Marie Antoinette Research Paper

When people think of The French Revolution, they think of the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. The blame for The French Revolution was put mostly on her. Marie Antoinette is a misunderstood historical figure who does not deserve the bad name she has been given. She was the first victim of bad publicity, for example, the infamous saying “Let them eat cake”. Marie Antoinette did contribute to the debt the French state was in, but only slightly. Her husband, Louis XVI’s, grandfather contributed to the debt much more than her or Louis XVI did. She did not do enough damage to be blamed entirely for the debt and revolution. Marie Antoinette was born in Vienna, Austria as an Archduchess. Marie was the fifteenth child of the Empress Maria Theresa
Her husband’s grandfather, Louis XV should take more of the blame. During Louis XV’s reign (which was from 1715-1774) he spent extreme amounts of money on warfare and adding to the Palace of Versailles. During his time as King, France went through three wars, the first one beginning in 1733 and the last ending in 1763. In the last of these wars, The Seven Years War, France lost their territories in Canada, Louisiana, and parts of the Caribbean (“Louis XV (1710-1774).” ). Louis XV also put many add-on’s to Versailles. He added things such as apartments and improved the garden, and some of these things were not finished until the 1990’s. It is no wonder that Louis XVI and Marie were not great rulers when they had to follow Louis XV. As uneducated as Marie was, she did not fully understand the economic problems France was in (“Marie Antoinette.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 6th Edition). Supposedly, when Marie was told that the people had no bread, she said “Let the eat cake!” (“Marie-Antoinette.” Britannica Biographies). Marie never actually utter those words. Another princess named Maria Theresa, was probably the one who said it, a century before Marie was ever queen (Covington, Richard. “Marie Antoinette.”). This statement ruined Marie