The Life of Marie Antoinette

Marie Antoinette was born on November 2, 1755 in Vienna. Her mother was the Empress of Austria, Maria Theresa of Habsburg and her father the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Francis I. During her youth she learnt how to comport herself at court, dance and play music, but she never showed interest in reading, history or geography and had difficulties writing. Her mother wanted to build an alliance with France, so she commanded Marie Antoinette to marry the French dauphin Louis Auguste, grandson of the French Emperor Louis XV and heir to the French throne. On April 21, 1770, at the age of 14, Marie sets out to France, never to return to Austria again and on May 16 she marries Louis Auguste, becoming dauphine of France. Her innocence and carefree behaviour won her many admirers at first, but she never wanted to see the real France and was confined to her own fantasy world. In 1774 Louis XV died and Louis Auguste succeeded him on the throne as Louis XVI, making Marie Antoinette, at the age of 19, Queen of France. Her vivacious personality clashed with that of the solitary Louis leading to the fact that they never consummated their marriage until 9 years later, when she gave birth to her first daughter. Marie Antoinette liked to spend her money on expensive dresses and extravagant hairstyles. She enjoyed going at masked balls and the opera, and the King granted her whatever she wanted. The French debt grew larger as time went by and the anger of the people turned towards the wealthy life of Versailles (Versai). As the Queen started to spend more and more time at her private residence Petit Trianon, accusations became stronger. Her trying to have some private time was seen as an attempt to hide something. She was accused of doing immoral things and having an unbridled sexuality. The King was also impoverishing the French treasury by supporting the American Revolution, but it still was the Queen who caught most of the blame. Marie Antoinette remained unaware of what was going on outside the court and continued to indulge in her fantasies. She didn't care what people said about her and wanted to live as she pleased, ignoring her basic duties as a Queen. Her bad reputation provided no help when she was falsely accused of having bought a 2842-karat diamond necklace, which some thieves by an elaborate scheme got their hands on, leaving the debt on account of the Queen. The necklace affair was a turning point for Marie Antoinette. After she was found guilty her reputation rapidly went from bad to worse. The Queen became a scapegoat for all of France's economic problems and the people hatred towards her rapidly grew. Marie Antoinette finally started to become aware of the danger she was in, left behind all her extravagances and started to take part in political matters, but it was far too late. Her inexperience only lead to confusion, aggravating the situation. The King and the Queen made an attempt to abolish aristocratic privileges and called for a National Assembly. The politicians pushed for a constitutional monarchy, but Marie Antoinette was strongly against sharing power. On July 14, 1789 French workers and peasants revolt, taking over the Bastille Prison, arming themselves and marking the beginning of the French Revolution. The ancient social order fractures and the King is forced by the rebellion to accept the constitution. In 1792 the French revolutionaries abolish the monarchy, declaring the establishment of a French Republic and have the King and Queen arrested. On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI is put on trial and later executed at the guillotine. On October 16 the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, at the age of 38, found guilty of treason with absolutely no proof, suffers the same fate as her husband. This is how Marie Antoinette died, as the most hated woman of France, once a clueless and carefree young girl who would have never expected to live such a life when she moved from Austria. She was killed by the anger of her own people, who falsely accused her of many indecencies, blinded by hunger and looking for a reason to finally begin a revolution, which they hoped would change their lives forever, but was she really as evil as the French potrayed her?