Louis XIV ruled the country of France with power more ultimate than any other European monarch, but he didn¡t use his power to France¡s advantage. When Louis XIV took reign as the king of France, he was in the best position for a monarch to start ruling a country; everything was set up beautifully for Louis. France had just been unified under the monarchy and destroyed the power of the nobles. Royal inspectors were taken from the middle class of France to collect royal taxes, supervise the courts and nobles, and perform police duties (the ¡§Eyes of Richelieu¡). The Estates General was inactive for 174 years (1615-1789). Louis believed that he had the divine right of kings and was the highest below god the all-mighty and called himself the ¡§Sun King.¡ The statement ¡§I am the State¡ means that he is the French nation and that he decides what is good for France. Louis XIV was a huge spender of France¡s money that hurt the economy. He paid a sum of money for the Palace of Versailles to be built which cost so much money that Louis destroyed the bills from the constructors. The army that Louis built was an army of 400,000 people that cost France a huge amount of money. This army was needed to comply with Louis¡ wishes to expand France¡s borders. These wish of Louis¡ lead to many years of war for a nonchalant reason that also cost France a large sum of money. One of Louis¡ worst mistakes was telling the Huguenots (French Protestants which made up 10% of the population of France) to convert to Catholicism, flee France or be executed. Though Louis XIV did more bad than good for France, he was the ideal king of Europe during his reign, but he did not use his great power to France¡s complete advantage.
             Louis XIV had a positive side to his reign as the king of France. He created the biggest palace ever built in the history of the world from his time. It gave France more organization and let the k...