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The book Candide was written by Voltaire, although signed with the pseudonym of "Mister Doctor Ralph. (Wikipedia 1)" Voltaire started working on it in 1757, and it was finished and published in 1759 (1). The main reason that Voltaire wrote it was to satire various aspects of human society. He wanted to satire the foolishness and wastefulness of war, religion, poverty, and the uselessness of optimism (1). The significance of all this was that it caused many people to look differently at the government and the church. Of course, the government, church, and military officials hated the book. As a result, Voltaire was imprisoned twice, exiled from Paris, and his books and all of his writings were banned by the church (Introductory Note 1). However, regardless of these punishments, Candide made many look at the world in a different perspective, and begin to criticize some of the problems of the church and the government.
Candide was written in 1759. In the 1700s, a lot was going on in France. In 1715, the death of the King caused a lot of problems in France (History of France 1). There was a large national debt that had been incurred after wars. There was a lot of famine in the country (1). However, a new king got this under control and relatively stabilized the government and economy. Later on, around 1740, the War of Spanish Succession was fought (1). After this, France declared war on England, and they fought for a few years. They soon entered the Seven Years War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763 (1). This was fought between France, who was allied with Austria, and England, allied with Prussia. This war was also continued in the colonies held by France and England in the landmass that was eventually going to turn into the United States (1). France lost the war, and had to give up many of its claims in overseas colonies to the British. This was war fought while Voltaire was writing Candide (1). Voltaire is satirizing this war in Candide, especially the wastefulness of it. The following page shows an example of how Voltaire satirized war. Works Cited:
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