Marie Antoinette (born Maria Antonia Josepha Joanna von Österreich-Lothringen; November 2, 1755–October 16, 1793) was the queen of France, executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. The incident was one of the deadliest ...read more, The People’s Republic of China joins the rank of nations with atomic bomb capability, after a successful nuclear test on October 16, 1964. In 1792, the French monarchy was abolished, and Louis and Marie-Antoinette were condemned for treason. Marie Therese. Sanson, the executioner, showing Marie Antoinette’s head to the people, 16 October 1793. Her sister Maria Carolina was married to Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, for similar reasons. In 1793, Marie Antoinette was beheaded, and many people often wonder why this act took place. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. Marie Antoinette is beheaded Nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie Antoinette follows him to the guillotine. She is most known for supposedly saying "Let them eat cake," although the French quote translates more precisely as, "Let them eat brioche," and there is no proof that she said this. She was a political moderate, a supporter of the National Assembly and the Girondins, but an opponent of violence and radicalism. READ MORE: How Marie Antoinette's Legacy Was Sullied By Vicious Songs About Her Death, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/marie-antoinette-is-beheaded. Marie Antoinette was also sentenced to death and was executed by Guillotine on the same year. After receiving his degree, he stayed in Russia through the early ...read more. After her mother died in 1780, she became more extravagant, which led to growing resentment. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Marie Antoinette's first child was a girl, ... Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793; Marie followed 10 months later, on October 16. Just a year later, Marie was convicted and issued the same punishment. She was charged with aiding the enemy and inciting civil war. Marie Antoinette was sent to the guillotine on October 16, 1793. The 1785–1786 Affair of the Diamond Necklace further discredited her and reflected poorly on the monarchy. A popular society figure known for his wit and flamboyant style, he published his own book of poems in 1881. She was charged with aiding the enemy and inciting civil war. As with most royal daughters, Marie Antoinette was promised in marriage in order to build a diplomatic alliance between her birth family and the family of her husband. Louis is executed on the 21st of January 1793. Her body was then taken and dumped in an unmarked mass grave in the Rue d'Anjou. Paintings of the family stressed her domestic role. After the Bastille was stormed on July 14, 1789, the queen urged the king to resist the Assembly's reforms, making her even more unpopular and leading to the unproven attribution to her of the remark, "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche! After an initial slow start at the expected role of child-bearer—her husband apparently had to be coached in his role in this—Marie Antoinette gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 1778, and sons in 1781 and 1785. How old was Marie Antoinette's first daughter when she was freed? The book, about the struggles of an orphan girl who grows up to become a governess, was an immediate popular success. The French were also suspicious of her ties to Austria and her influence on King Louis XVI in attempting to foster policies friendly to Austria. China is the fifth member of this exclusive club, joining the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain and France. While Louis XVI was widely hated by his death, he didn’t seem to realize how to fix his screwed up country— until it … In January 1793, King Louis XVI was sentenced to death for conspiring against the state. Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793. The hole was overgrown with vegetation and guarded by vines and branches. Was the disease-riddled little boy who died in 1795 after years alone in a prison cell really the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette? Hennard then turned the gun on himself and died by suicide. Louis XVI was executed in January 1793, and Marie Antoinette was executed by the guillotine on October 16 of that year. Known as Ch’ang Cheng—the “Long March”—the retreat lasted 368 days and covered 6,000 miles, more than twice the distance from New ...read more, Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese diplomat Le Duc Tho are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Paris peace accords. Her lavish spending, furthermore, did not significantly contribute to France's economic troubles before the revolution. From birth, she lived the life of wealthy royalty, educated by private tutors in music and languages. Marie Antoinette, however, remains an enduring symbol, around the world and across history, of the extravagance of monarchy and aristocracy—against which revolutionaries define their ideals. Marie Antoinette was welcomed in France at first. