Question

What does this quote mean: The glory of eighteenth century France was built on backs of common man

Answer 1

It meant that the beauty of Paris in the 18th century was due to the corrupt officials taking advantage of the common man. (This was the reason of the French Revolution)

Paris was the second-largest city in Europe, with a population of about 600,000 persons. The century saw the construction of Place Vendôme, the Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Élysées, the church of Les Invalides, and the Panthéon, and the founding of the Louvre Museum. Paris witnessed the end of the reign of Louis XIV, was the center stage of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, saw the first manned flight, and was the birthplace of high fashion and the modern restaurant.

Throughout the 18th century, the government was unable to pay its mounting debts. As Saint-Simon wrote, the taxpayers of France were obliged to pay for "a war badly begun and badly supported, the greed of a prime minister, of a favorite, of a mistress, of foolish expenditures, and the prodigality of a King, which soon exhausted a bank and undermined the Kingdom."