Short Biography of Queen Marie Antoinette of France

Marie Antoinette was born Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna on November 2, 1755. Her parents were Francis and Maria Theresa, Emperor and Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. Marie Antoinette was born an archduchess of Austria and remained so until 1770, when she was married to Louis Auguste, the daupin of France, and Marie Antoinette became the dauphine. Four years later in 1774, King Louis XV died of smallpox and so Louis Auguste became Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette became queen. The most important duty of a queen was to produce an heir to the crown, and that didn't happen until 1777 when Marie Antoinette gave birth to a daughter named Marie Therese. In 1781 Marie Antoinette gave birth to a dauphin, Louis Joseph. Two more children were to follow, Louis Charles and Sophie. Out of all four children, only one would survive the Revolution, Louis Joseph died in 1789 due to sickness, Sophie only lived 11 months, Louis Charles died during the Revolution and though the cause cannot be pinpointed, it is most likely because of the abuse he suffered by his jailers. Marie Therese outlived all of her close family and lived to be 72. In 1789, France's royal family were shook to the core as a mob attacked Versailles, the palace in which they lived, and forced them to Paris. It was a corrupt government that had been in place long before Marie Antoinette was born, an extreme shortage of food and rising food prices that caused this mob. The royal family were then jailed in Paris. One escape attempt was made but failed. in 1793 Louis XVI was executed by guillotine and Marie Antoinette followed a few months later. It is said that Marie Antoinette was a cruel queen who indulged in life and rubbed it in the poor's faces, that she was opulent and idiotic, and that when told about the famine in France, her response was "let them eat cake". Marie Antoinette's character has been twisted over the hundreds of years since her death, and the exact opposite can be said about her. Marie Antoinette is...