The French Revolution was one of the defining moments of French history. It overturned traditional ideas about the privileges of the aristocracy and the Church and replaced them with enlightenment ideals of democracy, equality, and secularism. It began in a time of financial crisis and overturned the old regime in France. The French Court, domain of the elite, was portrayed in the media as debauched and decadent, and led by Marie Antoinette, who was the most immoral of them all. Marie Antoinette (1755-1793), Queen of France and Navarre, was often characterized in libelles (pamphlets which slander a political figure) as a spendthrift, who was so focussed on her lovers and luxuries that she failed to notice the poverty of many commoners. …show more content…
Her childhood had imbued her with innocence, informality and a frivolous nature. At fourteen, she was still very much a child and not ready for the realities of the French court, which was completely different from what she had grown up with in Vienna. Ruled by Louis XV, the French court was almost destitute, demanding, debauched, and divided. Unfamiliar with the expectations of the French Marie Antoinette rebelled against the traditional expectations, causing the public, who had welcomed her with open arms upon her arrival, to turn against …show more content…
The old regime was symbolized by the grandeur of Versailles. Originally a hunting lodge, Versailles, was expanded and became a representation of the monarchy’s power. It was extravagant even by aristocratic standards and heavily decorated with pagan images, from half-naked cupids to Saturn, who bore a strong resemblance to Louis XIV, the Sun King. As magnificent as Versailles was, it cost a fortune to build and maintain, almost ten percent of France’s annual income. This angered the peasants who were forced to pay increasingly burdensome taxes. Meanwhile, the bourgeoisie had their own grievances with the feudal system. The bourgeoisie was a collection of middle class individuals, many of which were wealthy or had positions in government, who wanted the privileges of the aristocracy. Aristocrats were loath to share their wealth as many were unsure of their own fortune. No class was content and yet, away from the problems of their people, Marie Antoinette, and Louis XVI, continued as they always had, in splendor, feasting on farmers’ crops. The isolation of the monarchy at Versailles infuriated their citizens and caused distinctions between classes to blur, united by their hatred of the monarchy and their need for wealth. At Versailles, court life was opulent and required a vast fortune to upkeep appearances. At court, the aristocracy was expected to dress in their finest, follow
...ult to choose her growing environment, and also she was influenced by Louis XVI, as I mentioned above. Marie Antoinette was just viewed as a traitor, because she support Austria instead. She will definitely support her brother, because he was her family. French people couldn't forgave her. After she married, she need time to get use to her new life, but her husband didn't stop her to spend that much money, because he himself did that too, so their behaviors slowly became a cause of French Revolution.
The French Revolution, beginning in 1789, was a lengthy process in which the people of France took over the government and instituted a Republic (Chambers). The overarching goal of the Revolution was to place the power of government in the hands of the people. For two years, whilst France was facing internal disorganization and external wartime threats, the government was run by a war dictatorship under Maximilien Robespierre, the head of the Committee of Public Safety (“Reign of Terror”). Amid much internal suspicion and fear, the Reign of Terror began. Much of France was politically divided, and Robespierre’s method for keeping the government stable in a time of crisis involved severe penalties for any suspected of plotting against the new government (Chambers). Soon the accusations began to fly and a handful of people convicted and killed for treason became thousands. Many of the cases turned into the accuser’s word versus the accused, and a government preoccupied with bigger issues often did not care to look into these cases, simply convicting the accused, supposedly to promote a sense of unity and control to the citizens of France, and to forewarn anyone who did attempt treasonous deeds (Chambers). Eventually, Marie Antoinette, guilty of no crime other than marrying the former king, was executed on the grounds of treason (“French Revolution: The Reign of Terror”). Many thought this was taking a step too far. The former Queen was well-respec...
Before the French Revolution, an inexperienced king, and an irresponsible queen ruled over the citizens of France. Food cost was high due to the poor crop season, and Antoinette gambled away what would be billions today.
King Louis XVI was next in line for the throne in 1774 and gladly inherited it from Louis XIV to become the ruler over France. He drastically changed the whole country and put its people through ghastly conditions. There was not a soul left unharmed. In Paris, nearly half of its population in 1788 was unemployed. They produced no crops due to them not growing and had extremely high prices on food. With the whole nation already furious with his doings, he decided to marry Marie Antoinette who was foreign. They decided to blame her for their problems of their economy because they figured that King Louis was letting her make major decisions and control them. Together, Antoinette and Louis had a total of four children. Their oldest child lived to be seventy-three.