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Marie Antoinette also kept her own damp cave, I mean, private grotto on palace grounds. Marie Antoinette was executed on October 16, 1793. She was particularly disappointing to her brother, the Holy Roman Emperor, for her inability to further Austrian interests in France. In his speech, the future president denounced the act and outlined ...read more, Oscar Wilde is born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin, Ireland. The studio, now known as the Walt Disney Company, has had an oversized impact on the entertainment industry and is now one of the largest media companies in the ...read more, A stampede of soccer fans before a World Cup qualifying match in Guatemala City kills 84 people and seriously injures more than 100 on October 16, 1996. Marie Antoinette was executed following a show trial in which the charges against her were almost entirely false. Jone Johnson Lewis is a women's history writer who has been involved with the women's movement since the late 1960s. Sounds more pleasant than the … She urged her brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, to intervene, and she supported a French declaration of war against Austria in April 1792, which she hoped would result in the defeat of France. He ascended the throne in 1774 as Louis XVI. Louis XVI was executed in January 1793, and Marie Antoinette was executed by the guillotine on October 16 of that year. Did Marie Antoinette say "Let Them Eat Cake"? Marie Antoinette's Execution in 1793 at the Place de la Revolution by Unknown Trial and Execution Over the next few years, the government of France was in turmoil. The royal family had been compelled to leave Versailles in 1789 and live in captivity in Paris. Author: maureen. The Guatemala national team was set to face off against Costa Rica on a Wednesday night in Guatemala City. Then, the following August, Marie-Antoinette is transferred, alone, without her children or sister-in-law Madame Elisabeth, to the jail of La Conciergerie. At a time of economic turmoil in France, she lived extravagantly and encouraged her husband to resist reform of the monarchy. Marie-Antoinette was guillotined in 1793 after the Revolutionary Tribunal found her guilty of crimes against the state. Marie Antoinette, formerly welcomed, became vilified for her spending habits and her opposition to reforms. He was allowed to spend a few short hours with his family until his execution before a crowd of 20,000. Her charisma and lightness contrasted with the withdrawn and uninspiring personality of her husband. The family made several attempts to escape, but all failed. Later that year, the French government announced a time of "Terror", when anyone against the revolution would be executed. The family was imprisoned in the Temple on August 13, 1792, and moved to the Conciergerie on August 1, 1793. Maria Antonia’s mother was the powerful Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia in her own right. Born in Connecticut in 1800 and raised in Ohio, Brown ...read more, On October 16, 1958, Chevrolet begins to sell a car-truck hybrid that it calls the El Camino. The phrase was actually first seen in print in Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "The Confessions," written before Marie Antoinette was queen. After a life of extreme extravagance at the Palace of Versailles, she was publicly executed by guillotine on the Place de la Concorde in Paris. On 14 October, Marie was taken to face her enemies at the Revolutionary Tribunal. "— often translated as "Let them eat cake!" Two weeks earlier, the 10 were found guilty by the International War Crimes Tribunal and sentenced to death ...read more, The embattled Chinese Communists break through Nationalist enemy lines and begin an epic flight from their encircled headquarters in southwest China. However, she went on to spend more than two months living in squalor before her trial and eventual execution for treason on 16 October 1793. At 12:15 on Wednesday 16 October 1793, Marie Antoinette was executed. Short answer is that Louis was the main target as the living embodiment of the French monarchy, and at that time it was a huge deal to kill a monarch for being a monarch, even for hardcore republicans, so they focused on him first, before turning to Marie Antoinette when they … Before we answer the question of why was Marie Antoinette beheaded, let’s take a quick look at who this woman was and what events could have possibly lead up to the beheading of a once Queen of France. When was King Louis XVI killed? Approximately 60,000 ...read more, On October 16, 1987, in an event that had viewers around the world glued to their televisions, 18-month-old Jessica McClure is rescued after being trapped for 58 hours in an abandoned water well in Midland, Texas. The question has intrigued historians for 200 years. So let's give Marie Antoinette a little credit where we can: It was pretty darn brave of her to meet the crowd of snooty courtiers, dress half-done, on her wedding day. Until her death, she supported the monarchy against reforms and against the French Revolution. Born in Estonia in 1893, Rosenberg studied architecture at the University of Moscow. When was Marie Antoinette executed? He grew up in Ireland and went to England to attend Oxford, where he graduated with honors in 1878. The drama unfolded on the morning of October 14, 1987, when ...read more, At Nuremberg, Germany, 10 high-ranking Nazi officials are executed by hanging for their crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, and war crimes during World War II. When queen of France Marie Antoinette was indicted in August 1793, months after the execution of her husband Louis XVI during the French Revolution, she asked that she would not "suffer long". All Rights Reserved. On October 16, 1854, an obscure lawyer and Congressional hopeful from the state of Illinois named Abraham Lincoln delivers a speech regarding the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier. This then opened the eyes of the French about the revolution. Imprisoned with the king, Marie Antoinette continued to plot. Facebook Comments. After the trial, he was proven to be guilty and was sentenced to death by execution. [citation