Necessary background
As everybody knows by now, the story that Louis XIV built enormous palace of Versailles and moved his court there is a hoax created during so-called "Great Tourist Rouse", few decades at the end of XIX - beginning of the XX century when quite a few European countries had been speedily "re-inventing" their history to take advantage of Europe's growing popularity as a center of the tourism from the rich countries of the Americas (Brasil, Mexico, Chile and the US) and Asia (Tibet, Siam, China, Mongolia, Persia).
A lot of the fake "historical" edifices had been created at that time like Alcazar of Segovia (greatly "improved to look medieval), Tower of London (the whole medieval castle built around the only surviving tower), Kremlin in Moscow (historically, a total nonsense because by the time of its alleged construction, these fortifications would be obsolete: the walls were too tall and thin for the age of artillery and lacking placements for the cannons, not to mention that it was built in Italian style which was quite different from the Russian fortifications of that period).
In his novel Tartarin sur les Alpes (Tartarin on the Alps) Alphonse Daudet explicitly wrote that the whole Switzerland "does not exist" except as a set of the fake tourist attractions and in Italy they had been labeling each and every pile of stones as "ancient ruins".
Anyway, the French suddenly discovered that they started losing the tourists (reputation of the fashions capital of the world still was working but only up to a certain degree) and related income. The issue was hotly discussed in the National Assembly at it was decided that France also should create the "historic edifices" of its own (we can't let these Brits, Russians and Spaniards to keep stealing our revenues!). The funds were allocated and the job of overseeing the project had been trusted to a person who, while holding a prestigious position and being an author of a treatise on the treasuries of the French Crown (which made him a specialist of a kind on the things ancient), had absolutely nothing to do with his time, namely His Royal Majesty Louis XXII, King of France and Navarre.
Having a quick practical mind (which he was carefully hiding) Louis immediately recognized an opportunity. As the 1st step, he moved his official residence from the old, dilapidated Louvre to a smaller but much more comfortable Elysee Palace
The Louvre had been "generously donated" (well, with some compensation) to the state to became an art gallery.
The next step was to start erecting near a nice little palace of Petit Trianon (with its beautiful gardens)
a humongous monstrosity called "Versallies" after a falling apart hunting lodge.
The project was modestly called "reconstruction" and the extensive PR campaign started even before it was complete all the way to writing and publishing the fake memoirs, like those of the Duke of Saint Simon, making corrections in the ...er... "new editions" of the history books, etc.
The purpose was to recreate a historical Louis XIV (a reasonably modest and peace-loving person) into a self-aggrandizing monster concerned only with his personal glory, who had an absolutely terrible taste in pretty much everything from clothes to paintings and was driving his country into a ruin by the endless wars.
The real Louis had been fought only two relatively short wars: War of Devolution (1667/68), which gave France Franche-Comté and Southern part of the Spanish Netherlands, and War of the Spanish Succession (1700/02), which gave France the rest of the Spanish Netherlands (history of this war is a separate subject that can be discussed later) and installed Bourbon dynasty in Spain. Of course, there were some "minor" colonial adventures: conquest of Alger and Tunisia, foundation of the French "empire" in India (again, a separate subject) and colonial acquisitions in Africa but by the standards of the time he was an extremely peaceful monarch, proud of his nickname "The Peacemaker" and not at all similar to his bellicose grand......grandson, Louis XVI, the "Great", who expanded borders of France all the way to the Rhine, completed conquest of the subcontinent of India, destroyed the HRE and made France a constitutional monarchy.
Of course, the narrative of the Versailles being built to subdue the French aristocracy does not stand up to any criticism. For example, why would these aristocrats live in the terrible conditions of the palace instead of building their own residences in a nearby town, only few minutes of walk from it?
Why would they tolerate an idea of "resettlement" at all with their history of the endless rebellions and plots? Look at more tame aristocracy of Russia: Peter I could force them to do quite a few things which they may not like (for example, forcing to drink a low quality vodka on his "assambleys") but almost as soon as he started forcing them to move from Moscow to St-Petersburg (now, an obscure port city on the Baltic coast, adjacent to Petergoff), he suddenly got a terminal case of a cold after which in less than a year everybody moved back to Moscow. Surely, French aristocracy could come with something more plausible.
Pressed by time, Louis XXII made a rather sloppy job: Versailles was majestic but not quite inhabitable due to the inadequate heating, complete absence of the ...er... "facilities" and, let's face it, rather idiotic plan not well suited for the French climate. But nobody really expected to live there so it was OK as long as the tourists could enjoy the geometric patterns of the gardens, the fountains, and the endless enfilade of the rooms (each of them had either a low-quality painting of Louis XIV or his bust, thus providing job for the countless aspiring French artists and students of the numerous art studios: one needed a lot of stuff to fill all that space and after the first few rooms the tourists were losing attention, anyway).
After this project was complete and proved to be a smashing financial success (ditto for the Louvre), Louis XII "rebuilt" Chateau d'Amboise. Typically, this alleged residence of Francis I was lacking the kitchens but who cares?
What if Louis XIV really built it?
So, what if Louis XIV (as depicted by the "edited history") really built this monstrous palace? What would be the impact on the history of France and Europe in general?
How could he afford it, with France being totally exhausted by the wars of his father, the Fronde and the wars he allegedly was fighting during his reign?
