Voltaire (Franỗois-Marie Arouet) solutions to new or emerging problems The result was what became known as the congress system, by which the major powers controlled many events in Europe up until 1830, and in many cases up to 1848 Metternich emerged as the greatest statesmen in Europe at the time; in recent times, Henry Kissinger studied the congress system prior to his entry into U.S politics, with him drawing parallels and differences between what was possible in the discussions such as the Congress of Vienna and what could be envisaged during the 1960s and 1970s In many ways, the congress system envisaged international discussions that would occur in the 20th century under the aegis of the League of Nations and later the United Nations Further reading: Kissinger, Henry A World Restored: Europe after Napoleon New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1964; Nicholson, Harold The Congress of Vienna: A Study in Allied Unity, 18121822 London: Methuen, 1961 Justin Corfield Voltaire (Franỗois-Marie Arouet) 435 who served as regent for the young Louis XV after the death of Louis XIV in 1715 Life in the Bastille, which was by then no longer the forbidding prison of the Middle Ages, did not dampen Voltaire’s creativity While incarcerated there, he wrote the play Oedipe, and adopted the pen name Voltaire Oedipe would become his first success, and set him on his career as a writer Ten years later, in 1726, Voltaire ran afoul of another French aristocrat, known to history as the chevalier de Rohan By now, his fame had gained him a certain immunity from imprisonment Those sent to the Bastille were often never tried, merely sentenced by the king or regent with a secret document This time, Voltaire was given the choice of either the Bastille or exile Wisely, he chose England, then the most intellectually free of European countries After the Glorious Revolution of 1688 had ended the despotic rule of King James II, writers like John Locke in his Two Treatises of Government laid out a plan for representative government that would affect the rest of Voltaire’s career His Letters on the English were published in Rouen, France, in 1731 Nowhere else is there a better statement of his political philosophy (1694–1778) French philosopher Franỗois-Marie Arouet, better known to the world as Voltaire, was born in Paris on November 21, 1694 With his penetrating observations of society and his incisive wit, Voltaire would become one of the stars of the French Enlightenment, generally considered to be the beginning of the age of modern thought Along with others like Denis Diderot, Voltaire changed the face of intellectual life forever Although he spent his life poking fun at what he considered the absurdities of organized religion, Voltaire received his education at the Collège Louis Le Grand, an educational institution founded by the Jesuits, the Society of Jesus While named after Louis Le Grand, Louis XIV, in honor of his visiting there and offering royal patronage, the college was established by the Jesuits in 1563 Even though it was named a college during Voltaire’s time, it is actually a lycée, roughly equivalent to an American high school Victor Hugo, another of France’s great men of letters, was educated at Louis Le Grand Born into the French middle class, or bourgeoisie, Voltaire’s knack for satire gained him aristocratic enemies early in his life In 1717 he was imprisoned in the infamous Bastille in Paris for writing about the regency government of Philippe II, duc d’Orléans, Best known for his works in political satire and theory, Voltaire was one of the first major historians of the modern era