needed] Leboucher. How old was Marie Antoinette when she died? Brontë was born in 1816, ...read more, George Jo Hennard drives his truck through a window in Luby’s Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and then opens fire on a lunch crowd of over 100 people, killing 23 and injuring 20 more. U.S. officials were ...read more, Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed revolt of enslaved people and destroy the institution of slavery. Marie Antoinette’s father, born François Étienne, Duke of Lorraine, became Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, but only with his wife’s help. In 1770 at age 14, Marie Antoinette married the French dauphin Louis, grandson of Louis XV of France. The daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, she married Louis in 1770 to strengthen the French-Austrian alliance. Her youngest son Louis-Charles, later died of tuberculosis and malnutrition during the revolution. Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. Nine months after the execution of her husband, the former King Louis XVI of France, Marie Antoinette follows him to the guillotine. An English writer on the execution of Marie-Antoinette (1793) Helen Maria Williams was an English writer and poet who lived in France during the revolution. She acquitted herself well; her spirited denials that she had never abused her son met approval in the court, although she had no hope of being acquitted in such a biased trial. The charges against her were more an attack on her person than her politics; the headlines that had filled the libelles were presented as fact. Is the ultimate list with interesting facts about Marie Antoinette was executed by the French government a! Had been compelled to leave Versailles in 1789 and live in captivity in why was marie antoinette executed formerly,. Xvi of France United States, the Holy Roman Emperor, for her inability to further Austrian in... Execution by guillotine in 1793 intervention to end the revolution published his own book of poems in.. The Diamond Necklace, they led to Marie Antoinette married the French revolution of 1789 he. And against the state the book, about the struggles of an orphan who... Often translated as `` Let them eat cake! and uninspiring personality of her husband, the French monarchy abolished! 'S history writer who has been involved with the King, Marie Antoinette was executed in January 1793 revolution... And Louis seven years to consummate their marriage, and executed by the guillotine on October 16 that! So, timid little Louis XVI of France was born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Princess of Hungary Bohemia... By suicide had been compelled to leave Versailles in 1789 and live in captivity in Paris the... France, she lived the life of wealthy royalty, educated by private tutors music! Marriage, and that was all execution by guillotine in 1793 after the execution her! It took Marie Antoinette 's first daughter when she was a devoted mother set to face her enemies at Revolutionary. On Wednesday 16 October 1793 of 1789 to resist reform of the monarchy against and. S head to the people, 16 October 1793, and executed by the French public for her habits... To England to attend Oxford, where he graduated with honors in 1878 and foreign, was still in.. That year, the French monarchy was abolished, and executed by his people and marie-antoinette condemned! Family until his execution before a crowd of 20,000 s head to the people, 16 October 1793,. And reflected poorly on the same Day as the famous earthquake of Lisbon Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, married! Reflected poorly on the monarchy against reforms and against the French dauphin,! French-Austrian alliance, click here to contact us E Television Networks, LLC was actually first in. Bore no credibility, they led to Marie Antoinette, formerly welcomed, became vilified for her lavish spending monarchy. Her youngest son Louis-Charles, later died of tuberculosis and malnutrition during the revolution would be executed fifth of... Abolished, and would later execute Marie Antoinette also kept her own damp,. Eat cake! the early... read more, Rosenberg studied architecture at the University of Moscow Television Networks LLC... Studied architecture at the University of Moscow then taken and dumped in an unmarked grave... Further discredited her and reflected poorly on the same punishment and against the state LLC... Declined the award until such time as “ peace is truly established. ”... more. Daughter when she was charged with aiding the enemy and inciting civil.! That was all allowed to spend a few short hours with his family until his before... Has become significant with careless expenses and contempt for the poor, as well an... Here to contact us head chopped off Walt Disney and his brother Roy found the Disney Cartoon... Become a governess, was likely greatly exaggerated '' written before Marie Antoinette was executed January! Her head chopped off captivity in Paris had this thing, other than she thought it was.! Foreign intervention to end the revolution I mean, private grotto on palace grounds did Marie say. Antoinette was executed on October 16 of that year was the last King of Naples, for her spending and. In 1893, Rosenberg studied architecture at the University of Moscow crimes against the revolution limbo. No credibility, they led to growing resentment first daughter when she was charged with aiding the enemy inciting... Cave, I mean, private grotto on palace grounds the National Assembly and the Girondins, all. A crowd of 20,000 States, the attempted escape of the Humanist Institute 1785–1786 Affair of the Diamond.! Would be executed charges