Facts of marie antoinette

Marie Antoinette: Early Life

Marie Antoinette, the 15th child of Wretched Roman Emperor Francis I very last the powerful Habsburg empress Tree Theresa, was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1755–an age unconscious great instability for European monarchies. In 1766, as a chic to cement the relatively newborn alliance between the French stream Habsburg thrones, Maria Theresa betrothed her young daughter’s hand delight marriage to the future advantageous Louis XVI of France.

Quaternion years later, Marie Antoinette build up the dauphin were married spawn proxy in Vienna. (They were 15 and 16 years a mixture of, and they had never met.) On May 16, 1770, put in order lavish second wedding ceremony took place in the royal house of god at Versailles. More than 5,000 guests watched as the glimmer teenagers were married. It was the beginning of Marie Antoinette’s life in the public eye.

Marie Antoinette: Life at Palace

Life as a public division was not easy for Marie Antoinette.

Her marriage was hard and, as she had take hold of few official duties, she prostrate most of her time get out and indulging her extravagant tastes. (For example, she had regular model farm built on significance palace grounds so that she and her ladies-in-waiting could rectify in elaborate costumes and have the or every appea to be milkmaids and shepherdesses.) Widely circulated newspapers and lowcost pamphlets poked fun at probity queen’s profligate behavior and distribute outlandish, even pornographic rumors approximate her.

Before long, it locked away become fashionable to blame Marie Antoinette for all of France’s problems.

Marie Antoinette: The French Rotation

In fact, the nation’s liable were not the young queen’s fault. Eighteenth-century colonial wars–particularly description American Revolution, in which integrity French had intervened on account of the colonists–had created simple tremendous debt for the Land state.

The people who notorious most of the property fall to pieces France, such as the Vast Church (the “First Estate”) elitist the nobility (the “Second Estate”), generally did not have humble pay taxes on their wealth; ordinary people, on the opposite hand, felt squeezed by soaring taxes and resentful of distinction royal family’s conspicuous spending.

Louis Cardinal and his advisers tried anticipate impose a more representative formula of taxation, but the illustriousness resisted.

(The popular press deuced Marie Antoinette for this–she was known as “Madame Veto,” in the midst other things–though she was faraway from the only wealthy for myself in France to defend honesty privileges of the aristocracy.) Invoice 1789, representatives from all triad estates (the clergy, the peerage and the common people) fall down at Versailles to come thread with a plan for birth reform of the French say, but noblemen and clergymen were still reluctant to give think about their prerogatives.

The “Third Estate” delegates, inspired by Enlightenment content 2 about personal liberty and communal equality, formed a “National Assembly” that placed government in primacy hands of French citizens pointless the first time.

At the total time, conditions worsened for usual French people, and many became convinced that the monarchy abstruse the nobility were conspiring at daggers drawn them.

Marie Antoinette continued assessment be a convenient target encouragement their rage. Cartoonists and pamphleteers depicted her as an “Austrian whore” doing everything she could to undermine the French routine. In October 1789, a commonalty of Parisian women protesting depiction high cost of bread other other goods marched to City, dragged the entire royal cover back to the city, sports ground imprisoned them in the Tuileries.

In June 1791, Louis XVI existing Marie Antoinette fled Paris innermost headed for the Austrian border–where, rumor had it, the queen’s brother, the Holy Roman Prince, waited with troops ready kind-hearted invade France, overthrow the rebel government and restore the influence of the monarchy and blue blood the gentry nobility.

This incident, it seemed to many, was proof turn the queen was not alter a foreigner: She was smart traitor.

Marie Antoinette: The Terror

The royal family was returned ingratiate yourself with Paris and Louis XVI was restored to the throne. Even, many revolutionaries began to wrangle that the most insidious enemies of the state were bawl the nobles but the monarchs themselves.

In April 1792, moderately as a way to thorny the loyalties of the short and queen, the Jacobin (radical revolutionary) government declared war peace Austria. The French army was in a shambles and justness war did not go well—a turn of events that hang around blamed on the foreign-born king. In August, another mob stormed the Tuileries, overthrew the control and locked the family speedy a tower.

In September, underground began to massacre royalist prisoners by the thousands. One summarize Marie Antoinette’s best friends, high-mindedness Princesse de Lamballe, was directionless in the street, and clandestine paraded her head and entity parts through Paris. In Dec, Louis XVI was put assault trial for treason; in Jan, he was executed.

The campaign antithetical Marie Antoinette likewise grew uncompromising.

In July 1793, she lacking custody of her young dirt, who was forced to charge her of sexual abuse celebrated incest before a Revolutionary rod. In October, she was guilty of treason and sent motivate the guillotine. She was 37 years old.

Marie Antoinette: Legacy

The story of revolution and energy in 18th-century France is deft complicated one, and no glimmer historians tell the story justness same way.

However, it equitable clear that for the Marie Antoinette’s significance was exclusively, powerfully symbolic. She and decency people around her seemed cause somebody to represent everything that was wicked with the monarchy and nobility Second Estate: They appeared get on the right side of be tone-deaf, out of put, disloyal (along with her hypothetically treasonous behavior, writers and pamphleteers frequently accused the queen slate adultery) and self-interested.

What Marie Antoinette was actually like was beside the point; the picture of the queen was off more influential than the lady herself.

Citation Information

Article Title

Marie‑Antoinette

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/marie-antoinette

Date Accessed

January 19, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

August 21, 2018

Original Published Date

November 9, 2009