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French Revolution # 01 | Palace of Versailles | by Usama Ghazi – Transcript
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Summary
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- Louis XIV built the magnificent Palace of Versailles, which became a center of luxury and drained the French treasury to maintain 10,000 courtiers.
- France suffered a major defeat in the seven-year war against Britain, losing territories like America, Canada, the West Indies, and India.
- Philosophers like Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau sparked an intellectual revolution that challenged absolute monarchy and absolute power.
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At a distance of 19km from Paris, Versailles has a 17th-century palace. Around 8 million people visit this palace every year. This palace is witness to a revolution 200 years ago. But the palace was itself the cause of that revolution which it witnessed.
How the world history was changed by a palace? I am Usama Ghazi and Dekho Suno Jano has brought to you this time is... ...a brand new series, The French Revolution. The story of the French Revolution changed the whole world.
This story started 300 years ago in Paris. Then Paris was not as modern as today yet was advanced as per the needs of that time. It was the largest city in Europe with half a million population.
A protective wall was built around the city and the river Seine flowed in the middle of it. Travelling in the city was either through boats or the buggies and oxen carts plied on the roads. The rich would travel in the Palanquins carried by the slaves or the servants.
At a distance from the city, a dense forest where King Louis XIV would go hunting. At Versailles where one was a village, the ancestors of Louis built a bungalow. The young king would take a rest in the same bungalow when he went hunting in the forest.
Besides hunting, Louis had two desires he would think of meeting them all the time. Firstly, he wanted to do a feat which would elevate France in entire Europe. Secondly, to control his courtiers who were all the time conspiring to throw him down.
Reflecting on them, a plan came to his mind which would serve his purpose without causing any loss. Louis XIV decided to build a grand palace at the Bangalow site.
He wanted to finish the palace on the Greek arts because... ...it was the medieval age in Europe, the Renaissance when Greek art and culture were reviving in every household. Many European sculptors and painters were following the Greek arts.
Louis XIV as a great fond of the Greek arts, faced no problem in getting the services of the experts in Greek sculpturing and painting. So, in 1661, the construction of the palace began. Firstly, 15,000 workers through day and night toil got constructed a magnificent palace of 700 rooms.
It also consisted of 2,000 fountains and 150,000 plants. Then the sculptors and painters filled it with countless statues made of gold, silver and priced stones and colourful paintings. Walls and even the ceiling of every room of the palace were decorated with paintings and fascinating carvings and designs.
The paintings and sculptures exhibited the Greek gods and goddesses and the persons of the French royal family. Many historical events were also portrayed in a very delightful manner. So, the palace reflected the aspiration of the King who wanted to make the palace a great site of Greek art.
Even today the palace is acknowledged as a masterpiece of the Rennaisance. The grandeur of the palace was not confined to Greek art, but the costly articles placed in were even more magnificent. The golden clocks were installed and one was such that would take out the king's statue after every hour and an angel crown it.
When this palace was opened for the residence of the royal family in 1682... ...kings, princes and nobles from all over Europe came here and were subdued by its grandeur and magnificence. Some of them were so impressed that they returned to their home country and got replicas of that palace.
For centuries the work on the Versailles Palace continued in Europe but no exact copy of that palace could be created. Versailles Palace was as good an identity of France as the Taj Mahal to India. Interestingly, the Taj Mahal was completed just 30 years before the Versailles Palace.
The Versailles Palace's completion met the first dream of the king by making France famous all over Europe. Now the purpose was how to control the courtiers who were 10,000 in number. They were the strongest people in France.
The kings asked all of them to reside in Versailles Palace which has room to accommodate 20,000 people. When the courtiers lived in the Palace, the king engaged them in parties, hunting, and other pastimes.
Now these people were before the king and his spies were also keeping an eye on them. The courtiers were spending a luxurious life but the king also did not lag behind. A historian Stephen Clarke has made an astonishing claim about the king.
In the book "The French Revolution: What went wrong," he wrote that when the king would go to the bathroom in the morning... ...his courtiers would stand on the way to take his glance. It was such an honour for them that they would pay the pay the treasury to have a look at the king.
You would not believe then the courtiers paid the public treasury 200,000 livres in the value of French currency at that time. It was an amount worth purchasing 1000 houses. These were the bearings of the royal palace which engaged the courtiers and the king in luxuries and the king's purpose was met.
The scheme of Louis XIV succeeded however France paid heavily for it. The construction of the Palace and the expenses on it emptied half of the French treasury. Over it was the constant spending on it.
That is, all expenses on the dining, lodging and luxuries of 10,000 courtiers were being met from the public money. These people would not pay a penny from their pocket. Consequently, the government was obliged to take loans to keep up the lifestyle and luxuries of the courtiers.
The common man was to bear the brunt of the destruction of the public exchequer. The government did not have money to spend on the masses. Contrary to this, heavy taxes were imposed on the people to collect money for the treasury.
So the residents of Versailles continued to be richer and the common man poorer. Consequently, the Versailles Palace, a symbol of the grandeur of France in Europe, became a centre of tyranny for the people.
Louis XIV in his lifetime failed to realise the boiling hatred among the people. He also did not make any significant effort to improve the life of the people. He ruled France for 72 years and died in 1715.
His son Louis Dauphi and his grandson, Louis Burgundy had died. Louis XIV was made the king at 4 years of age and his grand-grand son Louis XV was enthroned at five.
Obviously, how this five-year-old minor was to rule. He was so young that the kings of other European states would take him on their lap when they visited France. You won't believe it. This famous picture reminds us of that time.
In the picture, the Russian Emperor Peter the Great has taken the minor king in his lap. Louis XV was the king and the courtiers at the helm of affairs knew the coffer was empty. They did not want to...
...tax the rich people to fill the royal treasury but they thought of curtailing the expenses of the royal family... ... a partial austerity is adopted to reduce the deficit of the royal treasury a little bit. So, steps were taken to cut down the expenses and some were so interesting that...
...one of them was selling out half of the horses of the royal stable. So the horses were sold out. This news also reached the world-renowned philosopher Voltaire. He taunted that it was better to turn out half of the donkeys from the royal palace than sell out the horses.
It was not the time of freedom of expression the one speaks ill against the government and it keeps cool. For criticising the government, Voltaire was earlier twice put into the notorious Bastille Jail in Paris.