Who was the person responsible for the Reign of Terror?

Answer 1

The revolution was started a long time before Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were even born.

It all started with Louis XIV, the great grandfather of Louis XVI. He had built Versailles and spent millions on staff, causing a gigantic debt in the treasury. When his successor Louis XV became King (he was then 5!), he didn't know how to solve all the debt, so he started raising taxes. Conveniently enough, the clergy and nobility were cleared from taxes, although they were the richest people. To make matters worse, Louis XV declared war to several countries, while there was absolutely no money to pay for it. By the time Louis XVI succeeded him, France was bankrupt and was actually declared so in 1789. Louis XVI had desperately tried to clear the debt, but did not see any other solution to do so then to raise taxes, even though the French bourgeoisie was starving. He tried to make the nobility and clergy also pay taxes, but they became furious at him when they heard of his plans and prohibited him the execution of these plans. So, this King who so desperately wanted to solve the financial mess the country was in, found himself with his back against the wall and did not know what to do. Everybody wanted it to be solved, but nobody (of the nobility and clergy) were willing to give up some of their priviliges to do so. Instead, they blamed everything on Louis XVI and especially his wife Marie Antoinette. Marie Antoinette was the ultimate scapegoat. She was a foreigner, and just any kind of foreigner, but an Austrian one. Austria had been the country that France had been in and out of war with for years and years. The Empress Maria Theresia (mother of Marie Antoinette) thought it was a good idea to marry off her youngest daughter to the future king of France (Louis XVI) to secure the new found peace between France and Austria, and so it happened. The French did not want an Austrian woman on the throne, and never trusted or liked her from the moment she set foot on French soil. They had always thought her to be a spy who transferred French money from the treasury to Austria (which was a ridiculous rumor).

She could do no good at all, every move she made was criticized For example: The French condemned her for wearing expensive silk dresses, so she decided to wear cheaper ones (gaulles), but then the French condemned her for looking like a peasant and sabotage the French silk industry because the people working in it lost their jobs now she had laid off the silk. The French said she was spendthrift, but the truth is she did not even receive half the amount of money normally given to French queens because the economy was bad.

Answer 2

the biggest part is for jacobinian for me ;-) there are many view points , of course :)

Answer 3

It was Maximilien Robespierre.