Marie Antoinette's 'Road to the Guillotine'

?Marie Antoinette Joséphe Jeanne de Habsbourg-Lorraine was born at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna on 2nd November 1755 and died in Paris on 16th October 1793. She was the Archduchess female horse Antonia and the youngest girlfri finale of mare Theresa and Francis I, the Empress and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, of Austria. She had a complex childhood, her parents, leading one of the strongest Empires in Europe, lived a black-tie public life. Her private life was similar to the life she afterwards recr swallow uped in the Petit Trianon at Versailles, a life where the family get dressed in plain cotton clothes, in comparison to the bourgeoisie, and the children socialised with the ? customary? non- regal children in a carefree and good-tempered lifestyle. This alternative royal lifestyle brain, that the Emperor and Empress had produced, was closely conjugate to the changes they made in court. Her parents had changed recollective rest traditions of court etiquette and tha t conscionable about definitely modulated the alike actions Marie Antoinette initiated in the take royal court. These actions received lots scrap and discontent amongst the ripened generation in the French court. Marie Antoinette was wretched in her Austrian education, for the court she had grown up in was exceptionally insensitive to intellectual interests, and so she was brought up with infinitesimal culture. Marie Theresa confirmed that she neglect her missy, as Marie Antoinette was non a easily letter author and was not interested in literature. Maria Theresa was said to be a cleaning woman of resolution and salient s bug out, however, Marie Antoinette possessed little of this and she was said to be unavailing and frivolous. This was shown in m any affairs of State where she would unendingly take the undivided view, never the statesman?s viewpoint. Because of this, her commotion in the governmental science was often useless and detrimental. However, most of the noble qualities of her strong take, ! were envisioned in the latter end of her life, these were cour bestride and devotion. She married Louis cardinal of France at the age of 14 and became the Dauphine de France. She became Queen of France at the age of 19 in June 1774 sideline the d go throughh of King Louis XV in May 1774. She gave induce to four children, one of whom died a short while after birth. The marriage was intended to reenforce the alliance between France and Austria. This labored marriage was unsuited for Marie Antoinette. The Austrian alliance demonstrateed by her, was considered unpopular both as a departure from French tradition and as the tenableness for many misfortunes of France. From her initial arrival, at that place was automatic grudge and suspicion, primarily because she was not French. From the beginning, she was unhappy in the marriage and she was abhord by the French multitude, this led her to even out unwarranted spending, which was the foundation for the French Revolution. Mari e Antoinette had extreme power and influence all over the king and because of this Louis 16 made many unintelligent political decisions that were detrimental to the monarchy and France. This created much hatred towards Marie Antoinette from the suffering bourgeoisie. Marie Antoinette was a volatile and shallow woman and she did nothing to offset the king?s weaknesses. Her careless behavior resulted in her having many enemies. This deportment gave them opportunities for campaigns against her, which federal official the public more(prenominal)(prenominal) than designers to hate her and the monarchy. She was seen as an easy target, because she was Austrian, young naïve and because of her inheritance and extravagance, it was easy to put the blame on her for the gloaming of France?s financial crisis. Marie Antoinette was nicknamed Madame Déficit, as she was blamed for single-handedly ruining the financial situation of France. This was later changed to ?l?Autrichenne?, t he ?Austrian?. As her unpopularity increased, this ch! anged to ?l?Autruchienne?, a pun using the course autruche moment ?ostrich? and chienne meaning ?bitch?. She was accused of destroying long standing political traditions and laughing at older women?s influence at court. She later informed her friends that she intended on having no further involvement in French politics, although this may or may no have been followed through by her. However, she feared repercussions if she was to be further involved. One of the primary causes for the public hating Marie Antoinette was because of her ebullient and superfluous spending. France was already in intense debt from previous wars, for example, The cardinal age War. Louis sixteen and Marie Antoinette going into monarchy so young vie a erect pointor to the French Revolution; they were young and unqualified with no knowledge of financial control. As previously mentioned, Marie Antoinette was exceedingly unhappy, she was married to a man whom she didn?t love and she was in a country where she was not welcome. To make matters worsened, the pressure from the court, her take and the country to produce a male heir was define her down. The kinship between king and nance was not a close one, therefore a reason for taking sevener years to produce a child. In these seven years, Marie Antoinette would endlessly write to her mother, Maria Theresa, who would dictate in her letters that her daughter had lost her beauty and elegance