"apres moi le deluge"??

Question

what did louis xv mean when he said "apres moi le deluge" meaning: after me comes the flood?

Answer 1

Louis XV did not think highly of his son;he thought his son would make a mess of things.Louis XV thought his son extremely stupid and knew that after his reign,his son would bring chaos to France.He was right;the court of Louis XVI did not pay attention to the state of France's economic situation for all citizens.Revolution soon followed...

Answer 2

if we understand After me the deluge will come, the saying seems to imply, as an assertive affirmation: “After my reign, the nation will be plunged into chaos and destruction.”

The verb could also be understood as a subjunctive concession: After me, let the deluge come (it can come, but it makes no difference to me). In this second case, the speaker asserts that nothing that happens after his disappearance matters to him.

Answer 3

Louis XV was at heart a well intentioned, but weak willed man. As he lay dying and spoke the words, "Apres moi, le deluge" he was realising that he could have done so much mor eto improve France, however he had actually turned a blind eye. If Louis XV had made the reforms which were necessary to France decades earlier then he may have left society and the economy in a more stable and governable condition. As it was he was handing the kingdom over to his grandson Louis XVI who inherited the throne at 19 years old, and even though he tried extremely hard to do the right things, it was now to late, the monarchy had lost its iron grip and now revolution was not if, but when!

Answer 4

Fairly obvious; after my departure comes disaster.

It was more famously used 90 years later by the Austrian absolutist chancellor, Metternich, when he fled (temporarily as it turned out)  from the revolutionaries in 1848.