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“Let them eat cake.” A famous response given by Queen Marie Antoinette when she was asked about the grain shortages in her country. But, did she really say this? Many people see Marie Antoinette as a leading cause of the French revolution, with her enormous spending, affairs, disapproval of reform, and influence on her husband, King Louis XVI. But did Marie Antoinette play a decisive role in causing the French Revolution? Or were the peoples judgements the cause of the uprising? This essay will provide both sides of this argument, stating findings and facts about Marie Antoinette’s influence on the people of France, and what feelings she provoked in them with her actions, and if there was any connection between her behavior and beginning of the French Revolution.
To find out Marie Antoinette’s influence on the French Revolution, we first need to list some of the speculated causes of the uprising of the French people. Many believed that the financial trouble of France had a big part in causing the French Revolution. France had spent many years fighting foreign wars, and helping in the American Revolution, which left the country near bankruptcy. Despite the knowledge of these wars, many believed Marie Antoinette had caused the bankruptcy with her generous amount of spending. In 1788-89, there were many food shortages because of crop failure (Schwartz). According to Britannica, the crop failures in 1788 lead to a economic difficulties, and left the population tumultuous. Rumors spread that Marie Antoinette was hoarding grain in the palace (Muller). The quote “Let them eat cake” was created during the crop failures to represent the Queen’s reply to the crop failures. The royal couple recognized the dislike the people had for them...
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...agance, foolishness and being an incorrigible wife (Reill). Accusations that would not lead to beheading in these times.
In the end, Marie Antoinettes influence on the French Revolution can not be pinpointed. What can be said, is that the rumors spread about her helped evoke a hate for her and what she represented; the aristocrats. The actions of this collective enraged the population of France to rise up and take power. There was a solid reason for the aristocrats to be blamed for the troubles of France, but to pin it all on Marie Antoinette’s head is disagreeable. The French Revolution was caused by several factors, a few that were represented by Marie Antoinette. She did not single handedly cause the Revolution with her actions, but the rumors and false accusations that were spread about her, encouraged the French population to rise up against the monarchy.
Marie Antoinette was the Archduchess of Austria, and became Dauphine of France after several years. Many French citizens dislike her because of her behaviors. Some citizens blamed on her that she was one of the reason to cause the French Revolution. Some of the people said that she was not a serious problem for forming the French Revolution. There were also some people said that those behaviors were came from Louis XVI or influenced to Marie Antoinette, and actually he was one of the reason that caused the French Revolution. So what is the truth as one of the cause of French Revolution? Was she really a cause of the French Revolution?
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.
Beginning in mid-1789, and lasting until late-1799, the French Revolution vastly changed the nation of France throughout its ten years. From the storming of the Bastille, the ousting of the royal family, the Reign of Terror, and all the way to the Napoleonic period, France changed vastly during this time. But, for the better part of the last 200 years, the effects that the French Revolution had on the nation, have been vigorously debated by historian and other experts. Aspects of debate have focused around how much change the revolution really caused, and the type of change, as well as whether the changes that it brought about should be looked at as positive or negative. Furthermore, many debate whether the Revolutions excesses and shortcomings can be justified by the gains that the revolution brought throughout the country. Over time, historians’ views on these questions have changed continually, leading many to question the different interpretations and theories behind the Revolutions effectiveness at shaping France and the rest of the world.
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 Josèphe Jeanne de Habsbourg-Lorraine was born in the mid-eighteenth century as an archduchess and princess, to Maria Teresa, the Austrian Empress, at the very apex of the European hierarchal pyramid. She was an essential part to the oldest royal European house, as it became known that her sole duty in life was to unite the two great powers and long-term enemies of Austria-Hungary and France by marriage. She was brutally overthrown by her own starving people and portrayed to the world as a villain and abuser of power, whereas sympathy for the young queen should be shown.
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.
The French Revolution started during 1789, it allowed for the people to have a better government that actually protected the natural rights of the people. This toke a nearly a decade of rioting and violence for the Third Estate to have their way and get the rights they deserved. From all the causes like the famine of wheat, long debts because of wars, the heavy taxes, and their rights not being protected, some causes stood out more than the others. It is noted that these reasons had to play a major role in order for the French Revolution to occur. The three most important causes of the French revolution are the ideas that came from the Enlightenment, the Old Regime not being an efficient class system, and the heavy taxation.
The original quote was found in, “an 1843 issue of the journal Les Guêpes… Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr reported having found the quote in a “book dated 1760” (John M. Cunningham). Since the original quote’s source was written almost twenty years before Marie-Antoinette made the statement, it is unlikely that she made the historical quote. Another source found stating this remark was found in John-Jacques Rousseau’s autobiography, “Confessions”. Rousseau references, “a great princess, who, when told the peasants had no bread, said ‘Well, let them eat brioche.’ (brioche being a highly enriched bread).” (Daven Hiskey). During the time Rousseau wrote the autobiography, Marie-Antoinette was only ten years old while living in Austria. Rousseau was actually referencing Maria-Thérèse, a princess who originally spoke this statement almost a hundred years before: “ ‘Que ne mangent-ils de la croûte de pâté?' (Why don't they eat pastry?) was used by Marie-Thérèse (1638-83), the wife of Louis XIV.” (Gary Martin). Marie-Thérèse must have been the original person to state, “Let them eat cake,” and not
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.
The essential cause of the French revolution was the collision between a powerful, rising bourgeoisie and an entrenched aristocracy defending its privileges”. This statement is very accurate, to some extent. Although the collision between the two groups was probably the main cause of the revolution, there were two other things that also contributed to the insanity during the French revolution – the debt that France was in as well as the famine. Therefore, it was the juxtaposing of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy as well as the debt and famine France was in that influenced the French Revolution.
Causes of the French Revolution On July 14, 1789, several starving working people of Paris and sixty soldiers seized control of the Bastille, forever changing the course of French history. The seizing of the Bastille wasn’t caused by one event, but several underlying causes such as the Old Regime, the raising of taxes, the American revolution, and the idea and beliefs of the philosophers. The immediate causes of the revolution were the rising price of bread and the locking of the third estate out of its meeting hall. Finally, the spark was the ordering of the Swiss guards to Paris by Louis the XVI. The first underlying cause of the French Revolution was the Old Regime.
Revolution? The major cause of the French Revolution was the disputes between the different types of social classes in French society. The French Revolution of 1789-1799 was one of the most important events in the history of the world. The Revolution led to many changes in France, which at the time of the Revolution, was the most powerful state in Europe. The Revolution led to the development of new political forces such as democracy and nationalism. It questioned the authority of kings, priests, and nobles. The Revolution also gave new meanings and new ideas to the political ideas of the people.
The French Revolution was based a single feeling. This feeling was injustice and the commoners were sick of being persecuted by the higher monarchies. They stood up to the “big guys” and fought for what they believed in and ended up changing History. Throughout all periods of History, there have been many revolutions. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of a revolution is a sudden, extreme, or complete change in the way people lived or worked. There are many different reasons why a revolution might happen. Some revolutions were caused due to politics, and others were caused by the economics of a country. There were even social and cultural revolutions. France experienced a revolution in the seventeenth and eighteenth century because
The bad living conditions of France and its depressed economy was one of the primary drivers for the French Revolution. The people of France were so poor that they had no shoes to wear and no food to eat. The poverty of France breaks its economy at its root. The economy got so bad that “By December 1788, there was a nationwide revolt against food shortages and rising prices, which continued to spread till the summer of 1789, when there was another bad harvest”(Todd 528). One ...