The incredible Habsburg empress you’ve never heard of: who was Maria Theresa?

When did Maria Theresa come to power?

Ascending the Habsburg throne in 1740, at 23 years old, Maria Theresa assumed rule at a perilous moment for her empire.

The state’s coffers were empty and its vast population – which encompassed Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma – was growing increasingly restive.

Perhaps most dangerously of all, the empire’s enemies – Prussia and France chief among them – were circling. And upon her elevation to the throne following the death of her father Emperor Charles VI, these enemies went in for the kill, sparking a conflict now known as the War of the Austrian Succession.

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It was Maria Theresa’s ability to marshal an effective diplomatic and military response to their aggression – coupled with the wide-ranging social, economic, and cultural reforms she implemented during her 40-year reign – that has earned her a reputation as one of the Habsburg empire’s most effective leaders.

That she was able to achieve this as a woman in an utterly male-dominated world – raising numerous children, among them Marie Antoinette – is even more remarkable.

Maria Theresa’s early life among the Habsburgs

Maria Theresa was born in 1717, the eldest daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and Elizabeth of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. An older brother had died in infancy, so, it became apparent from birth that, when her father died, Maria Theresa would assume the Habsburg throne.

In the intensely patriarchal world of the early 18th century, this was an unusual (and, to many contemporaries, highly unsatisfactory) state of affairs. It was so unusual, in fact, that – according to Pieter Judson, former Chair in 19th and 20th Century History at the European University Institute – Charles directed an enormous amount of energy to ensuring that his vast empire wouldn’t collapse after his death. “He spent a lot of time negotiating with other European great powers that they would accept Maria coming to the throne as a woman,” he told us on an episode of the HistoryExtra podcast.

On the other hand, Charles offered his daughter very little training in the art of being a ruler – her upbringing was typical for an aristocratic woman of the 18th century. And so, when Charles died, the 23-year-old Maria Theresa was very much stepping into the unknown.

What happened when Maria Theresa came to power?

Maria Theresa’s reign began turbulently.

“There was enormous scepticism at every level of society,” says Judson. “When her father died, there were riots in Vienna because of the fear of what would happen if a woman came to the throne.”

The outlook was no better on the international stage. No sooner had Maria Theresa assumed the throne than Frederick the Great, the muscular leader of Prussia, had invaded Austria's most profitable province, Silesia, launching the War of the Austrian Succession.

It was Maria Theresa’s ability to marshal an effective diplomatic and military response... that has earned her a reputation as one of the Habsburg empire’s most effective leaders

So, all of Europe turned their gaze on the Habsburgs’ new female ruler. Would she crumble in the face of Frederick’s aggression and cede more of her empire to her enemies?

The answer was a definitive no.

Maria refused to negotiate with Frederick and, in one of the most celebrated incidents from her reign, she headed to Pressburg (now Bratislava) to persuade the Hungarian parliament to grant her the funds and troops she needed to prosecute the war. She won over her audience and, buoyed by their support, her armies went on to score a number of significant victories, including recovering Bohemia and occupying the Bavarian capital of Munich.

To her great chagrin, Maria Theresa never regained Silesia from Frederick the Great. But her enemies would never treat her lightly again.

Was Maria Theresa an ‘enlightened despot?’

Maria Theresa’s reforming instincts were evident in her efforts to force much of her nobility to pay taxes – a move that doubled the amount of money pouring into the state coffers during a ten-year period from 1760–70, and went some way to reducing the yawning gap between the richest and poorest in society.

But how far did these enlightened, reforming instincts really extend? “Maria Theresa was a reforming monarch. However, we have to remember that she was a product of an earlier age, the Baroque period,” says Judson. “She relied greatly on Enlightenment thinkers but she herself was rather conservative and old-fashioned.”

Yet there’s one arena in which Maria Theresa could not be said to be wholly enlightened, and that was religion. “She was a serious anti-Semite, even by the standards of the 18th century,” says Judson.

“She was very concerned about the presence of Jews in Vienna, and attempted to expel them completely from Prague. She also believed that Protestants could be converted back to Catholicism, and, when they refused, had them moved – in one instance, from Upper Austria to Transylvania.”

Maria Theresa’s accomplishments

Reversing her armies’ fortunes on the battlefield and ameliorating the empire’s ailing finances were both notable achievements. But Maria Theresa’s greatest accomplishment may have been rolling out a programme of social reform that, in the words of Judson, “changed the way people lived”.

She overhauled the empire’s education system, ensuring that most children, both boys and girls, were taught for six years; she embarked upon a programme of centralisation to ensure consistency across the empire’s legal institutions; and she attempted to liberate serfs so that they could be more productive, and therefore pay more taxes.

Maria Theresa’s greatest accomplishment may have been rolling out a programme of social reform that, in the words of Judson, 'changed the way people lived'

Such policies undoubtedly enhanced her standing in the eyes of the wider population. “There's a great moment in 1770 when Maria Theresa orders a state census,” explains Judson.

“Traditionally, whenever the army went out into villages and towns to count the population, people ran away and hid in the forest because they didn’t want to be conscripted. By 1770, however, they saw the army as being her representatives and so used this opportunity to complain and to tell her what's wrong in their localities.”

Maria Theresa’s children

Maria Theresa was forced to balance the demands of running one of the world’s great empires with being a mother, and ensuring the survival of the Habsburg dynasty. She married her husband, Francis, in 1736 and would give birth to 16 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.

Maria Theresa is famous for taking a keen, and arguably overbearing, interest in her children’s lives, writing to them each week to impart plenty of advice. “She kept a catalogue of each of their shortcomings and what they should do to fix them,” says Judson.

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Her eldest son would eventually succeed her as Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, yet he is far from the most famous of Maria Theresa’s offspring. That honour goes to Marie Antoinette, who married Louis, the future king of France, in 1770, and famously lost her head to the guillotine following the French Revolution.

“Maria Antonia left Austria for France at a very young age, and Maria Theresa was very worried about her and how she would behave – and wrote to her constantly criticising,” says Judson. “The mother tried very much to control the daughter from afar, but I’m not sure that makes her any different from most aristocratic mothers of that age.”

How did Maria Theresa die?

Maria Theresa died of pneumonia in 1780, at the age of 63, ending her four decade reign. She was buried in the crypt of the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Her death followed a bout of smallpox in 1767, from which (it’s been argued) she may have never fully recovered.

Maria Theresa’s later years had been plagued by encroaching ill health, not helped by deteriorating relations with her eldest son, Joseph – whose enthusiastic embrace of Enlightenment values and admiration for Frederick the Great appalled her.

Maria Theresa’s legacy and lasting reputation?

“Maria Theresa is one of those historical figures that everyone wants to claim,” says Judson. That is largely because of the advances that were achieved in health, medicine and education across the empire during her reign – as well as her refusal to back down before her enemies on the battlefield.

Yet, according to Judson, there’s another factor driving the empress’s enduring reputation – and that’s that she was living, breathing proof that a woman could fulfil the awesome task of running the Habsburg empire every bit as well as a man.

“She's a popular figure across central and eastern Europe today. You see her picture constantly. There are statues all over the place. In part this is because of her ability to negotiate being a woman, a mother, a wife and an effective ruler. So, now, whatever position people take in politics or historical memory, the chances are they’ll want to put Maria Theresa on a pedestal.”

Pieter Judson was speaking to Spencer Mizen in this episode of our Life of the Week podcast series