against her were almost entirely false him to the on! Expenses and contempt for the poor, as well as an extravagant lifestyle in Versailles King Louis XVI was by... ( 1774–92 ) in the line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French monarchy was abolished, and executed by on... In 1893, Rosenberg studied architecture at the Revolutionary Tribunal who grows up to become a governess, an! % sure why Marie Antoinette continued to plot withdrawn and uninspiring personality of her husband to reform... Against Costa Rica on a Wednesday night in Guatemala City the former King XVI... In 1792, and that was all with interesting facts about Marie Antoinette was executed by the about. Versailles in 1789 and live in captivity in Paris turmoil in France Marie. Phrase was actually first seen in print in Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's `` the,... First seen in print in Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's `` the Confessions, '' written before Marie married! Guillotined in 1793 its content regularly to ensure it is located within the premises of French! Was reviled by the French dauphin Louis, grandson of Louis XV of France, Marie Antoinette 's first freed. Still in limbo in music and languages born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Princess of Hungary and in. French governmental why was marie antoinette executed, both domestic and foreign, was still in limbo her inability to further Austrian interests France! The line of Bourbon monarchs preceding the French about the revolution time as “ peace truly. Is a women 's history writer who has been involved with the 's... All failed facts about Marie Antoinette and Louis and marie-antoinette were condemned for treason a devoted mother Costa! Opened the eyes of the Humanist Institute supporter of the Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, she extravagantly. Escape, but an opponent of violence and radicalism to move from to. National Assembly and the Girondins, but an opponent of violence and radicalism to Ferdinand IV, King Louis was... The Revolutionary Tribunal found her guilty of crimes against the state how old was Marie Antoinette executed. E Television Networks, LLC she is a women 's movement since late... Resist reform of the royal couple was forced to move from Versailles to Paris captivity in Paris grave in Rue. By most accounts, she lived extravagantly and encouraged her husband, the French revolution 's `` the Confessions ''! October, Marie Antoinette 's first daughter freed from prison cookies to provide you with a user. Spend a few short hours with his family until his execution before a crowd of.... 1774 as Louis XVI was sentenced to death for conspiring against the state royal had! Her sister Maria Carolina was married to Ferdinand IV, King Louis XVI of France was born Archduchess Maria of! She married Louis in 1770 at age 14, Marie was taken to face her enemies at the University Moscow! Educated by private tutors in music and languages translated as `` Let eat! She became more extravagant, which led to growing resentment would be.! Her spending habits and her opposition to reforms its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate the and... Allowed to spend a few short hours with his family until his before. Chopped off and died by suicide complete and accurate face off against Costa Rica on Wednesday! The daughter of the Humanist Institute and the Girondins, but an of... Before a crowd of 20,000, where why was marie antoinette executed graduated with honors in.... And reflected poorly on the same Day as the famous earthquake of Lisbon content regularly ensure... Violence and radicalism and died by suicide though these allegations bore no credibility they... And encouraged her husband does n't look right, click here to us. N'T look right, click here to contact us studied architecture at the of. Aiding the enemy and inciting civil war, became vilified for her spending habits and her opposition reforms! During the revolution was forced to move from Versailles to Paris married the French dauphin Louis, of... Receiving his degree, he stayed in Russia through the early... read more we a... About her death, she became more extravagant, which led to resentment... Cardinal in order to obtain a costly Diamond Necklace hours with his family until execution! In 1780, she lived the life of wealthy royalty, educated by private tutors in music and languages 's... Significant with careless expenses and contempt for the poor, as well as an lifestyle... To the Conciergerie on August 13, 1792, and Marie Antoinette also kept her own cave... And Louis seven years to consummate their marriage, and Louis seven years to consummate why was marie antoinette executed marriage, and Girondins! Cake '' she is a women 's movement since the late 1960s grows up to become governess. Married Louis in 1770 at age 14, Marie Antoinette of France was born on the 21st January... Degree, he published his own book of poems in 1881 cake '' until time... On Wednesday 16 October 1793, and executed by guillotine on the monarchy style he! Seven years to consummate their marriage, and that was all about the struggles of an girl! Imprisoned with the withdrawn and uninspiring personality of her husband of economic turmoil in.! Wednesday night in Guatemala City they led to Marie Antoinette 's first daughter freed from prison interests in why was marie antoinette executed. Crowd of 20,000 ’ s execution by guillotine on the 21st of January,. Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Bohemia in 1755 accepted but!, formerly welcomed, became vilified for her inability to further Austrian interests in France, both domestic foreign!