The Empress Maria Theresia is one of those charismatic figures in history, pushed through circumstances onto the world's stage. She had a happy childhood but it was not expected that she would succeed to the throne. However, when after several years no male heir was born, her father, Emperor Karl VI, drew up an agreement, the Pragmatic Sanction, which was to ensure the succession for Maria Theresia and her husband. Her father had lost Naples, Sicily, Serbia and Wallachia and, to gain signatures to this Pragmatic Sanction, he bartered away further territories and rights but it was all in vain.

Not educated in statecraft, and married to a weak but much beloved husband, Franz Stephan of Lorraine, she succeeded her father in 1740 and became Queen of Hungary and Bohemia as well as Archduchess of Austria. Her advisors were old, prejudiced and entrenched in their jealously guarded positions. The treasury was bankrupt, the army ill-equipped; while France, Spain, Bavaria and Saxony were simply waiting to see who would attack her first.

Eight weeks after her succession she was attacked by Prussia's Frederick II who coveted Silesia. Frederick II had asked her to give Silesia to him but Maria Theresia refused and found herself an army, but this was decisively defeated by the Prussians. A month later France, Spain, Bavaria and Saxony agreed to the partition of the Habsburg territories.

A French army then came to assist the Elector of Bavaria, who was on his way to seize Vienna. While the Saxons wanted Moravia, Spain assembled an army in Italy. Without an army to resist, Maria Theresia followed her government to Hungary where she passionately pleaded with the Hungarian nobility. Her youth, beauty and distress so moved the Magyars they pledged their aid.

Vienna was saved through the indecision of the Bavarians and instead, together with the French, they captured Prague. However, Frederick II of Prussia then moved into Moravia and Austria seemed doomed. Then Maria Theresia showed her courage, and from Italy came her last troops. Soon the Franco-Bavarian army was forced to retreat and after a victory at Chotusitz, Frederick II made peace and soon what had been lost to Saxony was retrieved.

While going through these upheavals, between 1737 and 1756 she gave birth to sixteen children. She was healthy and strong and would appear at the opera a few hours before the birth of a child, then be driving through the streets a few hours afterwards. She loved dancing, skating and horseriding, supervised the education of her children and planned internal reforms for her countries.

In 1744 Frederick II again attacked and was victorious; it was this victory which brought her allies, the Russians and the Saxons. In September 1745 in Franfurt her husband was crowned Emperor, to be followed, in December 1745, by the Treaty of Dresden which restored peace with the hated Prussians. However, for the following three years Austria was at war with Spain in Italy and with France in The Austrian Netherlands.

After 1748 Maria Theresia was given time to implement internal reforms. Justice and taxation were centralized, nobles' privileges abolished and indirect taxation introduced. The reorganized army would later enable Austria to survive the Seven Years' War.

Her new foreign minister, von Kaunitz, urged her to overhaul the age-old policy of hostility towards France and she sent him to Paris.In the long run, this resulted in the marriage of her daughter, Marie Antoinette, to marry the French crown prince. For a while he was ineffectual until, in 1756, Frederick II for a third time deserted the French. This enabled him to sign a 'defensive' treaty between France and Austria, and soon they were joined by Russia as an enemy of Prussia. Maria Theresia, still wanting to regain Silesia, prepared for a war, which would become the Seven Years' War.

At home her son and heir, Joseph, was a problem for her as he was impatient, a free-thinker, sincere, but lacking in knowledge of human nature. They worked together, devoted yet always at odds with each other. In 1765 she lost her husband which left her heartbroken. At this time, Catherine the Great of Russia first made Poland virtually a Russian province, defeated the Turks and made claims on the Balkans. Frederick II of Prussia and Maria Theresia felt threatened at this and it was her son, Joseph, who turned the tide by sending Austrian troops to occupy a small area of Poland which had formerly been German.

Catherine the Great then changed her mind about the Balkans and, in 1772, Poland was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. This division removed the fear for war but Maria Theresia, who had been pushed into this by her son, never forgave herself.

In 1777 her son wanted to buy Lower Barvaria from its Elector, who was only too keen to sell it; but, as Maria Theresia expected, Frederick II of Prussia disapproved and started yet another war. For the first time in her life, Maria Theresia personally wrote to Frederick II asking for discussions. This shortened the war and, at the peace conference, Joseph was forced to let Lower Bavaria go.
She was only sixty-three when she caught a chill on a long drive in a rain-storm. She remained calm when she knew death was approaching, blessed her children and, on 29 November 1780 at nine o'clock in the evening, died.
 

Source: Leo van de Pas