13 Nov Marie Antoinette : An Arrogant Queen of 18th century in France (GS Paper I : World History) (Source Indian Express )
Context : In an auction house of Geneva (Switzerland ), the Jewelries of Marie Antoinette are still available there for public sale. One of the biggest auction houses, Christie’s, provided this information. This auction house was founded in 1766 by James Christie.
Who was Marie Antoinette
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She was an ill-fated queen of France during the 18th century which was responsible for the French Revolution . She was killed during this bloodshed French Revolution of 1789
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She was the princess of Austria and was born on 2 November 1755 in Vienna (Austria). She was married to Louis 16th of France at the age of 15 years .
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She has been the most iconic character in the history of France .
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She was the most talented queen so she interfered in the administration of France and played an important role in administrative and financial reforms of France but she could not bring the financial reform to satisfy the public of France . She could not uplift the status of common people
How far she was responsible for the French Revolution
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In fact when Marie Antoinette became the queen of France, France was facing the problem of economic instability . From the period of Louis 14th and 15 the entire economy of France had collapsed and the level of discontent among the common people was continuously increasing , Eventhough though she tried to bring some financial reform but those were not sufficient .
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She was very fond of jewellery and luxurious lifes . Her this fondness had made them unpopular
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When France was facing a financial crisis she continued her expenses for luxurious life.
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Many scholars stated that she had sexula relationships with other persons also and many pictures and paintings were made during that time explaining her sensuality. In fact This is not the correct description about this queen , In fact , preceders of the Louis 16th were responsible for the French Revolution , this revolution was inevitable nobody could stop this revolution until or unless leaving all the royal privileges or imposing taxes on all the classes of the society without any descrimination
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During her effort to bring Financial reform she could not impose the tax over privileged class because of the technical constraint of the constitution. That was the reason the meeting of estates general was called
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In fact, Only this queen was not responsible for the french revolution alone , absolute Monarch could not be sustained in France for a long time because France was the centre of intellectual awareness also . The Social contract of Rousseau had paved the way for the French revolution already . It was her ill fate that she became the queen of France when France was facing the problem of financial crises and huge discontent among the people .
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Generally French people made her more responsible because she belonged to Austria which had been the enemy of the france and where the absolute monarch was existed.
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In this way , we can conclude that this queen was responsible for the French revolution up to a certain extent only . But Nowadays against her jewellery and other luxurious items are being popular and many people are ready to purchase her Jewellery in that auction
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