PLEASE MAKE NO MARKS!

Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette was born in 1755, a princess, the 15th and the favorite daughter of Maria Teresa, Empress of Austria. Maria Teresa arranged a special marriage of Marie (at age 15) to improve her country’s relations with France. France was the most powerful nation at that time and Marie was considered the luckiest woman in the world. Marie Antoinette had to fit the part of the most important woman in France. When she reached the French border, she was dressed with clothing fashionable at the French court.

Marie did not stay a French princess for very long, her husband became King Louis XVI in 1774 and she became Queen of France. Marie was unhappy in her marriage to the king, though. King Louis’ interests were totally different than Marie’s. He loved hunting, quietness and solitude. She loved the arts, fashion, dances and the French nightlife. The personalities of the two rulers were very different. Louis XVI was withdrawn and emotionless. Marie Antoinette was happy and careless in her actions and choice of friends. At first the new queen was well liked by the French citizens. She organized elegant dances and gave many gifts and favors to her friends. However, people began to resent her increasingly extravagant ways. She soon became unpopular in the court and the country, annoying many of the nobles, including the King's brothers. She also bothered French aristocrats, or nobles, who were upset over a recent alliance with Austria. Austria was long viewed as France's enemy. Among the general French population she became the symbol for the extravagance of the royal family.

Marie Antoinette began to escape from her marriage. She surrounded herself with friends whom lavished expensive gifts upon. She began to partake in a life of pleasure and carelessness, going to masked balls in Paris, gambling, and theatricals. Marie was beautiful and enjoyed being the epitome of fashion in all of Europe. Each year she overspent her clothing allowance buying expensive gowns, headdresses and jewelry. Marie also spent lavishly on the furnishings and fineries of a small private palace she had in Versailles. She used these palaces to entertain her very fashionable friends. Marie alienated the French Court and French etiquette by her behavior. This made enemies for her husband the king. By 1786 most of France hated Marie Antoinette.

France was beginning to have hard times in the late 1780s. The harvest was poor and the people of France started going hungry. Marie Antoinette, being kind hearted, came to the aid of the people. However, her small acts of kindness to help impoverished families were over shadowed by her previous extravagant behavior. This led many to spread the tale that she said, “Let them eat cake” amid their suffering. All the people of France blamed the horrible financial state of affairs of the country on Marie’s behavior. When, in reality the huge debt was inherited from the previous King.

In addition, the aid that France gave to the American colonies during the War of Independence from Great Britain from 1778 to 1783 had made a huge drain on the economy. Rebellions started to break out all over the country to overthrow the monarchy. Many members of the royal court, including close friends of Marie Antoinette, fled the country. Louis’ weaknesses were beginning to become a major factor in their safety. He would not leave the country and he was weak in assembling troops to stop the mobs.

Soon the country voted to get rid of the monarchy. The new Republic threw the royal family into jail. Other aristocrats were imprisoned at this same time also. The royal family was under even closer guard in dark prison cells. In December 1792, King Louis XVI was tried for treason, convicted and put to death. In January 1793, he was executed on the guillotine.

”Courage! I have shown it for years; think I shall lose it at the moment when my sufferings are

to end?”

PLEASE MAKE NO MARKS!On August 13, 1792, Marie Antoinette began a captivity that was to end only with her death. She was jailed in various Parisian prisons. After a number of unsuccessful attempts to escape, Marie Antoinette appeared before the Revolutionary Tribunal. She was charged with aiding the enemy and inciting civil war within France. The tribunal found her guilty and condemned her to death. On October 16, 1793, she went to the guillotine.