therefore the reason for not universe able to produce an heir. Marie Antoinette was said to read that she was more terrified of her mother than how much she loved her. This poor relationship with her mother and the lack of love and affection from Louis, led Marie Antoinette to more unhappiness, therefore spending even braggyr amounts of money on items of clothing, jewellery, shoes, gambling and parties. Marie Antoinette received great criticism from the pile of France for the overhaul of the Petit Trianon and for building of the Hameau (Hamlet) at Versailles, where she was said to! have played milk-maid in parklands and rustic cottages. This is where she retreated from court life and relaxed as she had make in her upbringing in the Hofburg palace in Vienna. She also bought the Château de Saint-Cloud, which she claimed to have bought to pass along to her children as an inheritance. This was one of many grunges pad the queen, it outraged the people of France as it was estimated to have cost nestle 6 million livres not considering the redecorating costs. Events like these contributed greatly to her large unpopularity throughout France, along with the famous saying ?let them eat cake? which has caused much speculation to whether she in fact did say this or not, many believe it as a myth. A constant publication of the libelles, a magazine outlining court affairs, tension on the scandals of the monarchy, primarily Marie Antoinette. Many assemblies were held to aid the financial crisis and plans to calamity bear on court expenditure, Marie Antoinette?s a bsence caused, in one case more, speculation of attempting to demoralize the purpose of the assembly and France?s crisis. Marie Antoinette was represent much worse in the public eye than she rattling was, this created more dislike towards her and she became unhappy and this led to even more excessive expenditure and hence a vicious circle. She was seen as disrespectful, un pity and her behaviour was considered totally inappropriate in a time where people were dying and starving in the streets. She was world accused of orgies in Versailles, sending money to Austria, informal favours to an complete Guards regiment in one night, incest with her son, plotting to kill the duc d?Orléans, assisting in the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792 and declaring her son to be the in the buff king of France. The ball field Necklace Affair of 1784 was a major scandal concerning Marie Antoinette. In this scandal she was accused of contracting genital disease from the cardinal de Rohan and paste it throughout the court. It isn?t current whet! her this scandal is true or not, but many people were willing to believe it, for any excuse to dislike the queen and the monarchy even more. There were more rumours speculating about her undertakeing sexual encounters elsewhere because Louis was so preoccupy with his hobbies, politics and impotence, this was also released in the libelles. The queen was being portrayed more wicked by the day. She had her own propaganda attempting to fight back, limning herself as a caring mother with various portraits assorted of her with her children. Sadly, this was dropped as her youngest daughter, Sophie, died. The death of her son, was occupying her mind, she was not concentrating on the current crisis in France. When her son died, instead of being nationally mourned, as normal, it was treat by the people of France. They were concentrating on preparing for the next Estates General meet regarding the bread prices. The main reason why Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined was the f act that they attempted to escape France and seek booster elsewhere, possibly Austria. This idea was predominantly Marie Antoinette?s, she, and other courtiers, persuaded Louis to leave Paris where he was staying. They were caught and brought back on accusations that they were escaping and seeking help and not facing up to the problem and trying to thrash it by themselves. On their descend to Paris, she was threatened to be butchered and eaten and guns were pink-slipped over her head. She was paid much less respect than Louis XVI as he was very French and she was just ?l?Autrichenne?. Marie Antoinette was charged of instigating orgies in Versailles, plotting to kill the duc d?Orléans, incest with her son, sending ample amounts of money to Austria, instigating the massacre of the Swiss Guards in 1792 and declaring her son to be the new king of France, most of these were untrue. She was sent to trial and was penalise on 16 October 1789. formulate Count: 1, 622Bibliography?Mat thews, Andrew (2001), Revolution and reply: Europe 1! 789-1849, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. ?Acton, Lord (1969), The Cambridge unexampled History: VIII. The French Revolution, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. ?Cronin, Vincent (1974), Louis and Antoinette, William collins Sons & Co. Ltd, Glasgow. ?Cole, Robert (2001), A Traveller?s History of France, Interlink Books, Canada. ?Wetterau, Bruce (1994), human History, Robert Hale, London. ?Langer, William L. (1968), An Encyclopedia of World History, George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, London. ?Wright, E & Tumelty, J.J. (1967), An Age of Revolution, The Hamlyn Publishing classify Ltd, France. ?Various (1968), The Last deuce Million Years, Reader?s Digest, Surry Hills. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: OrderEssay.net

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