The Memoires de l’Estat de France quoted in R J Knecht Profiles in Power: Catherine de Medici, Essex, 1998
Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun was one of the most successful painters of her time. Over the course of her life, spanning from 1755-1842, she painted over 900 works. She enjoyed painting self portraits, completing almost 40 throughout her career, in the style of artists she admired such as Peter Paul Rubens (Montfort). However, the majority of her paintings were beautiful, colorful, idealized likenesses of the aristocrats of her time, the most well known of these being the Queen of France Marie Antoinette, whom she painted from 1779-1789. Not only was Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun the Queen’s portrait painter for ten years, but she also became her close, personal friend. She saw only the luxurious, carefree, colorful, and fabulous lifestyle the aristocracy lived in, rather than the poverty and suffrage much of the rest of the country was going through. Elisabeth kept the ideals of the aristocracy she saw through Marie Antoinette throughout her life, painting a picture of them that she believed to be practically perfect. Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun’s relationship with Marie Antoinette affected her social standing, politics, painting style, and career.
November 1st, 1783- Marie had her second miscarriage, which caused more fears for her health.
Marie Antoinette was the 15th child of Maria Theresa and Francis I. Marie Antoinette. She focused her education mainly on religious and she was the last queen of France. She helped exasperate the turbulence which led to the French Revolution and to the conquest of the throne in August 1792. She became a figure head to grant an audience to the monarchy. She was distinguished with the honors of saying “Let them eat cake” even though there was no proof that she literally said it.
Marie Antoinette wrongfully suffered for many years under the pressures of court and the subjects under the crown. She redeemed herself from the immature spending and luxury of her earlier years by serving as a loving wife, mother and ruler later on. Despite her situation, she remained a fair, brave and respectable queen and should be remembered for her courageous acts in a time of revolutionary change.
The French revolution was also caused by a bad ruler and a bad economy. During the early 1780's a big percent of annual budget went towards king Louis XVI's lavish estate at Versailles. France also had no central bank, no paper currency, no ways of getting more money, and an out-dated tax system which only taxed the poor who had no money to begin with. Signs of revolution first appeared when the peasants stormed the fortress known as the Bastille looking for gun powder.
There are two takes on her life: One is that she is a villain. While the other depicts her as a heroine of her time. Both of these opinions are proof of how her life was symbolic to the downfall of European Monarchies in the face of revolution. Thomas Jefferson once said, predicting the way Marie Antoinette would be viewed by posterity, "I have ever believed that if there had been no queen, there would have been no Revolution."
The French Revolution was a period of political upheaval that occurred in France during the latter half of the 18th century. This revolution marked an end to the system of feudalism and the monarchy in France and a rise to democracy and new Enlightenment ideas. By 1789, when the revolution began, France was in a deep financial crisis due to the debt they had obtained over many years of reckless spending and France was nearly bankrupt. These financial issues fell almost completely on the bottom social class or the Third Estate which made up a majority of the country. Because of this financial trouble, the common people were heavily taxed, leaving many of them in poverty.
During the eighteenth century, France was one of the richest and prosperous countries in Europe, but many of the peasants were not happy with the way France was being ruled. On July 14, 1789, peasants and soldiers stormed the Bastille and initiated the French Revolution. This essay will analyze the main causes of the French Revolution, specifically, the ineffectiveness of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the dissatisfaction of the Third Estate, and the Enlightenment. It will also be argued that the most significant factor that caused the French Revolution was the ineffective leadership of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The first and main reason for the French Revolution was the terrible leadership of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.
How did a man with a promising military career loose it so quickly? Napoleon was one of the greatest military minds but did not always use it correctly, which eventually led to his downfall. This essay will explain what led to the downfall of Napoleon.
In the article, “Madame de Pompadour and the Theaters of Power,” author Thomas E. Kaiser examines how Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson rose to become Madame de Pompadour, a very influential mistress to the King of France. Her rise was seen in both positive and negative lights, with her acquisition of power being questioned from those within the royal family and the public1. The life of a mistress was never an easy one, but Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson rose to the daunting task and succeeded where most had failed. Thomas E. Kaiser goes on to explain how Madame de Pompadour was viewed in court and society, how she influenced the King, King Louis XV, and how she was able to succeed in her own right, advancing further than most thought possible for a woman during that time.