5. 1682: Louis XIV Moves to Versailles Louis XIV coming into power was the start of France being the superpower of the European world. He came into power shortly before the Thirty Years War ended and was able to obtain land from Spain at the end of the war, giving France more power and wealth than it had before. Therefore, Louis wanted to have all governing power to himself, so he instructed Versailles to be built with that in mind. Although France had gained wealth from forcing land from Spain, the palace cost 3.3 billion dollars in today's money to build. In order to keep up with the building costs, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis’ control general, forced mercantilist policies on France. Mercantilist system was built around the idea that a nation’s
