Marie+Antoinette

Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France. She was born on November 2, 1755, in Vienna, Austria. Marie Antoinette was the fifteenth and second to last child to Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I. After the Seven Years’ War, Maria Theresa needed to preserve the alliance between Austria and France. To help strengthen the alliance between the countries, Marie was married to the new King of France, Louis-Auguste. At the age of 14 Antoinette and Louis-Auguste married on May 16, 1770. During their reign, the French Revolution had begun to rise. Marie Antoinette died at the end of the revolution on October 16, 1793 at the age of 37.

As the last monarch of France, Marie Antoinette was unable to keep the country united. From her being an outsider, to her extravagant fashion, many people in the country didn’t like her being their leader. Marie Antoinette was said to be a social butterfly, with an extravagant fashion sense. Nowadays, many people would find these good qualities for becoming a leader, but for Antoinette these traits didn’t do her much good. For starters, Antoinette had a massive gambling problem, because of this she used much of the countries money to fund her gambling and parties she would throw. This resulted in many of French citizens being unhappy with their way of life, as well as the government treated them and spent their money. From this point onward, neither Antoinette or Louis XVI were able to run the country, resulting in the fall of the French monarchy.

After the reign and downfall of Marie Antoinette, the French Revolution ended a few years later. During her reign, many people were unhappy with the way they were being treated in daily life. Once Antoinette had come into power, it gave the French the push to revolt to hopefully make their lives better. Antoinette was able to unite the country in an un intentional way. Due to the revolution, the classes that had once separated France broke down and pleaced people on a more equal footing. This caused less of a problem for the French government.