Protestants expelled from France

One of the preoccupations of Louis XIV had been the restoration of national unity, in particular religious unity. Safeguarding the Catholic Church by royal privileges and censoring Papal decrees (Gallicanism), he also sent dragoons to harass French Protestant families, persecuting them into conversions. In 1685, his revocation of the Edict of Nantes prompted nearly half a million Huguenots (French Protestants) to flee the country, to more tolerant places such as Holland (from where many migrated to South Africa) or realms that welcomed them, like Brandenburg-Prussia who alone welcomed 20,000. With them, France lost commercial, judicial and cultural elite, to the benefit of her enemies.