How did King Louis XIV affect Western Civilization?

Question

How did King Louis XIV affect Western Civilization?

Answer 1

If its the French Revolution you are talking about, basically the fact that it gave the monarchy form of government very bad PR, and that it pretty much sealed the deal for democracy.  Most members of the intellectual class of the early 19th century were all upper class, as only the upper class was allowed to attend Universities or Colleges indeed, the whole idea of the University has been made, exclusively since its beginings in ancient Greece, for the upper classes.

The smith had his hammer, and knowledge of metals.  The merchant had knowledge of people's needs and wants, as well as how to get those goods to them.  The Philosopher therefore asked "what trade does the ruling elite have?"  The "trade" of the ruling elite became, therefore, education.  The idea of having knowledge in a little bit of everything was rooted in the fact that for a person to rule effectively, you have to know a little bit of everything.  This concept got its official title in ancient Rome with the term "Universitas," from which we get the word "University."

Because traditionally, for hundreds of years a University education was reserved only for the ruling elite, only the ruling elite until the second half of the 20th century, actually, had a University education and therefore the intellectual armament from which to criticize whatever it was they wanted to criticize.  The Democratic republican form of government met with some extremely heavy criticism throughout Europe.  They used arguments ranging from the inherent criminality of the working class, to the impracticality of the voting system, while rationalizing the so called virtues of a ruling class.  When France exploded though, it made it so that everyone who argued against democracy had put their foot in their mouth.

The French revolution basically cemented Democracy's claim on the modern world, and it facilitated the transition from a Feudal serfdom, to modern industry, much faster than would have ocured had the corrupt reign of Louis not happened.

Of course I always get all the French Louises mixed up so we are probably not even on the same page...

sorry.