Marie Antoinette

Posts Tagged ‘the french revolution and marie antoinette’

Question: did the french nobility (Louis XVI and marie antoinette) cause the French Revolution?

Answer: Yes, and no. So, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI did some dumb stuff. Louis XVI never wanted to be King, and never expected to be King. Furthermore, Marie Antoinette was just spendy all around. Then, Louis XVI wasn't too interested in procreation, so he didn't really produce the heir that the people were hoping for, because he wasn't interested in having some relations with Marie Antoinette. The list of things he could have done is endless.

However, the stupid policies of Louis XIV were stuff that very few kings could have kept going, so it was inevitable that they would crash. Further, the winter was harsh and the livestock were killed by wolves and the wheat was killed. Bread is a staple in French gastronomy. No wheat=no bread=starving French people. Then, the monetary problems were also an issue slightly out of Louis XVI's control.

So, some but not all.

The French Nobility as a whole did some jerky things that just ticked the whole 3rd Estate off, including but not limited to shutting them out of the meetings of the three estates.

Question: why Marie Antoinette important to the French Revolution?

I know she married Louis XVI at the age of 14 in order to build a diplomatic alliance between her birth family and the family of her husband but why was she so important to the French Revolution???

Answer: Marie Antoinette was a key cause of the French Revolution despite her lack of involvement in many of the events which led up to the French Revolution in 1789.

The people of France never completely accepted their Austrian queen because she was Austrian and France and Austria had had conflicts in the past.

In beginning of her reign, Marie was a party animal and infamous for her frivolous spending. At this time, all of France was facing economic hardships and starvation and famine had plagued the land. The people had disliked the monarchy and now they hated it even more because of their Queen who spent so much yet had little idea of the ruin of France since she had her own private estate away from the situation.

In 1784 - 1785, the Diamond Necklace Scandal tarnished the royal family's reputation. Jeanne de la Motte with a few other people conned an admirer of the Queen, Louis Cardinal de Rohan into purchasing an extremely expensive diamond necklace as a secret gift for the Queen. Although the Queen herself had rejected the offer from the jeweler. The diamond necklace was secretly divided and Motte profited from the sales. When payments were due and the Queen was approached she denounced them and word spread of her so called purchase. Since the Queen had been known as a spender and the people had already grown to hate her, she was blamed and deemed sole responsible instantly.

The Palais Royale was a public estate opened by a jealous relative of the king. Since this estate belonged to a relative of the king, the press was uncensored. Various press items such as cartoons which made fun of the king and queen were vitriolic and accelerated the hatred of the monarchs. At the Palais Royale during the scandal, anyone had access and so the reputation of the monarchs were destroyed.

Summary: Austrian descant resulted in lack of complete tolerance, frivolous nature and spending ticked off people, catalyst of Palais Royale which ticked off people, diamond necklace scandal which ticked off the poor people. So basically Marie Antoinette made the monarchy extremely unpopular which was one of the causes of the French Revolution, as absolute rule was undesirable this was one of the reasons it had to go.

The French Revolution History Channel #7