The Huguenots in France

In 1685, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, declaring Protestantism illegal in France. Within weeks, tens of thousands of Huguenots faced an impossible choice: convert, flee, or die. Samuel Smiles, better known for his masterpiece Self-Help, turns his moral vision to this foundational tragedy in European history, tracing the rise of French Protestantism through centuries of escalating persecution to its violent unraveling under the Sun King. The narrative documents the forced conversions, the dragonnades (soldiers billeted in Protestant homes to compel compliance), the prisons, and the exodus of perhaps 200,000 of France's most skilled artisans, merchants, and intellectuals. But this is not merely an account of suffering. Smiles illuminates the quiet heroism of those who resisted, the underground churches, the martyrs who chose death over betrayal. Written in 1825, the book reflects its era's passionate belief in religious liberty while serving as an urgent reminder that civilization's gains over intolerance remain fragile and reversible.