Louis XIV's Consolidation of Power:  Military's Power in France and Abroad

The website before you aims to answer the age old question regarding Louis XIV's absolute rule. This is how Louis XIV of France managed to consolidate power both within France and on the European continent. Within this work, it will be argued that the French military as a social structure and in its standardization, allowed Louis to create and maintain his absolute state. In doing so, Louis XIV took control over the nobility, the parliaments, and the people of France. Then, he released his forces on the whole of Europe to gain new territories and to increase the prominence of French culture and the French state abroad. By the end of Louis XIV's seventy-two year rule, he became the center of European diplomatic attentions and France's every effort. Through the military's might, Louis came to be the Sun king, as all power emanated from him. Thus, Louis truly personified his statement, "I am the state!"