House of Habsburg

The Habsburg Family Andrew Overton The Hapsburg Family was one of the most powerful families in the world, who dominated the political landscape across Europe for much of the Medieval ages and throughout the Renaissance. The Hapsburg family ruled a large variety of different nations throughout its reign, including the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sicily, Hungary-Croatia, colonial possessions in the New World, and other nations. The Hapsburgs were an incredibly powerful royal house throughout the ages that would forever shape the world and European continent with their rulers, fights, colonies, influence, and history. The Hapsburgs got the name ‘Hapsburg’ from a fortress built in the 1020’s, in Switzerland by Count Radbot of Klettgau.…

The Thirty Years War which lasted from 1618 until 1648 and engulfed the entire continent of Europe in a state of war. The Thirty Years War was caused by religious divisions among the protestants and the Roman Catholics in a struggle for the balance of power. The Thirty Years War had many consequences and benefits for different countries, but undoubtedly changed Europe in religious, social, and political ways. In the war between the Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church, the Protestants…

ultimately) global mastery could begin. Thus, this was the fundamental basis for both the Bourbon Monarchy (France) and the Habsburg Empire (Austria) in The War of Spanish Succession. Moreover, the desire to attain Spain would lead to an global war, where a myriad of nations each beholding their own motives, endeavored to either restore the quasi-peace that Europe had possessed, or plummet into another…

In October of 1740, Charles VI died. It was time for Maria Theresa, then 23 years old, to succeed to the Habsburg throne. Subjects of her crown lands—the Austrian duchies and Netherlands, and Bohemia and Hungary—were quick to accept Maria Theresa as their empress. But Maria Theresa immediately faced resistance to her succession from European powers who had previously agreed to her father’s Pragmatic Sanction. Under the leadership of Frederick II, King of Prussia, those powers formed a coalition…

Volkheimer. Meanwhile, Marie Laure and her father live in Paris, France. She has rapidly deteriorating eyesight and soon loses her ability to see. Her father tries to make her life easier by making a scale model of the city in which they live and by buying her books in braille. When France is bombed, Marie Lare and her father, who is entrusted with a sacred diamond called the Sea of Flames, escape to her Great Uncle, Etienne 's, house Saint Malo. Her father is arrested under suspicion and…

Marie-Joseph Angélique was a slave in the 1700s in the settlement of Montréal in New France. She was born in Madeira, Portugal and sold to work as a slave in New France at age 20. At age 29, in 1734 she was accused of starting a fire that burned down a hospital and 45 houses in Montréal. The question is, was Angélique really guilty of starting the fire, or was she innocent? When the information available is weighed, Angélique was innocent in the standards of today’s justice, since her…

The most important war of the 17th Century would take place in Germany. The Thirty Years War began as a result of the failure of the Peace of Augsburg. This was due mostly to the foundation of new sects of Protestantism including Calvinism. Since these religions were not recognized, they were not allowed to be practiced. This takes us into the first phase of the Thirty Years war which has become known as the Bohemian phase. The Bohemian Phase began when a Calvinist noble threw two Holy Roman…

The dual monarchy system was established by the Ausgleich in 1867. It is important because it helped sustain the Austrian empire. There were two interests at play here: Austria and Hungary. Austria has suffered a huge blow to its empire in 1866 and was on the verge of collapse. To avoid this, Austria were forced to reconcile with Hungary, which at the time was under their rule. However, Hungary was filled of resentment towards Austria and its Germans especially in 1848. Practically, every aspect…

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…

Inbreeding: It is something that we feel, as a society, we have moved entirely away from, and yet it still haunts and evokes a deep fear within us that something so sinister could have happened among us. Edgar Allen Poe, in his work the Fall of the House of Usher, brings the sinister consequences of inbreeding front and center, yet he still manages to do it quite subtly. One of many themes, inbreeding is key to fully understanding the plot and the deeper messages of the Fall of the House of…