Maria Theresa As An Enlightened Absolutist

In the 18th century, Maria Theresa, the young daughter of Holy Roman Emperor and Habsburg Emperor, Charles VI, inherited the Austrian, Bohemian, and Hungarian thrones, despite being a woman. Maria Theresa was the wife of Francis I, and the mother of 16 children, most notably, Joseph II, and Marie Antoinette, who both grew up to become major rulers. The archduchess of Austria came across many hardships and events that would slow down her reforms, but her power did not crumble. Whether it might be denying the ancient Salic Law, constant rivalry with Frederick the Great, or fighting for the land of Silesia, Maria Theresa proved to be a faithful ruler for her people, with some signs of early nationalistic views. She also ruled her nations to the …show more content…
Citizens view their leader based off of their ideologies, and how they deal with different events. This was the case with Maria Theresa. She possessed liberal ideologies, and many of her social reforms were based off of these ideologies. She liked to think of herself as an absolute ruler, but a different take on it- an enlightened absolutist. An enlightened absolutist is an absolute ruler, who follows different ideologies and reforms, based off of enlightenment ideas. Maria was not tolerant towards religion, which is what fueled her need to kick the church out of head of state. Maria’s reform considerations were fiscal and practical, but benefitted the entire nation. She was seen as courageous and resilient for the failed securing of Austria’s reacquisition of Silesia (Keithly, “Maria Theresa”). In fact, her entire rivalry with Prussia and Frederick the Great demonstrated a great sense of pride for her country. She was persistent to have the best for her country, even if that meant having full-scale wars against Prussia to obtain Silesia. Although, Maria did not just share her ideologies and intelligence with the Habsburg lands, she passed them on to her children. She was “as stern with her children, as she was with her nation” (Pederson, “The Iron Fist: Maria Theresa”). Even if she arranged the marriage of her 14 year old Maria Antonia, to 15 year old French, Louis XVI (Dunn, pg. 67-68), her children still listened to her wise lessons concerning power. She taught her children to have absolute power, except exercise it in a way that will only benefit the nation. Although this may have worked for some of her children, and not so much for others, it is still proven that Maria was as successful in her parenting as in her