The Habsburg Monarchy and Dynasty


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Maria Theresa Of Austria

She is my role model because of her courage, devotion to her husband and for being mother to 16 kids. Here is her brief biography.

Maria Theresa of Austria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Maria Theresa (May 13, 1717 - November 29, 1780) was a Habsburg by birth and a Holy Roman Empress by marriage, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary and Bohemia from 1740 to 1780. She was the eldest daughter of Charles VI whose sole male heir - his son Leopold - died in 1711. In 1713 Charles issued the Pragmatic Sanction which guaranteed his daughter the right to succeed to the Austrian throne and inherit his lands on his death. While many European monarchs agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction when it was issued, on Charles' death (1740) the War of Austrian Succession began. Maria was one of the so-called "enlightened monarchs".
At the time, Maria Theresa was married to Francis Stephen of Lorraine with whom she had sixteen children, the youngest daughter of the sixteen was Marie Antoinette who would be promised in marriage to Louis, the Dauphin of France who would become King Louis XVI.

Maria Theresa's father had assumed that she would yield the true power to her husband. Because of this, her father had not given Maria Theresa any information on the workings of the government, leaving her to learn the job on her own. Additionally, the army was weak and the treasury depleted due to two wars near the end of her father's reign.

The War of Austrian Succession began with Frederick II of Prussia invading and occupying Silesia. While Bavaria and France also invaded Austrian western territories, it was Frederick (later known as Frederick the Great) who became Maria Theresa's main foe during her reign. Therefore she focused her internal and external policies on defeating Prussia and regaining the lands that had been taken from Austria.

She doubled the number of troops in the army, changed taxes to guarantee a steady annual income to support the government and military. She centralized the government by combining the Austrian and Bohemian chancelleries, formerly separate, into one administrative office. Before this, justice and administration were overseen by the same officials, but she created a supreme court with the sole responsibility for upholding justice in her lands. These reforms strengthened the economy. She dropped Great Britain as an ally on the advice of her state chancellor, Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, and allied with Russia and France. In 1752 she established a military academy, and in 1754 she established an academy of engineering science. She also demanded that the University of Vienna be given the resources to make the medical faculty more efficient. When she felt her army was strong enough, she prepared to attack Prussia in 1756. Frederick II attacked first however, invading Saxony, another ally of Austria, beginning the Seven Years' War. The war ended in 1763 with Maria Theresa signing the Treaty of Hubertusberg which recognized Prussian ownership of Silesia.

Her husband died two years later. Her devotion to him was so great that she dressed in mourning clothes until her own death 15 years later and became more closeted from her people. Her focus changed from attempting to regain Silesia, to maintaining the peace. She also recognized Joseph II, her eldest son, as coregent and emperor. She only allowed him limited powers because she felt he was too rash and arrogant.

In the later years of her reign, she focused on reforming the laws regarding serfs. In 1771, she issued the Robot Patent, a reform that regulated the serf's labor payments in her lands, providing them some relief.

She died in 1780, the only female to rule during the 650-year-long Habsburg dynasty that ended with the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria in 1914 led to the outbreak of World War I .

Names in other languages: German: Maria Theresia, Czech: Marie Terezie, Hungarian/Slovak: Mária Terézia, Slovenian: Marija Terezija.
 
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She had 16 children but only 9 arrived at the 20 years, the others didn't survive.
She was the mother of Emperors Joseph II and Leopold II. Also of Marie Caroline, wife of the King of Parma, and Marie Antoinette, wife of the King of France and Navarra.
 
The Imperial Family of Austria is related to several Royal Families like Portugal, Bourbon-Parma, Bourbon Two-Sicilies, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Bulgaria, Romania, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Belgium, Bavaria, Saxony, Thurn und Taxis, France and many others.
 
Maria Theresa was also called "The Mother of Europe" as most of her children married different sovereigns in Europe. Ironically, she was both Marie Antoinette's mother (wife of Louis XVI) and a great-grandmother to Marie-Louise who married Napoleon ca 1810.

Marie-Louise
 
 
Francesca is the daughter of the former model Fiona Campbell, right?
 
Originally posted by Dennism@May 10th, 2004 - 9:21 am
Francesca is the daughter of the former model Fiona Campbell, right?
Click to expand...
Yes ...but Fiona also is a member of the Campbell family - ancient Scots feudal family.
 
Hi, what the occasion? what are they celebrating? And being an non-ruling house, are they still connected to the other ruling royal house? Example are they going to the danish and spainish wedding? Thanks!!!
 
