fled. Louis had his own economic policies, which he hoped would make France self-sufficient. He made many internal improvements so that they didn't need to rely on England. He had canal constructions,built roads, and expanded trade overseas. He also made a merchant fleet. Aside from economical policies he also modernized the army, and it became the most powerful army.At his death in 1715, France had many problems. France was in debt, they had new enemies, there were lots of casualities, and they gained no new land. There wascontrovery over who would be king. Louis had a lot of illegitimate children. The Parlement de Paris nullified Louis XV as king.Louis XV, who was king from 1715 to 1774, whose failure to give strong leadership and badly needed reforms contributed to the crisis that brought on theFrench Revolution. Duke of Orleans was regent until Louis was old enough to rule.The Duke tried to restore power to the nobles. He strengthened the Parlement deParis by replacing middle classmen with nobles, althought the middle classmen that hadjobs in the Parlement were more like nobles because they had money and their sons inherited the positions. In 1726, Louis XV appointed Andre Hercule de Fleury as prime minister. Fleury gave France a stable administration until his death 17 years later. That is when Louis took control, however, he did not take interest in government and never followed any consistent policy. During Louis's rule France was involved in three wars. The first was the War of Polish Succession and France gained the province of Lorraine. The second, the War of Austrian Succession marked the beginning of a colonial struggle with Great Britian. The third, was the Seven Years' War. After this war France lost its oversees possessions to the British. In the last years of his rule Louis cooperated with his chancellor in an effort to reform the country's insufficient system of taxation. In 1748, he tries to tax...
