Born in 1755
as Arch-Duchess to Austria, her original name was Maria Antoinia.
She rode in the highest circles. Wolfgang Mozart even proposed
to her to be married when they were both of age. To b
ecome allies
with France (their bitter rivals) Austria offered Maria's hand
in marriage to King Louis XIV's grandson, Louis XVI. When Maria
moved to France she changed her name to Marie Antoinette to have
a French name. She married Louis XVI at age 14.
She was very unpopular, mostly because of her Austrian heritage. Another reason of her horrible popularity status was because of her outrageous spending. All she did was spend money on herself.
The royal couple definitely didn't live like one. They slept in separate beds most of the time. Louis liked Marie but Marie didn't care for him. It is said that Marie set Louis's clock ahead so that he left earlier. Louis was urged to have a son to be the heir of the throne. He couldn't make a child so he had an operation done. After 8 yrs. of marriage, on December 18, 1778 they had a girl. Finally on October of 1771, they had a son.
France's fiances dropped dramatically because of the American Revolution making the Queen even more unpopular because of her spending. Joseph II of Austria told her "Things can not go on like this forever. The revolution, if it happens, will be a cruel one. And you may very well be the cause of it." She had passed the line with the public so far that every problem she was blamed with. She was even nicknamed "Madame Deficit". Events took off from there. There was the French Revolution and that ended up with Marie's head cut off. She would have been a good aristocrat but was definitely "The Tragic Queen."
Jean Sylvain Bailly was born in Paris in 1763. Bailly was an excellent astronomer. He studied Jupiter and later wrote the great book History of Astronomy. Bailly was the first President of the National Assembly. He is most famous for the Tennis Court Oath. He was the person who voiced the terms of the oath that said the Third Estate was not to leave Versailles until there was a constitution. Later in his life he became the mayor of Paris. While mayor, he created the French National Guard. He later retired in 1791 and moved to the countryside. Some of his political enemies became superior. They arrested him in July of 1793 for political crimes and executed by means of the guillotine.
Geoges Danton was born on the 28th of October, in the year 1759 in Arcis-Sur-Aube, France. In 1780 Danton went to study law in Paris. By 1789 he was already very popular among the citizens. He was one of the influential men to place ideas in people's heads to revolt against the King. Danton was one of the main men to lead the storming of Tuileries Palace on the 10th of August, in the year 1792. He later became the Minister of Justice of France. In his lifetime, he grew to be very popular among the people.
However, later in his life, his popularity dropped. Rumors were spreading, saying that he accepted bribes from both sides in the revolution, including King Louis himself. On the 5th of April, in the year 1794, Danton was sentenced to the guillotine on charges on treason.
Louis XVI was born in 1754 at the palaces
of Versailles. He was the son of King Louis XV. Young Louis didn't
know it then but he would have quite the life ahead of him.
Louis became King Louis XVI when his father died, on May 10, 1775. The new King meant well but didn't do well. His actions spoke much louder than his words, promises to the people. He got himself in so many wars, including one that wasn't even his, the American Revolutionary War. He dug deeper and deeper into the county's money pile until he reached in and discovered that there wasn't anything left. He probably wondered how his stash disappeared. He probably then remembered that he let his wife, Marie Antoinette, do most of the reaching. He fired advisor after advisor, looking for some way to dig the country out of debt. Louis found the perfect answer: tax the Third Estate. That is how the oppression began.
His new finance minister, Charles-Alexandre de Calonne, was appointed on November 2, 1783. Calonne proposed to the King that he impose a tax reform (the First and Second Estate would pay equal taxes as the Third Estate, therefore allowing the Third Estate not to pay as many taxes). The King refused.
Soon to come was the French Revolution. King Louis and Marie Antoinette tried to escape from the rebels but he and his wife were caught and put in jail. Louis and Marie were put on trial for treason and later executed as the most famous victims of the guillotine.
Born in 1758, Maximilien Robespierre was a man of law. He studied in the town he was born in, Arras from 1781-1789. His law practice was for poor men who couldn't afford a regular lawyer. He was elected the the Estates-General in 1789 and represented Arras. He gave many speeches in the National Assembly. On June 21, 1792 he demanded that King Louis be removed from his position as King. Robespierre wanted to create a republic run by the public, not a King. On July 27, 1794 he was punished by the guillotine for refusing to go to court and be tried.
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyes was born in 1758. Sieyes was a radical thinker in terms of government. He wrote the famous pamphlet "Qu'est-ce le Tiers-Etat?" ("What is the Third Estate?") in 1789. It arose many thoughts about oppression and the Third Estate. He was also partially responsible for the creation of the National Assembly. Comte de Mirabeau was a main supporter of Sieyes' ideas. In the debate of June 15-16 in the National Assembly, Mirabeau used Sieye's ideas from What is the Third Estate? . Sieyes died in 1836.