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Discuss the latest article by @Alex Richards here
I do find it fascinating how fragile the French state actually was at this time- when you consider that they were going to be one of the victors of the war, that their de facto ruler was one of the most famous and effective leaders of the early modern period, that their armies would shortly throw up great generals and troops that would be feared across Europe... and yet this is a period where they keep avoiding coups and invasions by the skin of their teeth.
The French state had torn itself apart in the Wars of Religion, and despite a respite under Henri IV for about fifteen years, it was still suffering from the fallout. Richelieu and Mazarin's great achievement was that they broke each rebellion so decisively that afterwards no nobles could challenge royal authority by force. And once the demographic giant is bouncing back from the loss of the civil wars of the sixteenth century, the flexing of muscles is just terrifying to the rest of the continent.