Recently I watched a couple of pre-French revolutionary time period movies and dramas, such as the remarkable anime "Le Chevalier D'Eon" and the movies "Dangerous Liaisons" and "Ridicule". All of these have featured some aspects of corruption that have individually added to the flames of revolution. Watching these shows inspired me to once again research the details of French history before and after their revolution.
Before the French Revolution, France's nobility were inexcusably corrupt. Before the reign of King Louis XVI (Who was beheaded during the revolution), the reigning king was his grandfather, Louis XV. Louis the 14th lived a shameless life that I believe cost him his grandson's life. He served as a terrible example for his successor, who indeed inherited much of his debt. Louis the 15th had had 15 mistresses throughout his lifetime, neglecting propiety and spending excessively on them all. He lived lavishly off of the peasant taxes, driving the country to massive severe poverty. When his grandson (Louis XVI) took the throne at age 5, he had inherited the throne's corruption and was doomed to failure. The anime "Le Chevalier D'Eon" gave Louis the 15th a more fantastical and in-depth storyline. In this anime, he uses the loyalty of the naive knight D'Eon, to go on a quest to rid him of his enemies. When it is discovered that D'Eon and his sister Leah are his half brother and sister (and subsequent heirs to the throne), he has Leah killed, and attempts to kill D'Eon. The king goes on to kill his queen, who knows many of his secrets, and also D'Eon's lover and fiancé. The story goes on to reveal many more dark secrets of the royal family (Which you must watch to find out)... The Story of "Ridicule" is set 6 years before the actual French Revolution and during the reign of Louis the 16th. It is about a poor nobleman who wishes to save his village from a pestilence due to a swamp drainage problem. The village is poor (Him being the only nobleman around) and peasants are dying fast. The nobleman has a good heart. He travel to Versailles to have an audience with the king about the problem, but soon finds out that the king and his ruling nobility are ignorant fools who care only for good (sarcastic and hurtful) humor, and lavish parties. He soon realizes that he can only have favor with the king if he has good wit and makes jests. He eases the task by bedding the countess closest to the king. When he realizes he is becoming like the fools he is fighting against, he withdraws from court and the countess, which makes him lose everything. Despite this seeming failure, he marries another noble girl, whose father he has been close to, and he eventually takes care of the drainage himself without sponsorship from the king. When the revolution finally hits, he and his family are spared and the nobles who ridiculed him either fled to England or were executed. Lastly, the story of "Dangerous Liaisons" revealed the immortality and trifles of the French nobility. It is a story of two rivals (and lovers) who make bets to conquer other people sexually (just for fun). A noble named Valmont is asked by the Marquise de Merteuil to seduce the young and virginal future wife of her former lover, who recently left her. He does this but not without making his own bet to seduce an even more virtuous woman who is also married (Madame de Tourvel). He succeeds. When it is realized by Merteuil that he has fallen in love with this woman, she declares war on him (out of jealousy) to ruin his reputation. He duels a rival and he is badly wounded, but not dying without revealing Merteuil's plots. Her reputation is also ruined. The main focus of this story is once again the corruption of the nobility, as it is also seen that Valmont uses impoverished peasants as a way to getting close to the Madame de Tourvel, rather than taking a genuine interest in them. In all, the French nobility were stupid to believe that they could continue living such extravagant and wasteful lives at the cost of the peasants (who greatly outnumbered them). It was only a matter of time before the bottle of suppression and torment finally burst...
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