Queen Maria Theresa, ruler of the Habsburg dominions
10/20/1740 AD inherited
Maria Theresa begins her 40-year reign when her father, Emperor Charles VI, dies.
The only female to hold the position, she becomes the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma.
Maria Theresa found herself in a difficult situation as her father had , left Austria in an impoverished state, bankrupted by the recent Turkish war and the War of the Polish Succession, the treasury contained only 100,000 gulden, which were claimed by his widow.
The army had also been weakened due to these wars; instead of the full number of 160,000, the army had been reduced to about 108,000, and they were scattered in small areas from the Austrian Netherlands to Transylvania, and from Silesia to Tuscany. They were also poorly trained and discipline was lacking. Later Maria Theresa even made a remark: "as for the state in which I found the army, I cannot begin to describe it."
She did not know enough about matters of state and she was unaware of the weakness of her father's ministers. She decided to rely on her father's advice to retain his counselors and to defer to her husband, whom she considered to be more experienced, on other matters. Both decisions later gave cause for regret.
Ten years later, Maria Theresa recalled in her Political Testament the circumstances under which she had ascended:
"I found myself without money, without credit, without army, without experience and knowledge of my own and finally, also without any counsel because each one of them at first wanted to wait and see how things would develop."
Subjects Who or What inherited?
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Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina) Holy Roman Empress...
Objects To Whom or What was inherited?
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Hungary (Land of Magyars, Magyaristan) Country in Central Europ... -
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Bohemia The Duchy of Bohemia was...
Events in 1740 MORE
