain remained at Gibraltar and got Minorca.• The Duke of Savoy gained Sardinia.• The Austrian Habsburgs acquired Naples, Milan, Sicily,

and the Spanish .

• Louis XIV’s grandson is confirmed as the king of Spain.

• However, the French and Spanish thrones must never be inherited by the same person.

FRANCE AND THE THREE AGING EMPIRES

Holy Roman Empire French support for “Germanic liberties” and rival

candidate to Habsburgs Louis XIV a model for ambitious German lords

Ottoman Empire: “extraterrestrial” privileges Partitions of Poland detrimental to France

FRENCH-ENGLISH COMMERCIAL RIVALRY

East India companies Government-sponsored industry and trade France, Europe and Middle East; England,

Africa and Americas France: sugar:: England: slaves

THE FRENCH ECONOMY AFTER 1713

The Mississippi Company John Law stocks and bonds speculation and collapse

National debt considered king’s debt Cardinal Fleury

objective: maintain peace (unsuccessful)

THE WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION,1740-1748 General disregard for

Pragmatic Sanction French nobility wanted

Austrian annexation France pitted German

princes against Habsburgs French objective: prevent

German “universal monarchy”

French weakness: European vs. overseas ventures

Peace at Aix-la-Chapelle (1748): status quo antebellum

THE SEVEN YEARS’ WAR, 1756-1763

France failed to partition Prussia French-English dispute: economic, colonial, and naval

supremacy French and Indian Wars

William Pitt French gained Native American support

America: territory:: India: commerce Indian religious wars

Dupleix; “sepoys” Robert Clive; battle of Plassey (1757) British triumph (superior naval force)

THE TREATY OF PARIS, 1763

France conceded American territory to Britain and Spain

Results: British dominated commerce, but French still commercially active