READING BLOG-11/19/08

Recently I read an article called "The revolutionary women: Marie Antoinette" by Sofie Aburgene. In this article it talks about Marie's life starting from before she was sent to France to mary Louis XVI to her death at the Guilleton. As a young girl, she grew up in Austria among her many brothers and sisters. At the age of 10, Prussia had become a threatening power to Austria. At 14, Prussia had joined forces with Russia and had taken over the Austrian possession of Silesia. Austria had felt threatened that Prussia might try to take over more of their possessions so they joined forces with France. This was a big deal because they were both originally enemies. For this, Austria sent Marie to be wed to Louis XVI as compensation. Marie felt like an alien at Versailles. Her position was vulnerable until she had made an heir to the throne. She did not do this for 7 years, but she did have a girl in 4 years, but the daughter did not count. Marie had another boy 2 years after the 7 years but he died at the age of 2. Also, Marie's mom died between the death of her son and the birth of her daughter. She became a court favorite by indulging in much jewlery, clothing, shoes, dogs, food, and much more. Also, Marie was a fan of Opera's and had a talent for singing. Unfortunately, her husband was very indecisive about things so he agreed to send aid to the American's in the American Revolution. This put a huge strain on government resources and caused the well being of France's peoples to go down. In turn, all prices of grains went up which to the Middle and lower classes was outrageous. People started to blame Marie as the Queen of debt and that she put them in this trouble. In her later years, things did not get better, and when the French Revolution started, Marie and Louis XVI were killed by the Guilleton.