Marie Antoinette Beheaded

In 1789, the French Revolution was beginning to emerge as the state went bankrupt. In October, Antoinette and the rest of the royal family were moved from Versailles to Paris where they were kept under guard like prisoners.

On June 20, 1791, they tried to escape with the help of Axel Fersen who was driving the coach. They were outside the city limit but was arrested at Varennes. About a year after, on August 10, 1792, Antoinette and her husband were taken from their home and arrested for treason, as the mob stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

A month later France was declared a republic. In December 1792, Louis XVI was summoned before the National Convention and tried for treason against the French people. He was convicted and on a close vote sentenced to death. On January 21, 1793, Louis XVI was publicly beheaded under the guillotine. In the two years that followed thousands more were tried before revolutionary tribunals and similarly executed on the guillotine.

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