What if Louis XIV had a very different career, avoiding wars, especially non-colonial wars, wars of expansion or choice, wars with European opponents, whenever possible, and focused on building the wealth of the French court, bureaucracy, nation, and overseas empire where it existed and expanded into what Europeans regarded as terra nullius?
For this let's just say Louis is a different individual boy entirely, sired by the same parents, but conceived from different gametes at a different moment, lacking the same warlike character. But he has so many traits in common with the Louis we know. He thinks he's the state. He's domineering over the nobility and the Estates. He is politically determined and ruthless. Fashionable, athletic, and vigorous and fearless. He is not a slouch in military affairs, in terms of national defense or internal security, and is willing to Vauban the crap out of the borders, and willing to fund a seriously competitive Navy for trade protection, expansion, and battle, if it comes down to it. He is also not averse to diplomatic and legal and marital bets on territorial expansion in his lifetime or the future, but he's not ready to throw good money after bad for prolonged periods, or toss away compromises that give him multiple slices of a full loaf.
What is the impact of this cooler, calmer, more cautious, Louis XIV on France, Europe, and the world of 1651-1715?
For this let's just say Louis is a different individual boy entirely, sired by the same parents, but conceived from different gametes at a different moment, lacking the same warlike character. But he has so many traits in common with the Louis we know. He thinks he's the state. He's domineering over the nobility and the Estates. He is politically determined and ruthless. Fashionable, athletic, and vigorous and fearless. He is not a slouch in military affairs, in terms of national defense or internal security, and is willing to Vauban the crap out of the borders, and willing to fund a seriously competitive Navy for trade protection, expansion, and battle, if it comes down to it. He is also not averse to diplomatic and legal and marital bets on territorial expansion in his lifetime or the future, but he's not ready to throw good money after bad for prolonged periods, or toss away compromises that give him multiple slices of a full loaf.
What is the impact of this cooler, calmer, more cautious, Louis XIV on France, Europe, and the world of 1651-1715?