32.3 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 13/28)

But to return to government affairs, when Louis XV matured he was more concerned with chasing women than government and continued the "Grand Monarchy", oblivious to the restless ideas developing in the populous. For at least a decade of his tenure, France was in essence ruled by his mistress, Mme. de Pompadour, born Jeanne Poisson and one of the most remarkable women of history. She had an extensive influence on French and European art as well as government and it was the period when French influence reached the peak of its effect on European civilization. Pompadour helped pave the way for the ultimate expulsion of the Jesuits from France and played a part in the Seven Years War. In that encounter, France helped Austria, on the losing side, and due to its extension in North America, France lost Canada to England and also lost territory in India. That was the time of the Swiss Rousseau, who did much of his writing in France, eulogizing the life of primitive man and it was also the period of Voltaire, the great Mocker, born Francois Marie Arouet, playwright, poet, historian, philosopher and confidant of kings and Voltaire actually spent some time in the Bastille because of a poem he wrote about the Regent and his daughter, the Duchess de Berri, But there is much misconception about the Bastille. It was actually a luxurious prison and incarceration there carried no particular dishonor. Most prisoners were aristocrats or gentlemen, who were treated there according to their rank. (Ref. 131 ) Other famous men of the century included Boucher, known for his nude paintings, Chardin, who depicted a still healthy France in labor and family life and Quentin de La Tour, who painted the leading personalities of the age. Charles Louis de Montesquieu was a powerful novelist, influencing religion and government. Denis Diderot and D'Alembert published Encyclopedie , in 1750. This taught Europe the meaning of such things as "rights", authority", "liberty", "equality", etc., and gave a tremendous storehouse of knowledge.

From the military standpoint perhaps nothing was more important to France than the development in the middle of the century, by Jean Maritz and his son, of the technique of casting cannon as a solid piece of metal and then boring out the barrel. The advantages of these guns, with straight and uniform bores, were enormous; Safety, accuracy, lightness (less thickness and thus more maneuverability) and reliability were all enhanced. The closer fit of cannonball to gun tube also meant less "windage" allowance and a smaller powder charge could be used to obtain even greater velocity. Using these features, Jean Baptiste Vacquette de Gribeaval created a powerful field artillary previously unknown in Europe. (Ref. 279 )

A thumb-nail sketch of life in France before the revolution may be of value. One basic conflict involved the effort of philosophers and others to end ecclesiastical control over education. The great majority of the peasants could not read and even in the colleges the curriculum paid little attention to advances of knowledge; studies were almost entirely religious. The French Revolution can be traced back to the ambitious absurdities of Monarchy, but also to the revolt of reason against Catholic Christianity as it existed then in the nation. Although the lower classes, still dominated by the church, led moral lives for the most part, this was not true in the aristocracy. Adultery was usual, as a substitute for divorce. Children were seldom seen by their aristocratic parents; men were slaves to women, women to fashion, and fashion was determined by couturiers. The French language had now become the second language of every educated European. Frederick the Great used it regularly, except to his troops. Gibbon wrote his first books in French. (Ref. 54 ) Between 1715 and 1771, French foreign trade, previously very low, increased eightfold. (Ref. 8 ) By the end of the century there was no shortage of money, at least in some parts of France. In Marseilles, for example, men who offered money at 5% found few takers. Of course in France, even at this late period, merchants who borrowed money were looked at with some suspicion. (Ref. 292 )