Originally posted by rollin_keef@Apr 19th, 2004 - 9:11 pm
i thought the hapsburg line finished with the abdication of Emperor Karl in 1918?
Click to expand...
The Habsburg family died out with Maria-Theresa. Her agnatic descendants are Habsburg-Lothringens. They are Lothringen because they are agnatic descendants of Franz Stefan von Lothringen (Francis Stephan of Lorraine).

It's the same situation as the Romanovs. They are really Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovs.
 
Originally posted by ally_cooper@Apr 20th, 2004 - 1:07 am
Marie Antoinette, wife of the King of France.
Click to expand...
Maria Theresa fretted and worried constantly about Marie Antoinette. She was too frivolous, was not producing heirs (not all her fault because Louis XVI needed an operation to permit him to have intercourse), and did not listen to any sense or reason in her mother's opinion. Maria Theresa wrote Marie Antoinette constantly and her advice was ignored. Perhaps if Marie Antoinette had listened to her mother, she might not have ended up as she did.

It has been said one of the greatest regrets Maria Theresa had was not seeing a French grandson and heir for France. She died 1 year before he was born.
 
The Habsburg Dynasty

In 1918, following the First World War, the Hapsburgs of Austria (and Hungary), along with half a dozen or so other European monarchical dynasties were overthrown, primarily for their part in opposing the British, French, and Americans in World War I. Most of their worldly possessions, reliquaries, homes, and titles were taken from them and they were disgraced. Do you think the Hapsburgs deserved this, and do you think they deserved to remain rulers of Austria following the aggression they unleashed against the Western Allies in WWI?
 
being a monarchist, i would have prefered a constitutionl(modern european style) monarchy,but they were quite despotic though.
 
Why exactly did they get overthrown? Is it because they didn't agree with the British et al and they got rid of the Habsburg royal family?

If that is the reason, I don't think they should have lost their country etc. just because a big group of countries won a war against them.
 
They were involved in World War I and controllled a humungous empire consisting of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslavakia, and parts of the Balkans, Poland, Italy, and other Central European territories. When the began to lose the war, these separate territories began to seceed from the empire, causing a power struggle within Austria itself. When at last the war was over, the empire splintered, and as the people were up in arms against the Hapsburgs, they were removed from power. It was at that time that their enormous wealth of possessions was taken- they probably amounted to billions more than the wealth of the British royals. To be fair, the Hapsburgs had sparked World War I with their ambitions of conquering Serbia. That was one of the integral flaws with their empire, it was not a country and there were no ties of blood or allegiance, it was simply an imperial confederation of subordinate territories under the rule of an autocratic monarchy. That was one of the reasons why their own subjects hated the Hapsburgs so much.
 
My basic feeling is, that by the time Franz Josef came along, the empire was already an outdated antique, and though the Emperor was a decent fellow, he was completely unable to govern his empire the way it needed to be governed at the turn of the 20th century. FJ had a firm, almost mystical belief in the powers of autocracy (much like the Tsars) and he was simply overwhelmed by the forces of nationalism and unrest that developed. I personally believe most of his subjects liked and admired him greatly, more than they actually did his Empress, Sissi. I think the Hapsburg Empire had by most means outlived its usefulness, and that was what contributed to its downfall. Just my opinion. :flower:
 
in this photo, which is the name of the boy standing behind astrid, talking with maria christina?

here is a new photo of today's reception in honour of astrid and carl christian.
 
Marie Christine and Gabriella of Austria

they are the daughters of archduke carl christian of austria and princess marie astrid of luxembourg and sisters of christopher, imre and alexander. here are some pics i have found of them. gabriella is utterly cute and christine seems to be a really beautiful girl!

astrid, christine and gabriella

http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-25.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-27.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-24.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-23.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-22.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-21.jpg

with their parents and brothers

http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-20.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-19.jpg
http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs12/marielux1954-17.jpg
 
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*from netty's page*

Full name: Marie Christine Anne Astrid Zita Charlotte
Title: Archduchess of Austria (Her Imperial and Royal Highness)
Born: Brughmann Clinic, Brussels, Belgium, July 31st 1983

Parents: Carl Christian Archduke of Austria (1954) and 1982, Marie Astrid Princess of Luxembourg (1954)
Brothers: Imre (1985), Christoph (1988) and Alexander (1990)
Sister: Gabriella (1994)

Education and work: boarding school in England (-2001)
 
Yes, he is the second child of Princess Marie-Astrid [Henri's elder sister] and her husband Archduke Carl-Christian of Austria.

And, I always thought that his name was pronounced "Imm-ray". I could of course be wrong, but that's my guess! :)
-Kara-
 
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