5 Eminent German historians have viewed the cleric as a symbol of diplomatic prudence and dexterity, and have compared him in glowing terms to another “white revolutionary,” Otto Von Bismarck. For many modern French writers, Louis XIII’s chief minister was an early patriot who contributed to the secularization ( laïcisation) of French foreign policy, and by extension, of French national identity. 4 On the other hand, there has always been an equally strong cohort of Richelieu enthusiasts. On the one hand, there are the aforementioned critics - those that viewed the cardinal as a devious and shadowy character, the mustachio-twirling villain of The Three Musketeers who cloaked his naked ambition and venal appetites under his crimson robes. It is these aspects of his domestic and international legacy - all of which are frequently viewed as closely intertwined - that have triggered the most controversy.
Richelieu is best known for three things: his unabashed authoritarianism, his efforts to stiffen the sinews of the French state, and his decision to position France as a counterweight to Habsburg hegemony through a network of alliances with Protestant powers. Renowned for his fierce intellect, mastery of the dark arts of propaganda, and unshakeable belief in the centralizing virtues of the French monarchy, Richelieu’s actions as chief minister have been debated by generations of historians, political philosophers, novelists, and biographers. The clergyman, who served as Louis XIII’s chief minister from 1624 to 1642, has long constituted one of the more polarizing and fascinating figures in the history of Western statecraft. The object of the sans-culottes’ ire was a man who had been dead for over a century and a half, but who remains to this day a towering symbol of Ancien Régime absolutism: Armand Jean du Plessis - better known as Cardinal Richelieu.
1 Alexandre Lenoir, an archeologist, waded into the whirlwind of mayhem and - at the price of a bayonet-skewered hand - managed to save one of baroque sculpture’s masterpieces from total destruction. Howling vandals dragged a desiccated cadaver from the crypt, and a grisly - and most likely apocryphal - tale describes how street urchins were later spotted playing with its severed head. Streaming toward a large sarcophagus in the center of the apse, the mob laid into the cool marble with their rifle butts, hammering away at the central figure’s aquiline features. On a cold winter day in 1793, a crowd of French revolutionaries burst into the chapel of the Sorbonne.
What philosophy of power and statecraft underpinned the cardinal’s approach to counter-hegemonic balancing? To what extent was Richelieu truly successful, and what insights can contemporary security managers derive from his policies and actions? Drawing on both primary and secondary literature, this essay engages in a detailed and interdisciplinary study of Richelieu’s grand strategy during the Thirty Years’ War. This article focuses on this last aspect of Richelieu’s life and legacy: his conception and practice of great power competition. The polarizing figure is best known for three things: his unabashed authoritarianism, his efforts to stiffen the sinews of the French state, and his decision to position France as a counterweight to Habsburg hegemony through a network of alliances with Protestant powers. Iskander Rehman Renowned for his fierce intellect, mastery of the dark arts of propaganda, and unshakeable belief in the centralizing virtues of the French monarchy, Cardinal Richelieu’s actions as chief minister under Louis XIII from 1624 to 1642 have been heatedly debated by generations of historians, political philosophers, novelists, and biographers.
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