Marie Antoinette was born on 2 November 1755 in Hofburg Palace. The last queen of France before the Revolution, Marie Antoinette was an Austrian archduchess who married the future Louis XVI in 1770 as part of an alliance between the Habsburgs and the Bourbons. Her extravagance, her foreign origin and rumors of intrigue made her unpopular, and she became a target of pamphlets, including the false story that she had said, let them eat cake. After the royal family's failed flight to Varennes in 1791 and the fall of the monarchy, she was imprisoned, tried for treason by the Revolutionary Tribunal and guillotined.
Before and after
- 20 September 1754Birth of Paul I of Russia
- 1755Discovery of magnesium
- 12 January 1755Founding of Lomonosov Moscow State University
- 1 November 17551755 Lisbon earthquake
- 2 November 1755Birth of Marie Antoinette
- 17 November 1755Birth of Louis XVIII of France
- 27 January 1756Birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- from 17 May 1756 to 15 February 1763Seven Years' War
- 30 July 1756Construction of Catherine Palace
More in Wars, politics & history
- 1534Henry VIII becomes head of the Church of England
- from 17 January 1558 to 26 May 1583Livonian War
- from 25 April 1588 to 1 August 1588Spanish Armada
- from 28 December 1688 to 1 January 1689Glorious Revolution
- 1713Peace of Utrecht
- from 16 December 1740 to 18 October 1748War of the Austrian Succession
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.