As everybody knows by now, the story that Louis XIV built enormous palace of Versailles and moved his court there is a hoax created during so-called "Great Tourist Rouse", few decades at the end of XIX - beginning of the XX century when quite a few European countries had been speedily "re-inventing" their history to take advantage of Europe's growing popularity as a center of the tourism from the rich countries of the Americas (Brasil, Mexico, Chile and the US) and Asia (Tibet, Siam, China, Mongolia, Persia).
A lot of the fake "historical" edifices had been created at that time like Alcazar of Segovia (greatly "improved to look medieval), Tower of London (the whole medieval castle built around the only surviving tower), Kremlin in Moscow (historically, a total nonsense because by the time of its alleged construction, these fortifications would be obsolete: the walls were too tall and thin for the age of artillery and lacking placements for the cannons, not to mention that it was built in Italian style which was quite different from the Russian fortifications of that period).
In his novel Tartarin sur les Alpes (Tartarin on the Alps) Alphonse Daudet explicitly wrote that the whole Switzerland "does not exist" except as a set of the fake tourist attractions and in Italy they had been labeling each and every pile of stones as "ancient ruins".
Anyway, the French suddenly discovered that they started losing the tourists (reputation of the fashions capital of the world still was working but only up to a certain degree) and related income. The issue was hotly discussed in the National Assembly at it was decided that France also should create the "historic edifices" of its own (we can't let these Brits, Russians and Spaniards to keep stealing our revenues!). The funds were allocated and the job of overseeing the project had been trusted to a person who, while holding a prestigious position and being an author of a treatise on the treasuries of the French Crown (which made him a specialist of a kind on the things ancient), had absolutely nothing to do with his time, namely His Royal Majesty Louis XXII, King of France and Navarre.
Having a quick practical mind (which he was carefully hiding) Louis immediately recognized an opportunity. As the 1st step, he moved his official residence from the old, dilapidated Louvre to a smaller but much more comfortable Elysee Palace
The Louvre had been "generously donated" (well, with some compensation) to the state to became an art gallery.
The next step was to start erecting near a nice little palace of Petit Trianon (with its beautiful gardens)
a humongous monstrosity called "Versallies" after a falling apart hunting lodge.
The project was modestly called "reconstruction" and the extensive PR campaign started even before it was complete all the way to writing and publishing the fake memoirs, like those of the Duke of Saint Simon, making corrections in the ...er... "new editions" of the history books, etc.
The purpose was to recreate a historical Louis XIV (a reasonably modest and peace-loving person) into a self-aggrandizing monster concerned only with his personal glory, who had an absolutely terrible taste in pretty much everything from clothes to paintings and was driving his country into a ruin by the endless wars.
The real Louis had been fought only two relatively short wars: War of Devolution (1667/68), which gave France Franche-Comté and Southern part of the Spanish Netherlands, and War of the Spanish Succession (1700/02), which gave France the rest of the Spanish Netherlands (history of this war is a separate subject that can be discussed later) and installed Bourbon dynasty in Spain. Of course, there were some "minor" colonial adventures: conquest of Alger and Tunisia, foundation of the French "empire" in India (again, a separate subject) and colonial acquisitions in Africa but by the standards of the time he was an extremely peaceful monarch, proud of his nickname "The Peacemaker" and not at all similar to his bellicose grand......grandson, Louis XVI, the "Great", who expanded borders of France all the way to the Rhine, completed conquest of the subcontinent of India, destroyed the HRE and made France a constitutional monarchy.
Of course, the narrative of the Versailles being built to subdue the French aristocracy does not stand up to any criticism. For example, why would these aristocrats live in the terrible conditions of the palace instead of building their own residences in a nearby town, only few minutes of walk from it?
Why would they tolerate an idea of "resettlement" at all with their history of the endless rebellions and plots? Look at more tame aristocracy of Russia: Peter I could force them to do quite a few things which they may not like (for example, forcing to drink a low quality vodka on his "assambleys") but almost as soon as he started forcing them to move from Moscow to St-Petersburg (now, an obscure port city on the Baltic coast, adjacent to Petergoff), he suddenly got a terminal case of a cold after which in less than a year everybody moved back to Moscow. Surely, French aristocracy could come with something more plausible.
Pressed by time, Louis XXII made a rather sloppy job: Versailles was majestic but not quite inhabitable due to the inadequate heating, complete absence of the ...er... "facilities" and, let's face it, rather idiotic plan not well suited for the French climate. But nobody really expected to live there so it was OK as long as the tourists could enjoy the geometric patterns of the gardens, the fountains, and the endless enfilade of the rooms (each of them had either a low-quality painting of Louis XIV or his bust, thus providing job for the countless aspiring French artists and students of the numerous art studios: one needed a lot of stuff to fill all that space and after the first few rooms the tourists were losing attention, anyway).
After this project was complete and proved to be a smashing financial success (ditto for the Louvre), Louis XII "rebuilt" Chateau d'Amboise. Typically, this alleged residence of Francis I was lacking the kitchens but who cares?
What if Louis XIV really built it?
So, what if Louis XIV (as depicted by the "edited history") really built this monstrous palace? What would be the impact on the history of France and Europe in general?
How could he afford it, with France being totally exhausted by the wars of his father, the Fronde and the wars he allegedly was fighting during his reign?