Most know Louis XIV for his extravagant spending and lavish palaces but Louis XIV will always be remembered as one the greatest rulers of France. He is the model that future rulers looked to for example Fredrick the Great and Napoleon. He was an excellent diplomatic, political bureaucrat and ruler. Though he was a very controversial ruler, Louis XIV not only reshaped France but all of Europe as well. Louis XIV was not just a product of his age; he possessed many qualities and ideals that contemporary. He was able to see weakness in the territories around France, opportunities for France to expand and was able to prevent two revolutions. Louis XIV reshaped history by centralizing the power of France to makin it an absloute government, reorganized the French army, reduced the Catholic Church's power, allowed the arts to flourish and increased France's territory to become arguably the...