Categotry Archives: Queen Maria
Ah Maria, “But That All Lay in the Future.”
It has been said that the War of the Austrian Succession was, in fact, the first world war. By the time it ended with the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in October of 1748, not only had all of Europe been pulled into it to one extent or another, but fighting had taken place all over the globe. Because of Spanish involvement there was fighting in South America. Fighting between France and England in North America and Asia. Most of this fighting […]
Ah Maria, Hungarians and the Underdog
Queen Maria Theresa of Austria faced her first year as queen with an invasion. Sweet young thing as she was, everyone assumed she would roll over and hand her kingdom off. Silly men should have known better. Maria, in the face of the intense opposition of nearly all her advisors, traveled to Pressburg, the then capital of Hungary. The Hungarians were, to put it mildly, an unruly lot. Their leaders were fervently nationalistic, fond of fighting among themselves and your […]
Ah Maria, the Whole World is Against Her!
Queen Maria Theressa of Austria took over an empire already teetering on the brink of ruin. Her crown had hardly warmed to her head before Frederick of Spain decided to take a chomp out of her kingdom. This sweet young girl with no formal training had to face a bevy of enemies, including the ambassador from England. One remarkable fact began to impress it itself on everyone at the time of Sir Thomas Robinson’s meeting with Her Majesty; they weren’t […]
Ah Maria, It’s War!
Queen Maria Theresa began her rule with giants breathing down her neck, all quite interested in her loss of Silesia to Frederick. . Frederick’s invasion of Silesia, the opening move in what became known as the War of the Austrian Succession, was rather modest as eighteenth century European battles went. Considering that it would become a war that would end up involving England, Russia, Spain, France, Sweden, Bavaria, The Dutch Republic, the kingdoms of Sardinia, Naples and Sicily, Saxony and […]
Ah Maria, A Girl Takes The Throne
The struggles of Marie Antoinette’s mother, Queen Maria Theresa, included a shaky start. “I do not think anyone would deny that history hardly knows of a crowned head who started his rule under circumstances more grievous than those that attended my accession.” Maria Theresa wrote this many years after the fact, but she was hardly exaggerating. The ministers surrounding her were the men who served her father and even her grandfather. They were old, old men who had grown adept […]
Ah Maria, What Did Daddy Do?
The story of Marie Antoinette’s mother: If Maria Theresa was unschooled in the finer points of empire management she was not unprepared. Although her father, Charles VI, had excluded her from public affairs he could not prevent her from observing them. She was also very conscious of something her father chose to willfully and unrealistically ignore for years; the fact that mom would never bear a male child. Maria Theresa knew she would one day be queen. If not as […]
Ah Maria: Where to Begin
We begin a whole new series of history posts by Mr. Al today. For those who don’t know yet, Mr Al is my husband. I talked him into doing a series about the wives of Henry VIII, and then about the life of George IV. Somewhere along the way he became interested in the mother of Marie Antoinette, Maria Theresa. Welcome, Mr. Al, and thank you for letting me twist your arm yet again. In the autumn of the year […]
