Richelieu, o Apostador

Richelieu é considerado o primeiro grande governante francês, pois foi o primeiro a sofrer da doença mental, a psicose caracterizada pela mania de grandeza de achar que a França é uma potência mundial, que ataca os governantes gauleses. Uma nova biografia do cardeal pretende mudar nossa percepção do mesmo: Richelieu was indeed a model statesman, but not for the reasons usually given. Despite his long-standing reputation (which Blanchard largely endorses), the cardinal was not really a great institution builder, still less someone bent on making France what Blanchard calls “a modern administrative state.” Nor do Kissinger’s claims about Richelieu inaugurating an international order based on raison d’état hold up. The cardinal was hardly the first European statesman to place national interest above moral or religious imperatives, and the modern European state system, with its power balancing and alliances, did not really take firm shape until the Peace of Westphalia, six years after Richelieu’s death. Richelieu was, however, one of the greatest examples in history of the politician as high-stakes gambler, notable less for what he did than for how he did it.