King Louis XVI And Queen Marie-Antoinette: Causes Of The French Revolution

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The French Revolution was a period of radical change of political, economic, and social structure in France in the eighteenth century. During this period, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were in power, but soon were beheaded by the infamous guillotine during the overthrowing of the French monarchy. This was caused by their neglect to address the agrarian distress between the middle class and peasants in France, the lack of trust between the French and their monarchy due to Queen Marie-Antoinette’s suspicious correspondences with Austria, and the sheer and absolute hatred that the French had for the Austrian Empire in which Queen Marie-Antoinette was born in. The French Revolution was brought about from many reasons, one of these …show more content…

As Austrophobic feelings increased, the French people’s desire to dethrone Queen Marie-Antoinette grew extremely strong. Many people who supported the execution via guillotine of King Louis XVI agreed that Queen Marie-Antoinette should also be executed on the same day (Kaiser, 596). This did not occur, because the French hoped that in prolonging her life they could somehow reach a negotiation with Austria and use her for part of it. This adversely made the French even more hateful towards Queen Marie-Antoinette because they believed that even if she was imprisoned, “the former queen was plotting to mobilize foreign forces against the Revolution” (Kaiser, 597). The utter fear the French had of their Austrian descended Queen led to her nickname as “The Austrian …show more content…

Edmund Burke was criticized by stating that the Queen fled her dwelling “en deshabille” (Blakemore, 514) which means nearly naked. Although there were several occurrences where people may have broken into the Queen’s dwellings, there was no physical proof of her running out of her room in less than acceptable attire. This shows how determined the French were to diminish the reputation of the Queen, even if it went as far as being almost satirical. Another great rumor during the time was that a “mob, frustrated that they could not find the queen, ‘pierced the mattress with pikes and committed other indignities’” (Blakemore, 520). Even though these things have next to no evidence, the mere fact that the French would go to the lengths to make up such elaborate and extreme stories that could possibly incriminate those mentioned in it if ‘witnesses’ said that the accounts were true, shows how much the French despised the Queen. This sheer amount of hatred towards the Queen and her Austrian heritage was the backbone to her demise and how Queen Marie-Antoinette lost her

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