[39] Frederick even offered a compromise: he would defend Maria Theresa's rights if she agreed to cede to him at least a part of Silesia.

[64], Prussia became anxious at Austrian advances on the Rhine frontier, and Frederick again invaded Bohemia, beginning a Second Silesian War; Prussian troops sacked Prague in August 1744. The Battle of Kolin that followed was a decisive victory for Austria. The reforms she made occurred in the government, law, economy, religion, military, and rural life. However, she does not have 16 children to manage and she places no importance on her physical appearance.

The French plans fell apart when Charles Albert died in January 1745. [157][k], Ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. At that time the Viennese Court was under the cultural influence of the court at Paris which was the leading European arbiter They never suspected she would take power after the death of her father. [102] After Kaunitz became the head of the new Staatsrat, he pursued a policy of "aristocratic Enlightenment" that relied on persuasion to interact with the estates, and he was also willing to retract some of Haugwitz's centralization to curry favour with them. "[138] After much contemplation, she chose not to abdicate. They exacted harsh terms: in the Treaty of Vienna (1731), Great Britain demanded that Austria abolish the Ostend Company in return for its recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction. [128], Following her fiftieth birthday in May 1767, Maria Theresa contracted smallpox from her daughter-in-law, Maria Josepha of Bavaria, the consort of Emperor Joseph II. [118] The education reform was met with hostility particularly by peasants who wanted the children to work in the fields instead. Maria Theresa thus demonstrated a keen sense of absolute monarchy. [82], Though she eventually gave up trying to convert her non-Catholic subjects to Catholicism, Maria Theresa regarded both the Jews and Protestants as dangerous to the state and actively tried to suppress them. While he did try desperately to have a son, time was against him and he passed away when Maria Theresa was just 23 without one and the power passed into her hands. Please select which sections you would like to print: Corrections? The idea that women were incapable of ruling was connected to their supposedly "inferior" intellectual and physical condition. Angela Merkel does have the image of a mother in Germany.

In October of 1740, Charles VI died.

Italian physician Maria Montessori was a pioneer of theories in early childhood education, which are still implemented in Montessori schools all over the globe. "[132], Upon his accession to the imperial throne, Joseph ruled less land than his father had in 1740, since he had given up his rights over Tuscany to Leopold, and thus he only controlled Falkenstein and Teschen. Her preference was not unlike that of women today who use their maiden names at work so as not to be reduced to the status of "Mrs" someone else. Today, women are practically forced to wear a neutral suit, as if the aim were to make their femininity invisible. She detests Your Majesty, but acknowledges your ability. While it was standard for royal families to marry off their daughters for political advantages, Theresa’s father Emperor Charles VI ignored the advice of his advisors and allowed her to marry for love. Maria Theresa and Kaunitz wished to exit the war with possession of Silesia. In return, Austria would cede several towns in the Austrian Netherlands to the son-in-law of Louis XV, Philip of Parma, who in turn would grant his Italian duchies to Maria Theresa. Additionally, Maria Theresa reorganized several government functions, combining them in a centralized General Directory. Her refusal to negotiate with Frederick II (later the Great) of Prussia, who had invaded Silesia, her most prosperous province, appalled the senescent councillors of her late father.