Lizzy Goetz

French Revolution: Marie Antoinette

Although the French Revolution began on July 14, 1789, there were many different

issues that led up to it. This revolution was led by the people to fight the oppression. The heart

of the revolution was in the beautiful city of Paris, France. In 1789, France consisted of three

different estates. The first, which was made up by the clergy, the second, which was made up of

the nobility, and the third which was everyone else. Even though the Third Estate was about

98% of the population, they were still able to be outvoted by the First and Second Estates. This

led the Third Estate to resenting the First and Second Estates because of all their privileges. Not

only did they not have equal representation in voting, but the Third Estate were not even able to

hunt.

With all of these tensions, it was inevitable that if they were not fixed, they would

eventually get worse. Over the past years, the government had been spending more money than

they had been taking in which resulted in a large economic debt. To try to minimize the debt,

the government attempted to borrow more and more money. Not only were they in debt, but

they were having trouble farming as well. These bad harvests sent food prices soaring and

brought hunger to poorer peasants and city dwellers. In some towns, people began to riot,

demanding bread. In the countryside, peasants began to attack houses of the nobles.

As everything worsened, the wealthy people demanded that the king would summon the

Estates General. The Estates General was the first meeting since 1614 where the clergy, nobles,

and commoners would come together to solve the government’s financial problems. They met

for weeks trying to solve the financial issues but were unsuccessful. This led to the Third Estate

forming The National Assembly. The National Assembly was made up of delegates from the
Third Estate who owned property and were elected to represent during a meeting in Versailles.

The National Assembly soon found its meeting hall locked and guarded leading them to move

to a tennis court. What took place is called the Tennis Court Oath. This is where everyone

present would agree to never separate and to meet whatever circumstances might require until

they have a solid constitution. This assembly was accepted by many clergy, nobles, and even

the King. After all of this conflict, a group of revolutionaries from the Third Estate decided to

storm the Bastille. More than 800 men assembled outside of the Bastille demanding gunpowder

and weapons. The storming of the Bastille took place on July 14, 1789 as a defiance toward

King Louis XVI. Most people mark this as the start of the French Revolution.

Although King Louis is a well-known person throughout the French Revolution,

someone else played an important role: Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was originally from

Vienna, Austria. When she was 14, she went to France to marry Louis XVI. Because she was

so used to Austria, she had trouble adjusting to her new life in France. At 19 years old, Marie

Antoinette was crowned the Queen of France after Louis XV had died. Each of their

personalities were quite different however. Marie was more outgoing and loved to party while

Louis was more laid back and shy. During the 1780s, the French government began to fall into

debt. However, Marie Antoinette continued to live her lavish lifestyle. Because of all the

cutbacks and arguments regarding their debt, Marie continuing to live her extravagant lifestyle

led to more, angry citizens. Many pamphlets began to be released accusing her of ignorance,

extravagance, and adultery. In 1785, a diamond-necklace scandal took place. A thief posing as

Marie stole a 647-diamond necklace and took it to London and sold it in pieces. For some

reason, Marie Antoinette was found guilty by the people, even though she had nothing to do

with this.
 The king and queen lived in a palace called the Palace of Versailles. Their palace was

located about ten miles outside of Paris. In the October after the storming of the Bastille, a

crowd gathered outside of the Palace of Versailles. The people gathered outside of the Palace

were demanding that the king and queen would be brought to England. This was later titled the

Women’s March or the October March. Much of the crowd’s anger was directed at Marie

Antoinette for being too extravagant in the troubling times. In some sense, the women felt

successful as they met with the King who agreed to give them food. It was rumored that Marie

answered the people’s cry for food with, “Let them eat cake!” The women refused to leave

Versailles until the king and queen left with them.

While in Tuileries Palace, where they were being held, Marie continually tried to

convince Louis to escape. He eventually gave in to her in June of 1791 but their escape failed.

In September 1792, the National Convention abolished the monarchy, declared the establish of

a French Republic, and arrested the king and queen. By October 1783, Marie Antoinette was put

on trial for treason, theft, and a false and disturbing charge of sexual abuse against her own son.

After her two-day trial, Marie Antoinette was found guilty on all charges. The night before her

execution, she wrote a letter to her sister in law. She was then taken to the guillotine, where her

husband had been killed months before.

Marie Antoinette was the last queen of France. She is known as representation of beauty

and fashion as well as the evils of monarchy. As the villain, she was best captured through her

saying of “Let them eat cake!” As the beauty and fashion guru, she was revered. Both of these

views of her are good representations of the downfalls of the European monarchies over the

years. However, Thomas Jefferson has voiced his opinion on this matter by saying, “I have ever

believed that if there had been no Queen, there would have been no revolution.”
Lizzy Goetz

Works Cited

Biography.com Editors. “Marie Antoinette.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 28

Apr. 2017, www.biography.com/people/marie-antoinette-9398996.

“French Revolution.” Ducksters Educational Site, 2017,

www.ducksters.com/history/french_revolution/storming_of_the_bastille.php.

History notes from Mrs. Makar’s class

History.com Staff. “French Revolution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009,

www.history.com/topics/french-revolution.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “National Assembly.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 6 July 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/National-

Assembly-historical-French-parliament.

The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Palace of Versailles.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 Nov. 2016, www.britannica.com/topic/Palace-of-

Versailles.