Similarities Between Peter The Great And Louis Xiv

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Peter the Great and Louis XIV, the Sun King were both prominent rulers in the 17th and 18th century. Peter is hailed as founding the city of St. Petersburg and establishing the Russian Empire. Whereas Louis XIV is best known for his lavish works of arts and architecture, the most well known being the palace at Versaille. Both are credited with strengthening their country with wars and government reform. They both had dysfunctional families, Louis left behind a long line of illegitimate children and Peter divorced his first wife and forced her into a convent and was likely killed by his second one. Peter the Great was the better king because he left Russia in a better place than it was at the start of his reign. Peter the Great is better than Louis XIV, became the first Tsar of the Russian Empire. His power only grew stronger as his reign went on. In 1721, he gained territory bordering the Baltic Sea and founded St. Petersburg, Russia’s new capital. His reforms to Russia is believed to have created the opportunity …show more content…
His reign was then weakened at the end due to the disastrous War of Spanish Succession, which left France broke. Also, he implemented the Edict of Fontainebleau, which rejected the Edict Nantes, forbids the practice of any religion but Catholicism in France. This caused hundreds of thousands of French Protestants, most of whom were artisans and skilled workers, to flee to more tolerant countries depleting the national workforce. At the end of Louis’s reign, France was in debt and on a decline from the great nation it had earlier in his reign. Both men were extraordinary in their ability to unify their country with government reforms and war. Peter was the better ruler because he built up Russia and put the empire on the fast track to power, whereas Louis XIV helped France become a large power, but then at the end of his reign the country began to quickly